cawacko
Well-known member
This is the lead editorial from the SF Chronicle today. I was almost shocked to see this but I suppose it makes sense that for change to potentially happen it often has to come from your own 'team'.
The gist is Democrats have not done a good job of governing at the local and state level. It manifests itself in several ways including people leaving high cost liberal areas to more affordable and growing Republican led areas.
Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States. And unlike in 2016, when his victory felt like a fluke, he will arrive in office this time with an overwhelming mandate.
Ballots are still being tallied, but as of Friday, Trump has already received nearly 11 million more votes than he did in 2016. He stands poised to win the popular vote — something many had written off as impossible for a Republican ever again.
Trump was, to use the mildest euphemism possible, ineffective in his previous term as president — even for those who agreed with his agenda, which we did not. He promised to build a wall across the southern border. He didn’t. The economy was his selling point, but his inability and incompetence in handling COVID was responsible for the collapse of local economies and the death of hundreds of thousands of Americans. It took government stimulus checks on borrowed money to prevent an even greater fallout, which then helped spike inflation.
And yet Americans overwhelmingly stared clear-eyed into the prospect of a second Trump term and decided, yes, this is better than continued Democratic leadership.
That’s terrifying. But given Trump’s landslide victory, Democrats can’t afford to write off the election result as racism, sexism and misinformation — even if all three played a role. Nor can they go back to the same old resistance playbook and hope the nation changes its mind in four years; Trump made startling gains with women, Black, Latino and young voters in this election. Now is the time for introspection. And the truth is that Democratic leadership across the nation, including and perhaps especially here in California, is failing from the bottom up.
How can Democrats sell themselves as the ethical upholders of democracy when their big city mayors are under indictment for bribery?
How can they convince people of their compassionate vision when cities in Texas are the ones solving their homelessness problem and driving rents down while street conditions in San Francisco and Los Angeles continue to erode?
How can they extoll the efficacy of progressive taxation when California has the highest poverty rate in the United States? How can they talk about racial justice when that poverty disproportionately affects Black and Latino residents — while Black and Latino economic growth is booming in red states like Georgia and Texas?
Meanwhile, if California wants to advance environmental causes and convince Americans to help move the needle in the fight against climate change, our cities can’t be smoggy, trash-strewn traffic jams. And we can’t have workers burning fossil fuels for two hours each commute because they can’t afford to live near their jobs.
Success, not resistance, will ultimately be the Democrats’ best and most powerful revenge.
As the largest blue reservoir in a sea of red, California will be the center of that effort. Unfortunately, Trump’s election has made the prospect of turning our fortunes around even more difficult.
When and if disaster strikes from wildfires, President-elect Trump has threatened to withhold emergency relief funds.
More federal dollars to combat homelessness or to improve mental health treatment access and outcomes will not be flowing in our direction.
Climate change resiliency funds? Forget about it. Additional transit dollars? Not a chance.
We’re on our own, California. Help is not on the way.
Yet we are not powerless.
California is the fifth-largest economy in the world. Our purchasing power drives the consumer market. We are an agriculture hub; the nation depends on us for food. We remain the center of both the technological and creative universe. Our natural beauty is the envy of the country. We are one of the few places that has the resources, talent and intellectual capital to thrive in isolation.
All of this gives us leverage to shape the nation. But we need to use these inherent advantages to do more than lecture the majority of the country that they are wrong. We need to show them that we are right — something we have consistently failed to do in recent years.
Many necessary next steps are obvious, if unnecessarily controversial. In the face of federal inaction on climate, we can build dense, mixed-income housing near jobs, transit and amenities in our cities so that people don’t have to drive. Concentrating more of this development in temperate, job-rich coastal places like the Bay Area creates efficiencies within efficiencies. Fewer vehicle miles traveled means fewer emissions. Dense development uses less water, which leads to better preservation of our wild spaces. Moderate climates like San Francisco’s need less air conditioning and heat, easing the strain on the power grid and bringing down costs. Adding people to the city will create a larger tax base to fund expensive infrastructural improvements like water recycling and rainwater capture — so we can stop dumping our sewage in the bay.
California should of course be a sanctuary for LGBTQ people and women fleeing persecution in other states and seeking bodily autonomy. But if we don’t want to condemn those in need to refugee camps or the streets, we need to create meaningful opportunities for them once they arrive. That means housing. It means job growth. It means cleaning up our moribund schools so that everyone, not just the wealthy, has the chance to thrive in our economy.
Succeed and we will grow our political power. We’re seeing that with Texas and Florida. Life there is not perfect. But they are welcoming diverse new residents and providing them with economic opportunities. Many working-class residents can afford to buy homes and build wealth. Those residents in turn are expanding Republican clout at the national level.
Here in San Francisco, we have an unprecedented opportunity to show — not lecture — the nation about the power of our city and the righteousness of our values. Our new Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie is inexperienced, yes. But he’s also unburdened by political allegiances and debts — free to pursue an outcomes-based agenda, with a mandate from voters to do just that.
Success can and will be our best revenge against Trumpism. Let’s commit ourselves to making it happen.
The gist is Democrats have not done a good job of governing at the local and state level. It manifests itself in several ways including people leaving high cost liberal areas to more affordable and growing Republican led areas.
For California, success is the best and only revenge against Trumpism
Democratic leadership across the nation, including and perhaps especially here in California, is failing from the bottom up. We must do better
Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States. And unlike in 2016, when his victory felt like a fluke, he will arrive in office this time with an overwhelming mandate.
Ballots are still being tallied, but as of Friday, Trump has already received nearly 11 million more votes than he did in 2016. He stands poised to win the popular vote — something many had written off as impossible for a Republican ever again.
Trump was, to use the mildest euphemism possible, ineffective in his previous term as president — even for those who agreed with his agenda, which we did not. He promised to build a wall across the southern border. He didn’t. The economy was his selling point, but his inability and incompetence in handling COVID was responsible for the collapse of local economies and the death of hundreds of thousands of Americans. It took government stimulus checks on borrowed money to prevent an even greater fallout, which then helped spike inflation.
And yet Americans overwhelmingly stared clear-eyed into the prospect of a second Trump term and decided, yes, this is better than continued Democratic leadership.
That’s terrifying. But given Trump’s landslide victory, Democrats can’t afford to write off the election result as racism, sexism and misinformation — even if all three played a role. Nor can they go back to the same old resistance playbook and hope the nation changes its mind in four years; Trump made startling gains with women, Black, Latino and young voters in this election. Now is the time for introspection. And the truth is that Democratic leadership across the nation, including and perhaps especially here in California, is failing from the bottom up.
How can Democrats sell themselves as the ethical upholders of democracy when their big city mayors are under indictment for bribery?
How can they convince people of their compassionate vision when cities in Texas are the ones solving their homelessness problem and driving rents down while street conditions in San Francisco and Los Angeles continue to erode?
How can they extoll the efficacy of progressive taxation when California has the highest poverty rate in the United States? How can they talk about racial justice when that poverty disproportionately affects Black and Latino residents — while Black and Latino economic growth is booming in red states like Georgia and Texas?
Meanwhile, if California wants to advance environmental causes and convince Americans to help move the needle in the fight against climate change, our cities can’t be smoggy, trash-strewn traffic jams. And we can’t have workers burning fossil fuels for two hours each commute because they can’t afford to live near their jobs.
Success, not resistance, will ultimately be the Democrats’ best and most powerful revenge.
As the largest blue reservoir in a sea of red, California will be the center of that effort. Unfortunately, Trump’s election has made the prospect of turning our fortunes around even more difficult.
When and if disaster strikes from wildfires, President-elect Trump has threatened to withhold emergency relief funds.
More federal dollars to combat homelessness or to improve mental health treatment access and outcomes will not be flowing in our direction.
Climate change resiliency funds? Forget about it. Additional transit dollars? Not a chance.
We’re on our own, California. Help is not on the way.
Yet we are not powerless.
California is the fifth-largest economy in the world. Our purchasing power drives the consumer market. We are an agriculture hub; the nation depends on us for food. We remain the center of both the technological and creative universe. Our natural beauty is the envy of the country. We are one of the few places that has the resources, talent and intellectual capital to thrive in isolation.
All of this gives us leverage to shape the nation. But we need to use these inherent advantages to do more than lecture the majority of the country that they are wrong. We need to show them that we are right — something we have consistently failed to do in recent years.
Many necessary next steps are obvious, if unnecessarily controversial. In the face of federal inaction on climate, we can build dense, mixed-income housing near jobs, transit and amenities in our cities so that people don’t have to drive. Concentrating more of this development in temperate, job-rich coastal places like the Bay Area creates efficiencies within efficiencies. Fewer vehicle miles traveled means fewer emissions. Dense development uses less water, which leads to better preservation of our wild spaces. Moderate climates like San Francisco’s need less air conditioning and heat, easing the strain on the power grid and bringing down costs. Adding people to the city will create a larger tax base to fund expensive infrastructural improvements like water recycling and rainwater capture — so we can stop dumping our sewage in the bay.
California should of course be a sanctuary for LGBTQ people and women fleeing persecution in other states and seeking bodily autonomy. But if we don’t want to condemn those in need to refugee camps or the streets, we need to create meaningful opportunities for them once they arrive. That means housing. It means job growth. It means cleaning up our moribund schools so that everyone, not just the wealthy, has the chance to thrive in our economy.
Succeed and we will grow our political power. We’re seeing that with Texas and Florida. Life there is not perfect. But they are welcoming diverse new residents and providing them with economic opportunities. Many working-class residents can afford to buy homes and build wealth. Those residents in turn are expanding Republican clout at the national level.
Here in San Francisco, we have an unprecedented opportunity to show — not lecture — the nation about the power of our city and the righteousness of our values. Our new Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie is inexperienced, yes. But he’s also unburdened by political allegiances and debts — free to pursue an outcomes-based agenda, with a mandate from voters to do just that.
Success can and will be our best revenge against Trumpism. Let’s commit ourselves to making it happen.
