It will come as no surprise to readers that I’m bummed by the outcome of the presidential election. I won’t bother to repeat all the deficiencies of Trump’s character, with which we’re all too familiar. But I will say that I agree with Trump and Republicans on at least one issue: crime. And when I say “crime” I mean not simply the robberies and murders that make headlines, but the everyday assaults on our public safety that make life in Oakland so challenging.
Progressives talk about the “root causes” of crime. Look, there is but one “root cause” of every crime, and that is the individual who commits it. Nothing can excuse that individual: not poverty, not a difficult upbringing, not a lack of healthcare, not getting fired from his job, not inadequate funding of social programs. Progressives can’t bring themselves to admit this basic truth: “By their fruits ye shall know them.” Blinded by ideology, well has it been said that progressives favor criminals more than they do victims.
Americans have seen the pillars of morality eroded for a long time. They’re fed up. Everybody knows right from wrong. When a thug cuts the throat of a woman on BART and his family argues that he’s just misguided and misunderstood and deserves pity, we know they’re full of it. When Pamela Price argues that the carjackers and muggers are “our children, our babies,” we rightfully take umbrage. By the hundreds of millions, we Americans reject these insane notions. This is something Donald Trump understands. When he quipped, years ago, that he wouldn’t mind if cops smashed a few foreheads when pushing perps into the back seat of their squad cars, lots of us got the joke. We’re pissed off at thugs, and we’ve had it with bleeding heart progressives who abet them.
Which is what led to the election results. Just look at all the woke politicians who just went down to defeat: Sheng Thao, Pamela Price, Nikki Bas, Aaron Peskin, Dean Preston, even George Gascon in Los Angeles. All progressive Democrats, all losers. Prop 36, which toughens sentences on shoplifters, passed overwhelmingly despite Gavin Newsom’s fierce opposition. Prop 6, which would have outlawed prison labor, lost. These results are directly tied in with Trump’s win. The people want law and order now, and we want criminals to pay the price. Woe be to any politician who fails to heed the voters’ will.
I’ll resist the Trump presidency every time he tries to foist some crazy pseudo-Christian stunt on us. If he and his MAGAs try to undo LGBTQ rights, I’ll fight back. But if his new reign, and this new Republican majority, mean that we finally get tough—really, truly tough--on crime and hoodlums, then count me in. I don’t want any more Pamela Price BS about feeling sorry for criminals, I don’t want any more Nikki Bas sabotaging the police department, I don’t want any more Sheng Thao cratering to the social causes of the unions, I don’t want any more lunatics demanding we defund the police. I want people to grow up and straighten out and start acting responsibly and obeying the law. If they won’t, I’m happy to pay higher taxes to build more jails.
Readers also know that I’ve defended the Democratic Party all along, despite my “conservative” views on crime and cops. That’s because there’s nothing conservative about respecting law enforcement; it’s the American thing to do. I continue to believe we can rescue the Democratic Party from its extremes without selling out to radical “Christians,” misogynists, homophobes, scientific ignoramuses and haters. I think I’m right on that, even though, for the moment, the Democratic Party appears to be an endangered species. I have only a few more years remaining on this Earth, at best, and I really want to see the Democratic Party learn from this election debacle and reform itself and return to the party of FDR and JFK.
Steve Heimoff