Main Edition
US
FR
Progressives have destroyed America’s west coast, according to a new article by NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof, who himself was a progressive until very recently.
Within a few years of moving from New York to his native Oregon, Kristof announced he was no longer a progressive. “Seeing the challenges in Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, have made me more wary of progressivism,” he told Time in May. He also recently called for more restrictive immigration policies.
The crime and homelessness problems of west coast cities made him reassess his politics — and he’s far from the first. Progressive shibboleths, particularly lax drug enforcement and generous benefits for the homeless, has a way of turning even the most devout Leftists toward the political centre and Right. You can only free-ride on your region’s good weather for so long.
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
Subscribe“Progressives”, my ass! Every one of them has a (D) after his/her/their name. They’re Democrats through and through. Not a Republican among them.
It’s not “progressive” to allow homelessness to fester leaving the mentally ill and addicted to languish on the streets without medical care or permanent housing. That’s rampant capitalism of a covert-right which prioritizes the right to profit of drug dealers over a conscientious democracy. The Sackler drug cartel is a more flourishing crime family than Pablo Escobar and the Sinaloa drug cartel put together ever was. Yet none of the Sacklers has ever spent a day in prison. For shame on a judicial system that enables this!. Allowing this and the accompanying crime it engenders is a sign of opportunism and social decay, which is not progressive.
Whatever one calls “progressive”, it does not acknowledge reality — by definition. Sooo, when reality has a chance to show up, progresivism flees. They are mutually exclusive, which never fails to enrage progressives. This movement is the one of: it’s not working; we must do it more. Progressively.