Homicides in Washington, D.C., have accelerated to an appalling pace not seen for 25 years. It is a token of America’s urban decline into lawlessness, disorder, fear, and dysfunction presided over by radical left-wing prosecutors and the Democratic Party.
Washington’s august federal buildings gathered around the National Mall are the center of one of the oldest democracies in the world and should bring pride to the hearts of every American. Instead, the city it is a national disgrace about which no honest citizen would care to boast.
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Already in 2023, there have been more than 200 murders and other unlawful killings here, a milestone not reached so early in the calendar since the crack cocaine epidemic raged in 1997, a year that ended with a tally of 303 slayings under the misrule of crack-toking Mayor Marion Barry.
If hope can be drawn from this catalog of mayhem and bloodshed, it is that rising crime in Washington is not merely a local story but a national or international one and may, by shaming America, spark an effective effort to fix it.
Since this is the city that represents our country to the rest of the world, perhaps Congress, which has ultimate authority over the federal city, will see the need to step in and restore order. One D.C. councilman has already called for the National Guard to lend a hand.
There are some signs, although not enough, that Democrats are alarmed by the consequences of their soft-on-crime policies. Even if for some of them this is no more than a cynical calculation of electoral risk and punishment by voters, it is nevertheless welcome and underlines the power of incentives.
Incentives are key to the wave of violence and theft now afflicting all big cities across America. A clear contributory reason — probably the main reason — that crime is exploding is that the Democratic Party has made excuses for it for the past three years or more. After the death of George Floyd in May 2020, Democrats treated street violence and looting as legitimate political protest. Ideological prosecutors, several financed by billionaire radical George Soros, refuse to punish perpetrators.
Thus, clear signals are being sent that crime can be committed without consequences. This is a big incentive. It was particularly apparent in Philadelphia midweek, when mobs ransacked a computer shop and clothing stores. A woman nicknamed "Meatball" and referred to as a social media influencer appears to have livestreamed her participation in the mayhem. It is she, apparently, who can be heard repeatedly yelling “free iPhones” as thugs swarm through an Apple store.
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Livestreaming oneself participating in, or cheering on, a crime spree is not the behavior of someone remotely concerned with unpleasant consequences. Meatball was, however, later seen in tears, in her mug shot after her arrest and charging with burglary, criminal trespassing, rioting with criminal intent, and other felonies.
Such charges, to be followed, one hopes, by prosecution and punishment are precisely what is needed across the country. If you run cities with soft-on-crime policies, you run them into the ground. Philadelphia and many other cities are demonstrating this — as is the shining city on a hill, Washington, D.C.