The right-wingers in the bluest cities.
Right there, in the second word of the headline, we learn that venture capitalist Michael Moritz is a Democrat. The lede affirms his political leanings with a jab at Tucker Carlson.
Even Democrats Like Me Are Fed Up With San Francisco
Few subjects please Tucker Carlson more than sticking a shiv into the city of his birth — San Francisco. Sadly, Mr. Carlson has plenty of reasons for portraying San Francisco as a crippled city, hence his fondness for broadcasting clips of homeless encampments and drug addicts. But Mr. Carlson and his ilk have less interest in understanding why these problems exist.
In the op-ed we learn that a group of San Francisco politicians have hijacked the city government and ground effective governance to a halt.
Like it or not, San Francisco has become a prize example of how we Democrats have become our own worst enemy. Causes that we have long espoused — respect for human rights, plenty of housing that’s within reach for most people, care for the mentally ill, fair pay, high-quality public education, a dignified retirement — have all been crippled by a small coterie who knows how to bend government to its will. This astonishing city that I have been lucky enough to call home for more than 40 years has become subject to the tyranny of the
minority.
For several years, I have tried hard to figure out the reasons for our civic confusion. San Francisco’s problems didn’t occur overnight. And they don’t bode well for other cities, long considered Democratic fortresses, where the consequences of the fentanyl epidemic, homeless encampments, housing that is unaffordable for most, deteriorating school systems and high tax rates are also evident. Here, janitors, nurses, teachers and bus drivers are forced to endure 90-minute commutes; two-income families cannot afford to start families; young children have become increasingly rare sights; and the Police Department cannot fill its ranks.
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. Others peddle radicalism: One city supervisor is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (whose nationwide membership would fail to fill the larger Big 10 stadiums). These crafty legislators have the time and resources to deceive voters with what, on the surface, might appear like insignificant tweaks to the city’s operating instructions or by rule changes written in language that seems to be deliberately opaque.
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