Writing about the D.C. crime problem on the homepage today, D.C.-area resident John Hasson makes an important point:
Regardless of whether you think that the city is generally unsafe, the city is clearly unsafe for government officials. It doesn’t matter if D.C.’s overall crime rate is comparable to those of other cities if that crime rate threatens or disrupts government work.
Hasson cites numerous examples of the effects of D.C.’s crime problem on government employees, including elected officials. They refute the blithe dismissal of one elected official, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who claims that he feels “perfectly safe” in the city. It must be nice to have a security detail.
It’s not just people involved in politics. Just about everyone in D.C. either has experienced the consequences of the breakdown of law and order directly or knows someone who has. I do. You might know him as well. It’s my friend Isaac Schorr, who used to work at National Review and live in D.C. While he was still in the city, a bullet ripped through his car. He tells the story in Spectator World:
The last thing I heard before my ears started ringing was my left turn signal clicking.
I was stopped at a red light on a Saturday afternoon, waiting to glide into my parking lot near the Waterfront Metro stop in Washington, DC when a loud crack suddenly deafened me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a bullet-sized wound in my windshield.
It wasn’t a windy day, and no cars had been passing by to kick a loose stone up at my beloved Camry, so it only took me only a half-second to realize what had happened. When the fight or flight kicked in, I briefly (and foolishly) fled the vehicle before diving back in to take a left on red.
The two Metropolitan Police Department officers my 911 call summoned didn’t show up until a half-hour later, even though the nearest station was only a two-minute walk away. Gesturing toward my broken windshield, I asked them for confirmation of what I already knew had happened. Yes, my car had probably been shot with me in it, they agreed before informing me that all they could do was record the incident.
If I wanted, they said, I could ask nearby apartment buildings and businesses for security footage and report back to them. And then they were off; my ears were still ringing.
Read his whole account. Isaac’s experience has left him no time for naysayers like Schumer who say it’s not a big deal. Schumer is obviously wrong, and Isaac is obviously right. Maintaining public order is one of any government’s most important tasks. That’s why conservatives, who generally favor a restrained state, endorse an energetic execution of this role. It’s bad when a government can’t fulfill this function. And when the administration of our nation’s seat of government can’t, it’s impossible to find fault with Isaac’s gratitude toward Donald Trump for doing something about it.