Victor Davis Hanson
Was San Francisco the crown jewel, the logical result of the progressive project, our inheritance from the politicking of Nancy Pelosi, Gavin Newsom, Jerry Brown, Barbara Boxer, and Diane Feinstein?
Where now are all the multimillionaire leftists who were never subject to the realities of their own disastrous ideology? Do any of them visit the scene of the crime? Or are they all ensconced in villas, rural estates, and golf-course abodes far from downtown San Francisco? Did Willie Brown and Kamala Harris add to the mess?
Add up these Dickensian scenes of Los Angeles and San Francisco—the excrement in the street, the needles on the sidewalks, the stench of offal, the mutterings and shouting of the drug addled, and then ask what were we doing in Afghanistan? Setting an example of how democracy and its popular culture can save the world from darkness? Was the mantra, “We are here to enlighten and instruct you to be like San Francisco?”
The question is not just why such glaring poverty, desolation, and failure are in our cities, or why did we abandon billions of dollars of military equipment in Kabul (i.e., $1 billion in aircraft, 9,524 air-to-ground munitions, 40,000 military vehicles, including 12,000 military Humvees, more than 300,000 weapons 1,537,000 rounds of “specialty munitions,” and on and on), but what were the cause and effect of one upon the other?
Or the better question is not why did we leave all that behind (which Putin says he will now buy for 10 cents on the dollar), but why did we ever bring it over in the first place when we had fouled our own nests? And so, after abandoning tens of billions of dollars of miliary stuff in Kabul, why are we borrowing billions of dollars to repeat the arms transfers on a greater scale to Ukraine? Should we just tell the Ukrainians to buy the stuff from the Taliban?
What are we to make of ourselves, we who destroyed once great American cities that we inherited, only to go abroad and to abandon, transfer. or waste billions of dollars in arms?
I watched again Vertigo at this moment of reflection, the Alfred Hitchcock moving set in San Francisco of 1958. In a much poorer country, in a much poorer San Francisco of some 65 years ago, the city looked stunningly clean.
The real-life shots of streets, the downtown, the parks were in situ and not staged. The people were well dressed, the gutters free of detritus. Even the supposedly raunchy 1960s and 1970s were cleaner, more orderly than today. I also watched two other San Francisco movies, especially again the live street shots that served as background: the 1968 Bullitt and 1971 Dirty Harry. Even in the hippie “let-it-all-hang-out,” live-in-your-VW bus days, the city compared to now was immaculate.
You could not shoot such movies today without computer simulations. The crews would be attacked by criminals and their gear stolen. Too many needles would sneak into the shot. It would take tens of millions of dollars to transport the homeless off the streets and clean up after them. The actors would need security guards to escort them to and from their hotels (or within their hotels as well).
Yet we are spreading George Floyd murals, pride flags, and gender studies courses around the world, even in the most abject wretched places like Afghanistan, while our cities simply slide into the inferno.
Calgacus might rightly say of us baby boomers, “You made a desert and called it peace.”
I would retort only, “We tried to turn Kabul into San Francisco that had already turned into Kabul.”
Discussion (20)
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Log In to CommentWe are trying. No excuses, however, it is especially difficult when the enemy controls elections by allowing serious lapses. Then almost, i say almost, everyone underestimates the influence of the media on the masses. And then, we have the Biblical sin of profit and money exchanges to remove morality.
In the mid seventies Seattle was a city whereby you could "feel its walls" and enjoy the its vibrancy of youth and potency. Its Space Needle was the symbol of a shining future, while its nom-de-plume as "The Emerald City" lived up to its name. There was nary a traffic jam even during rush hours. Located in the nor west corner of continental U.S. Seattle was A "final stop" for airline flights. It was small enough to feel like home, yet large enough to have a fantastic ballet, orchestra, Hard Rock Cafe, and grunge rock bands. Great restaurants with lunch cafes in its Financial District. And of course it is the home of Starbucks Coffee and many others. And so much more. Now more people "carry" than ever. Trash is accumulating as is homelessness. Vagrants are permitted to sit in its beautiful library and nod off while students and researchers cannot find a place to sit down. It's decreasing its population once again. It's becoming like San Francisco. Why is it serious decline? The same reason all major cities throughout the United States are in serious decline. Democrats are in charge and don't know what in hell they are doing. Their unprincipled priorities are all screwed up. They have no idea how to run a living city, much less a Great one. Yes, it happens that people and dark, selfish principles can destroy the things they love. Alas.
Our once beautiful West coast cities such as San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle have now degenerated into unrecognizable shells of their former grandeur. A visit to the Seattle Art Museum that used to be a relatively carefree and enjoyable experience now requires a heightened sense of vigilance and awareness. I tell my wife: "let's drive my beater car instead of my new truck." "Don't give money to pan handlers or make eye contact with anyone." "Stay close to me and if we are separated for any reason then don't let anyone get within 3 feet of you." "Don't wear heels (I know. Crazy talk) in case we need to walk briskly from an emerging situation." Every move is planned ahead of time such as the walking route we shall take, which streets we shall avoid, and which restaurants we shall dine. And the worst part of this new reality is that it has all been self inflicted and, ergo, completely preventable. Ever since the George Floyd riots that were allowed to carry on for months on end civilization has rapidly deteriorated. Like a patient nearing septic shock, I fear we may be reaching a point of no return.
For me, the pictures are very much a part of the mood and the story, and hence, need no captions. Were this a news media story, captions might be added, but even in those that isn't always the case in many news articles I've read.
Along with some of the other comments, I too respectfully suggest that you consider attaching captions to your pictures. It's appropriate for a professional website, and it adds needed information for your readers. HST, I agree with the other comments about SF. I was privileged to visit SF in 1974, and it was arguably the most beautiful city in America. It is now a 3rd-world latrine that tourists avoid. How can the people of CA allow this?
Agree. Excellent comment.
continued...-to work for a law firm. The City was still reasonably safe in 1996. By 2018, between the housing prices, cost of living, taxes, lousy public schools, excessive regulations, traffic, bums, dirty streets and growing violence, we decided to leave California. My calendar still highlights that we crossed the border into Nevada on September 29, 2019. We have never looked back. Many of our friends moved away before us. Many more have since left. Others are carefully making their plans now to escape. Life is very nice where we are now on the southern East Coast. I loved the San Francisco. I am heartbroken that it has fallen so far.
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. My father was transferred there when I was 4 years old in 1961. I remember as a young child that it was always a special occasion to go into the “City” to visit my father at his work in the Financial District. At six years old, I would have to get dressed up in my little suit and tie. My mother would put on her best outfit and wear her mink stole. Lunch would often be at the Cliff House before visiting Golden Gate Park and the Zoo. Years later upon graduating from UC Davis Engineering in 1980, I moved to the City for my first job with a well-known international engineering firm. I lived with two college buddies in the Marina District off Union Street and worked in the Financial District as my father had done. Between the good job, pretty women, diverse people and food, and hopping bars, we had a blast. My father and I attended the Opera regularly, usually after dinner at Shroeder’s or the Tadich Grill. I later moved to Marin County to live and commuted across the beautiful Bay on the ferry. The good life continued. I moved away for a few years for stints in the Bakersfield oil patch and with an Orange County consulting firm but returned after meeting my wife to live once again in the Marina just off Chestnut Street (the “married man’s Union Street…”). In 1993, after a neighbor was shot during a carjacking, we moved to the East Bay to have our first child. Later after law school and passing the Bar, I returned to the Financial District
I was born in Berkeley over 80 years ago. My grandmother and I used to ride the Keysystem train over the Bay Bridge to San Francisco. She would wear her best clothes including gloves and a hat. That scene now seems like a dream. The City used to be full of excitement and friendly people. What has gone wrong?
Calls to mind Euclasites, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." If I might change the old General Electric slogan, "Progress is our most important vanity."
What is it with so many American Jews? Nothing was handed to them on a silver platter. They got what they have through hard work. Probably their greatest incentive for self-improvement was a high cultural and familial expectation of it. Yet, when it comes to their politics and their expectations of those of the lower economic class, they kill them with low expectations. Dennis Prager said it best, "Jews should preach what they practice".
I live in Israel. The App on Google Play is not available here. Many Anglos and native Israelis follow Professor Hansen. Please try to remedy the situation. Velvel Rice Jerusalem
Thanks Victor! And my wife asks me why I will never set foot in california even though I love playing golf!
There are so many things about this essay I want to comment on. I moved to San Francisco in 1977 and moved out in 1987 but continued to work there until 1996. My ten years in SF were the halcyon years of my youth. I became "a sophisticate" as my Kansas grandmother put it, and loved every moment of it. It was exciting and relatively safe. The way my girlfriends and I handled knuckleheads who followed us was to face them and scream: "Back off." It was amazing how effective a direct command could be. Make no mistake; bad s**t happened during those years. Moscone, Jonestown, etc. I now take BART into the city once a week for a writing critique group and have seen things I can never unsee. Last week my friends were discussing the latest robbery in the neighborhood or their home but stopped talking when I entered the room. I have lived in nice Walnut Creek for over thirty years, and even though I try to control myself, I am smug about it. I'm in the process of deciding if I want to continue doing this because the BART experience is getting worse. It's more than stinking homeless sleeping on the seats. Last week a group of scruffy people got very noisy, to the extent that we were evaluating whether to change cars. Some left, and I stayed. Regarding the pullout from Afghanistan, I felt the same as I did when the Twin Towers were attacked. I was sick for a week. That is an impeachable offense. Joe Biden has always been a sociopath and should burn in hell.
Is that all you can say to this great article, written so well?
VDH, the rotten cities of which you write are being kept on life support by these multi-trillion dollar omnibus bills. One of Biden's recent ones had many billions of dollars of bail-out money for these failing cities. If they had to stand or fall on their successful or unsuccessful management by their political leaders, they could not sustain themselves because of course they would fall. Only then might fiscal responsibility seem more appealing to its voters.
The video footage of Kensington Ave in Philadelphia has immortalized the dying. Ronna Romney McDaniel squandered the opportunity to create campaign ads out of those images in the recent midterms. Philly, L.A. and S.F. are examples what Democrats deliver once elected. Doing the same thing while expecting a different result, McDaniel was given yet another term. This all but guarantees repeat failure for Republicans in 2024. The war in Ukraine is Victoria Nuland’s insane war. Apparently we have woken up to find a world that is completely run by Victoria Nuland. While the rest of the planet’s several billion inhabitants are just along for the ride. Since she was never elected leader of the world, the question is who appointed her to the post? Technically it was feeble Joe Biden. But no one really believes that Biden is calling any of the shots in his epic failure of a Regime. "The decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay.” “While rising empires are often judicious, even rational in their application of armed force for conquest and control of overseas dominions, fading empires are inclined to ill-considered displays of power, dreaming of bold military masterstrokes that would somehow recoup lost prestige and power.” Cause and effect. The decline of the U.S. empire can be traced to our prosperity. This had led to moral decline with the result that our hubris rots the empire from the inside out.
But that's a picture of Los Angeles, Prof. Hanson......
The 4th Lamentation. A sign of the times.
The photos need a caption. I wonder where that is. Said somebody once.