Almost two years ago to date, the city of Baltimore was up in flames. The streets were replete with rioters and Black Lives Matter activists chanting things like “all night, all day, we’re going to fight for Freddie Gray.” Cars were smashed and businesses were broken into and robbed. On the opposite end of the spectrum were the police, dressed head to toe in riot gear and doing everything in their power to restore peace and order. As the horror continued into the night, millions of Americans watched on television from the safety of their homes, wondering how the city of Baltimore ever got to this point. (RELATED: You won’t believe who this CNN reporter blamed for the Baltimore riots).

Baltimore has been run by Democrats for the past five decades. During this time, racial tensions have risen dramatically, unemployment rates have been consistently high, and drug usage and other crimes have skyrocketed. While many liberals are quick to blame this on a “racist” and “oppressive” system that prevents people from rising up, the reality is that liberalism and big government policies are to blame.

According to a Washington Post poll released this past Friday, an overwhelming majority of Baltimore citizens — 59 percent of them in fact — believe that their government is corrupt. Additionally, 24 percent of those polled said that they felt all of the government in the state of Maryland is corrupt, and 21 percent of voters feel that the Baltimore county government is corrupt.

It goes without saying that high levels of corruption inside the government is the last thing citizens of Baltimore need, considering the plethora of additional challenges many are already struggling to overcome.

U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein has been running an investigation into elected government officials for years now. After over 30 months of information obtained through wiretaps, Rosenstein’s investigation revealed high levels of corruption, just as the majority of Baltimore residents thought. According to the report, lawmakers are taking bribes in exchange for expedited permits and licenses.

“Corruption is a top priority for us, obstruction is an even more significant priority, that is people are actively attempting to interfere with federal prosecutors – investigators,” Rosenstein explained, adding, “Our goal is to put fear into the criminals out there committing corruption.”

The investigation was presumably intense enough to force State Delegate Michael Vaughn to resign, although he claims the resignation was due to health concerns and not corruption.

The poll, which ran between March 16 and March 19 and included 914 residents in the state of Maryland, had a margin of error of 4 points in either direction.

Sources:

DailyCaller.com

BaltimoreSun.com

NYtimes.com