Americans of a certain age may remember when Times Square in New York City was a cesspool of peep shows, drugs, and crime. Even those of younger generations have probably seen the depictions of many American cities in the 1970s, in films such as Death Wish. Crime was rampant, no one felt safe, and cities became shells of their former selves.
We may be seeing a return to that today, as well-to-do city dwellers have begun leaving cities for the suburbs and countryside as working from home has become more viable post-COVID. Cities have begun to return to lawlessness as last year’s riots have emboldened criminals.
Soros-funded prosecutors in major cities such as San Francisco, St. Louis, and Philadelphia have gone soft on crime, deciding not to pursue prosecutions of “minor” crimes such as drug possession, theft, or prostitution. And so we see scenes of stores being looted in broad daylight in San Francisco with police standing by waiting to arrest anyone who lays a hand on the thieves.
In New York prostitutes have begun walking the streets again, with police turning a blind eye. In city after city, the blight of crime is beginning to reassert itself, much to the chagrin of residents. Assaults, carjackings, and other serious crimes are increasing too, making cities much less pleasant to live in than they were just a few years ago.
The hard work done over the decades by police and prosecutors to clean up American cities of criminal activity is being systematically undone by radical leftists who are more interested in furthering their ideology than in punishing criminals. And American city-dwellers are suffering because of it.
The writing is on the wall – American cities will increasingly become havens for the criminally minded. Law-abiding citizens who try to defend themselves will risk prosecution and imprisonment. Reason and justice have been turned on their heads, and it could be years or decades before the damage that is being done today will finally be undone.