The number one question I get asked by readers is “What can I do?” People are so upset by the way this city and county are being run. They know that our current leaders are taking us off a cliff. Our wonderful Coalition members love their city and county, but when it comes to what to do as individuals, they’re often flummoxed.
I sympathize with this attitude. It can sometimes seem like we’ve been plunged into a horror movie where we’re powerless to confront the monsters that are running amok. Well, there are things we can do. I don’t want readers to feel hopeless. Hopelessness is what they want us to feel—the wokes, the so-called progressives, the dead-enders who got us into this mess and do their best to keep us here. Hopeless people lose the will to fight back. Our opponents want us to feel helpless as well as hopeless, because the truth is, there are more of us than there are of them. If we should ever recognize our power, and unite to use it, we could sweep the Thao-Fife-Price-Kalb-Kaplan-Bas crowd into the dustbin of history where they belong, and get back to running things the way they should be run. They fully understand that, which is why their days are filled with churning out propaganda and attacks on us.
The most important thing for us all to do is vote. If you’re fed up with conditions in Oakland, but haven’t voted recently, then in large part you have only yourself to blame. If you voted for people like the ones I mentioned above—Thao, Fife, Price, Kalb, Kaplan, Bas—then you also largely have yourself to blame. These politicians lied to you. They claim they’re in favor of you, but all you have to do is look around to realize they’re not. Their policies have got us into this mess. The dirty tents and encampments, the out-of-control crime, the filth and garbage, the menacing feeling in the streets, the economic collapse of Oakland, stores fleeing the city, the flagrant disregard of community standards, the whole nine yards of woke dysfunctionality and the ultimate victory of criminals—these things are directly attributable to “progressive” politicians.
But we only get to vote once or twice a year. What else can we do? Stay focused and strong. Never forget that you’re engaged in the Good Fight: for morality, decency and peace. Within yourself, maintain that self-assuredness. And maintain your anger! You have every right to resent what the wokes have done to you and our town. At the same time, educate your friends, neighbors and loved ones. Be patient—their progressive dementia took a long time to build up and it will take a long time to tear down.
Study the news. Know what’s going on. Our opponents do their work in darkness. They depend on the obliviousness of voters to do their dirty deeds. I try my best to report on what I know here, and my colleagues on our Facebook and nextdoor.com pages do the same. The more you learn, the more outraged you’ll become. Possibly, the more you’ll feel helpless and hopeless. But I hope you’ll also feel more motivated to end this madness. Think of the French Resistance to Hitler: look at the historic role they played even when their lives were at risk. We are the Resistance, and we—the Coalition—will never stop fighting for the right, as God gives us the ability to see the right. We’ll never stop fighting for you.
Okay, enough of the pep talk. Let’s get back to work. I’m so grateful for all the people who have joined us, especially those who have contributed a little money. It makes me proud to know that, in a city as imperiled as Oakland, a lot of smart voters are waking up to the fact that it doesn’t have to be this way.
Steve Heimoff