Thank you Glenn Beck, for shining some light on a telling correlation. The American cities with the worst poverty have been run almost exclusively by Democrats.

Nearly a third of the residents of Detroit and Buffalo live below the poverty line. Here's why:

Detroit, whose mayor has been indicted on felony charges, hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1961. Buffalo has been even more stubborn. It started putting a Democrat in office back in 1954, and it hasn't stopped since.

Unfortunately, those two cities may be alone at the top of the poverty rate list, but they're not alone in their love for Democrats. Cincinnati, Ohio (third on the poverty rate list), hasn't had a Republican mayor since 1984. Cleveland, Ohio (fourth on the list), has been led by a Democrat since 1989. St. Louis, Missouri (sixth), hasn't had a Republican since 1949, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (eighth), since 1908, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (ninth), since 1952 and Newark, New Jersey (10th), since 1907.

Implementing policies that increase poverty broadens Democrats' voter base. This creates a vicious cycle that has created the Democrat stranglehold on so many large cities. The more Democrats you have in office, the more socialist policies, the more poverty, the more poor people electing Democrats so as to get their free handouts. This loop has reduced great cities like Detroit into Third-World wastelands and promises to do the same to the country as a whole.

Beck quotes Benjamin Franklin, who would be unlikely to win a mayoral election against Detroit's felonious Kwame Kilpatrick:

I think the best way of doing good to the poor is not making them easy in poverty but leading them or driving them out of it.

If we had the likes of Ben Franklin running our cities, the cycle would be reversed. The more people who take initiative, the more people there are with money, the more vote against socialists, the more the government stays out of the way, the more initiative pays off.

Unless we find a way to make this happen, Detroit's present is America's future.

On a tip from V the K. Cross-posted at Moonbattery.