Reason First: Can There Be a Solution to Wilmington, Delaware's Crime Problems?

Trigger fingers turn to mystery figures. Unsolved slayings permeate the neighborhoods in Wilmington, Delaware. The recent string of the start of physical force by way of firearms has community leaders, law enforcement, and top officials all searching for answers. There exist a few solutions. The decriminalization and legalization of all drugs, the elimination of the minimum wage, and reversing the tax-free shopping in the state to no income tax or other taxes remain among the few responses to the crisis. What these changes would do is allow the free market to reign. Young men and women who would be out on the street corners pumping drugs into the community would be permitted to do so but would find it more lucrative in a minimum-wage free enterprise. With the taxes and other programs like Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare and all welfare programs being abolished, this would provide for more jobs than there are people in the state of Delaware.

Decriminalizing and legalizing every narcotic would revolutionize the street culture. Once people realize that these drugs (which should not be taxed either) serve as only poison to neighborhoods, they will then look for gainful employment or start businesses. But the element of the drug culture may still manifest in certain areas. Even if it does, there ought to be little to no force involved just as there is minimal force over cases of Heineken or packs of Kools. Most manufacturers, dealers and users would find it to be a peaceful exchange of goods and services for dollars. Like the third season of the venerable television series The Wire, the fictional show attempts a radical solution by making a section of Baltimore, Maryland “Hamsterdam.” This is in reference to the lenient drug laws of the Dutch city of Amsterdam. Not only would people be turned off (pushers would be seeking more money, users would check their health levels), but the mystique along with the stigma would evaporate like water droplets on a hot burner of a stove.

One of the slain in this pattern of the start of force was Kenny Hamilton. He told his mentor Rob Moore of Wilmington that he was “trying to work at the McDonald’s” and that he couldn’t even get a call back from the giant restaurant chain. Now, in Hamilton’s case, it may have been his rap sheet that caused the staff at McDonald’s to not hire him. A second-degree assault charge, a drug dealing charge, and another assault charge might have dimmed the light for him to become an employee. For the drug charge, he served more time than when he assaulted a woman which caused her to be wheelchair-bound on the way to the hospital. So, let’s say that these crimes vanished from the late Hamilton’s record.

The fact that he would be struggling to get a position at McDonald’s is because of minimum wage laws. These laws price young men and women out of the market and bar the possibility for them to rise through the ranks. A young person who just graduated from a government school or received a passing grade from a General Educational Development test possesses little to no marketable skills. So, they (if they’re hired) sweep and mop floors. They then graduate to cooking the fries. They become cashiers. Next, a manager pins a supervisor placard on their chest. From there, they can become a manager, store general manager, and even franchisee. But without the ability to get in the door where they might only be able to produce $3 an hour and the minimum wage is $7.25, then they will not learn the skills that would further their career in corporate America.

Delaware has touted its position as one of the five states in the Union to not enforce a sales tax. That should be inverted. Delaware (like all states) ought to have a tax on contracts and also a reasonable consumption tax placed on goods and services. Without an income tax, the young men and women who do find low-skill level positions would be able to enjoy all of the money that they might generate. Compulsory federal, state, and city taxes ought to be eliminated so that the cash that these youths stack can be saved, invested, or consumed. With Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare and all the entitlements eliminated, a groundswell of positive change would emerge.

What Wilmington needs is not increased presence of law enforcement or state and city officials quibbling or programs funded by tax-payers. The city requires an extremist approach to individualism and capitalism. It’s the only way for the tiny town to resist coercion and the start of force mostly by guns.