One thing I wonder about all the time is why people in Oakland vote for the most woke, progressive candidates. It’s such a puzzle. Carroll Fife, Barbara Lee, Nikki Bas, Rebecca Kaplan and their type have driven Oakland into the ground, as any sentient being realizes. A walk downtown should be alarming enough to shock voters, with block after block of shuttered shops, nail parlors, smoke stores and convenience marts. If that doesn’t do the trick, how about the zombies wandering around, like extras from a horror movie? Or the corporations that leave Oakland on almost a daily basis. So why do people continue to vote for the idiots who got us into this mess?
I feel sorry for the progressives, I really do. Many of them are young and idealistic. They genuinely want to see “historically marginalized” populations assume their rightful place in society. They feel a sense of shame—especially the White ones—for being the cause of our social inequities. They buy into the woke allegations that they are racists, in their heart of hearts, even if they don’t think they are. They accept the lie that they’re part of a gigantic system of racist supremacy, even if they don’t want to be. They believe that the only way they can find redemption is to vote for people who hate them, like Carroll Fife. It’s very odd. I suppose psychiatrists have a name for this particular disorder. Masochism?
The thing that really troubles me is that so many of these idealistic young people are so nice. I really like them. I admire the zealousness that impassions them. They look around and see things that appall them, and they feel morally impelled to do something about it. I wish they had—in addition to their idealism—the intellectual capacity to discern how and why progressive governance is so destructive. I wish they could see that every closed store is due to specific policies that generations of progressives have imposed on Oakland. I wish they understood that Oakland’s financial woes, now hovering on the brink of bankruptcy, are due to progressives spending money they never had, or could conceivably get. I wish they saw that the racial competitiveness that progressives spur in their dream of “equity” is keeping the races separate and resentful. I wish that progressives would finally grasp that they don’t have to live in a filthy, decrepit city, that it really is possible to walk MLK Jr. Way, or International Boulevard, or Fruitvale Ave. after midnight without any fear. I wish they would understand that it is their unrealistic desires that make Oakland so hellish. But in order for them to understand, they’d need to be older, with a lot more experience. It makes me wonder if we shouldn’t raise the voting age to 30.
What? And disenfranchise all those young people? Well, yes. If that’s what it takes to save Oakland, then let’s do it. You wouldn’t let a third-grader determine city policy, would you? Then why allow 18-year olds who have no conception of how a city actually works to weigh in on complex policies? My nephew actually told me he’d like to see the Oakland Police Department abolished. It didn’t take me more than three minutes using Socratic dialogue to demolish his argument so thoroughly that even he saw his own internal contradiction. But he couldn’t make the connection that he ought to change his views. In ten years, he’ll be mature enough to vote. Unfortunately, he has that right now, at. The age of 22, when his mind is still unformed and precocious.
I always say that idealism without a solid plan to achieve it is worthless. People like my nephew say, “Let’s just build enough cheap housing so that all the homeless people have a place to live.” Sounds good, right? But a moment of realistic thought shows how senseless that statement is. Who pays for all that new housing? Idealists like my nephew say, “Cities have plenty of money.” Oh really? Sorry, kid, you’re wrong. Your idealism has literally eaten away the part of your brain that is capable of critical thinking. I’m sorry to tell you this, but your mind just isn’t working.
Steve Heimoff