When I was a kid, I wanted to live in Washington, DC. My aunt and uncle lived in the Northern Virginia suburbs, so when we visited them, we toured DC, too. That was the 1990s, and the city was beautiful then. The rich history, the significant landmarks of our country, all in one place: what’s not to like?
The last time I visited DC was for “The Mother of All Rallies” in September 2017. A friend of mine rented an Airbnb for us to stay near the Capitol. The Rally was kind of a dud (about 350 showed up), but at least I could lobby several Congressmen and US Senators. One of them called the police on me, but nothing major happened. In fact, the streets, especially near all the Capitol and monument buildings, were clean. There were some ghetto sections of DC, but I never felt unsafe driving through or parking.
I love our federal city. I like the sense of being in the heart of the action, where all the major decisions are made in our government. Who doesn’t want to walk the streets where our Presidents and their coterie of cabinet members reasoned and argued with each other?
But from Trump’s first term in office to recently, the whole country has noticed how perversely left-wing—and unsafe—our nation’s capital has devolved. Sure, DC has always been “Democrat City,” having never elected a Republican mayor, and the last Republican city councilman left in 2009, but now it’s gone full-blown Woke. Mayor Muriel Bowser and her all-Democrat city council have taken the city to very dark places.
Sadly, the perfect nickname for our federal capital should be “Dark City.” Not just the politics, but also because of how corrupt and criminal it has become. When Tucker Carlson lived in DC, Antifa militants surrounded his home, terrorized his wife and children. The crime rates exceed those of major cities in third-world countries! That’s just unconscionable.
From the George Floyd riots to the present day, DC has turned into “Don’t Come.” Sure, Columnists twenty years ago warned how Washington, DC was becoming dangerous. Over the last four years, those realities have become front-page news.
This is embarrassing and a gross affront to every American.
Washington, DC, is the face of our nation to the rest of the world. Foreign dignitaries, international media, and global business leaders have conferred and cajoled our President and Congressional lawmakers in this city.
The rich history, the necessary legacies of trial and error, war and peace, all converge on this District of Columbia. What started out as a log-rolling bargain to strengthen the nation’s new post-Articles of Confederation Government should serve as the very best of our country.
Then the mayor and her perverse cohorts made DEI the centerpiece of DC. Historic churches throughout the district have turned into incubators, ovens, covens of abject, anti-constitutional liberalism. The voters elected Marion “Cokehead” Barry twice. What is the matter with these people?!
The city is 95% Democratic, worse than San Francisco. It is leftist to the core, most likely because of the relentless welfarism of the Democratic Party, the massive influx of liberals from Maryland, plus the fact that nearly everyone living there and working in DC wants the government largesse to continue unabated. They work for the government, after all!
This is a recipe for disaster. Washington, DC has flirted with decriminalizing prostitution. The city banned reparative therapy for children and adults, not just a violation of the First Amendment but a silly virtue-signaling gesture. The city has embraced sanctuary city policies, protecting illegal aliens and criminals at the expense of the few remaining law-abiding citizens. The city passed a vaccine mandate for children to enroll in Washington, D.C., schools. On that point, one cannot neglect to mention that the city council oversees the public school system in the city/district. The district schools are some of the worst, and even a Democrat reformer, Michelle Rhee, faced impossible odds to turn things around.
To his credit, showing his energetic resurgence as Trump 2.0, the President has brought in the National Guard to restore order. In one sense, it’s embarrassing that the military has to bring back law and order, but at least it’s getting done. The city police are working with ICE to deport illegals, too!
Yes, thank you, President Trump, for giving us back Washington, DC. What an indictment on the city leadership, and the voting population that federal military must be deployed in the city to get things back in order.
Congress can override DC’s bad policy moves, too. Congress attempted to override the city vaccine mandate, for example. They successfully overrode the city’s criminal law overhaul, which basically amounted to mass decriminalization. President Joe Biden and his Democratic cronies transformed DC into New York City, so they had to fix it.
“Don’t Come” is turning into “Come Back,” but Trump should ensure that our nation’s capital never suffers this disturbing mismanagement again. Why should Americans settle for half- measures? The same crappy people run the city council, and the residents show no sign of learning from failure.
The crime was so bad that even Congressmen are getting harassed, attacked, robbed, and threatened. How many Congressional staff have been killed in DC? Why do we tolerate this?
It’s time to end home rule for Washington, DC. Congress must restore the prior governing model for the District of Columbia, allowing the President to appoint the mayor/commissioner running the city.
But doesn’t that disenfranchise the residents? Washington, DC residents should not be allowed to vote. They live in the very seat of our federal government, with the easiest pathway to lobby Congress. They don’t elect a voting member of Congress, anyway. As a trade-off, they shouldn’t pay income taxes. “Taxation without Representation” is wrong, and DC residents who have demanded an end to taxation should enjoy that freedom. This reform will encourage worthy stakeholders to move to DC, drive out the criminals, and make Washington, DC, livable again.