The Patriot Post® · San Fran Implosion?

San Francisco has been governed by a Democrat since 1968. That’s 55 years. This city already had a reputation for being a left-wing progressive haven, and that has only gotten steadily more true as the years and elections have passed. Some well-known former mayors include Senator Dianne Feinstein and Governor Gavin Newsom.

Sadly, the city — corresponding with this sole Democrat governance — is no longer a beautiful and prospering one. Even leftists will admit that. An opinion piece in The New York Times by San Francisco native Michael Moritz made this startling statement: “Like it or not, San Francisco has become a prize example of how we Democrats have become our own worst enemy.”

Moritz goes on to explain that the city is under the control of a radical minority (i.e., the progressives). He points out what we conservatives have long observed: “For the past three decades there has been consistent tinkering with the armature of government by officeholders and their staffs, many of whom do not seem animated by a sense of great purpose but rather by doing whatever it takes to maintain power and influence.”

Interestingly enough, conservative political podcaster Andrew Klavan also brought up this point in his most recent Friday monologue. Klavan argued that the secular relativists (which mainly comprise the radical Left) are operating under the premise that there is no God, that morality is a social construct, and that all life is about power. Many call this not “playing fair,” but in these secular relativists’ minds, they are playing by the rules that they set.

Other San Franciscans are voicing their thoughts. In the San Francisco Chronicle, the main topic of discontent is the lack of good city planning, especially when it comes to housing, as well as the economic upheaval wrought by pre-pandemic workers opting to work from home.

Other problems that San Francisco has allowed to fester are rampant homelessness, addiction and mental health issues, crime, Mayor London Breed’s very public defund-the-police stance, woke DAs, the public school education system, and so much more.

Another San Fran activist, Michael Shellenberger, one of the journalists entrusted with the release of the Twitter Files and who also used to be a liberal but now leans more center-right, posits the question: “Why is it that cities that ostensibly care the most about poor people, minorities, people suffering mental illness and addiction … treat them so terribly?”

Part of the issue that Shellenberger points out is that progressives attack institutions, tear them down, and implement no replacement. So, in the case of the homelessness crisis, progressive activists and lawmakers moved to shut down mental health institutions (which probably did need reform) and left the suffering patients without any place to go or without any means of getting themselves back on their feet. In other words, they opened the floodgates of the homeless/mental illness crisis in the city.

It’s the same reason behind the crime and drug problems. Mayor London Breed reacted to the killing of George Floyd and the BLM movement by championing the “defund the police” movement. She has since changed her tune, but it is a drop in the bucket at this point. The mental health institutions are gone. The jails should be filling up … oh, wait. Enter George Soros-funded district attorneys like San Francisco’s recently ousted Chesa Boudin. Boudin wouldn’t prosecute crimes, fought for bail “reform,” and in general was the classic archetype of a Soros DA.

Education is also under fire by the progressives. From the San Francisco gay men’s choir threatening to “convert our children” to a parent revolt in the school system, this is still a battle being fought all over the country.

The Golden City is one that is sinking with the constant undermining of its institutions. It is a caricature of the direction all Democrat-run cities are going. Many San Franciscans are hopeful that the state and Governor Newsom will step in and supply the funds to save the city. California, however, is already in the red, so that likelihood is slim.

San Francisco needs to wake up and stop electing woke politicians that are only after power and start putting people in office who will enforce the law, protect their institutions, and generally promote the city’s well-being. Let’s hope that it’s not already too late.