The problem of Baltimore is not a problem of leadership. The situation in West Baltimore is not the failure of Elijah Cummings, nor even of the mayor and city council. As John Boehner once said, you're not a leader if you have no followers; you're just somebody out for a walk.
No, the problem is the lack of followers. In particular, the problem of Baltimore is the problem of the black male subculture of the ghetto. It is a subculture of supreme indifference. These guys simply can't be bothered. They can't be bothered to educate themselves; they can't be bothered to hold down jobs; they can't be bothered to act as fathers to their own children, for God's sake-- how weird is that?; and they cannot be bothered to obey the law. It is a self-destructive worldview that cannot but lead to failure. And so it has.
One can argue about the causes of this worldview. Is it directly the result of poverty, racism, etc., as those on the left assert? Or is it the same attitude one finds in Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, in short wherever black men congregate in any numbers? One thing is certain, though: Conditions in Baltimore will never change until this attitude changes. And I don't see that happening.
