The last Republican mayor of Baltimore left office in 1967, nearly 50 years ago. How has Charm City fared under a half century of hard-leftist politics? Democrats are the authors of anything that happens in Baltimore, which has the ideological diversity of P'yongyang. Thus, they own all its outcomes — successes, but mostly failures. As my favorite National Review author Kevin D. Williamson wrote, “no Republican, and certainly no conservative, has left so much as a thumbprint on the public institutions of Baltimore in a generation.” Five decades of Democratic rule has turned out to be, as our current foolish mayor said, quite enough “space to destroy.”

Former Baltimore mayor Martin O'Malley initiated the mass incarceration program as part of his zero tolerance approach to crime. Thousands of people were arrested for minor offenses, and the police turned into a full-on drug war paramilitary force. In 2004, our police commissioner — this is the person in charge of the police — was sent to prison for corruption. Two detectives were caught dealing drugs the year after. This depravity perseveres to the modern day: Recently cellphone videos emerge at what seems a rate of one per week of some 200-plus pound police officer slamming some kid around — in a school. The city has paid out more than $12 million since 2011, with our taxpayer money, to settle claims of police brutality. Democrats bray for “police reform,” but these things occurred under their watch. The circumstances of Freddie Gray's death aside, the administration and police surrendered to vandals on the west side of the city during the 2015 riots and were unable to maintain order. At least they kept the murder rate low. Oh, wait, there were 344 murders last year, the highest ever per capita.

How about schools? Teacher's unions force all teachers — even those not in unions — to pay fees to the Maryland State Education Association. The unions are also hostile toward charter schools and restrict where parents send their children to be educated. At least the schools can manage money — Oh, wait, the city's school funding was at a $60 million deficit last year. We spend over $17,000 per child in the Baltimore City school system, more than twice the national average. Good thing we have high passing rates and high test scores. Oh, wait, both are abysmal.

There are too many more issues to list here, but this is the worst part: We are financing the city government's fraud, waste and abuse. The Wall Street Journal issued a report that showed between 1950 and 1985, property taxes in Baltimore were raised 21 times, sending many people out of the city to the suburbs. A smaller city population resulted in a lower tax base, which resulted in the city having the highest property taxes in Maryland by nearly double that of any other county. We have law-breaking police and a pathetic public school system, but where is all this high tax revenue going? We can't even fix potholes or get the streets plowed in a snowstorm.

Nobody thought Republican Larry Hogan would win the governor's mansion in 2014, much less have a 70 percent approval rating only 18 months into his tenure. Republicans are highly outnumbered in Baltimore, but considering Gov. Hogan's record and widespread appeal, why should we assume that someone like him would be an apocalypse for the city? Could it really get much worse?

Simply from Baltimore Democrats' track record, no one from that party should be allowed 50 yards from any public office higher than trash collector. But do we learn from our mistakes? State Sen. Catherine Pugh only narrowly won the recent mayoral Democratic primary over one of these mistakes, Sheila Dixon, who was convicted of embezzlement while in office. The fact that 34 percent of Baltimore Democrats were fine with a proven thief in office is baffling. Ms. Pugh, who took 37 percent of the vote, is facing allegations of campaign finance shenanigans, and the State Board of Elections has forwarded to prosecutors a complaint against one of her chief donors for allegedly exceeding contribution limits. Well, we get what we pay for. And we pay for what we get.

The good news is that there is a way to fire these people, and the better news is that we citizens have the power to do it. Vote Republican. Baltimore Democrats have a proven half-century record of dismal failures with its public institutions, and they don't appear to be anywhere close to coming around. I encourage everyone to look at what the other non-Democratic candidates have to offer Baltimore for this mayoral election. If you want the status quo to change, pick anyone who has something other than a D next to their name.

Eric Webster lives in Charles Village. His email is insanity.table@gmail.com.