NASHVILLE, TN – When talking with folks we meet along the way and in a lot of our content here we extol the harms that stem from Big Government and instead encourage a society based on voluntary interactions, which we believe is moral and wealth-creating, thereby bettering standards of living and lifting people out of poverty. While some may disregard such a perspective as mere theory we need only point to Detroit as a clear example of the damage wrought by massive government intervention.

From failed one-size-fits-all programs that have destroyed the vitality of the city by causing enormous market distortions, to oppressive taxes and regulations, to the blatant theft of private property under the guise of eminent domain, to corrupt government agents and racist, heavy-handed cops and powerful unions (which exist with special government-provided protections), we knew Detroit would not lack for footage to underscore our point.

That’s why we hooked-up with Paul Kersey, the director of labor policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy (one of the best state-based think tanks around), who is a Detroit native himself. Paul drive down from Midland, MI, where the Mackinac Center is based, and led us on a driving tour of the destruction.

This was my second time in Detroit – the first was back in Feb. of 2008, when I was in town meeting with liberty-oriented college students for my gig with the Institute for Humane Studies. During that visit, my friend Lauren Zemens showed me around a bit, and when we crossed the street into Detroit from neighborhing Grosse Pointe (admittedly a ritzy area) the differences were striking to say the least. Here is an area that has the same geography, weather and culture but different levels of government intervention. And that’s what made the difference. That’s what destroyed Detroit – a city half of its former self in just three generations, which now serves as a cautionary example of what could happen if people don’t start thinking for themselves and living morally.