This week the Democrat mayor of Arcadia, CA pled guilty to charges of acting as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China. Prosecutors alleged that from 2020–2022 (pre-mayor but continuing into her time in office), she and an associate operated a website promoting pro-China propaganda at the direction of PRC officials, without registering as a foreign agent.
She faces at up to 10 years in prison for the crime, and it raises questions about how many more US mayors are on the payroll of foreign governments. But this scandal, like most scandals surrounding Democrats, will probably be erased from public discussion and forgotten within days. It’s a tale that keeps repeating over the last decade and the lack of scrutiny (or pattern recognition) is leading to devastating consequences for the US as a whole.
The common reaction among many conservatives when they come across such news is to dismiss it as predictable. “The idiots living in that city got exactly what they voted for…” is the often heard retort. The implication being that it’s “not our problem” and that leftists should be allowed to rot in the hellholes they created for themselves. But the truth is, it is a problem, for the entire country.
It’s difficult to determine when it became fashionable for conservatives and centrists to abandon the fight for America’s cities, but the consequences are spreading like a cancer into the political sphere. Leftists view these cities as victories. They see them as “territories, or “home bases” where they can launch assaults on various targets without fear of serious prosecution.
Allowing this takeover to continue should be treated as embarrassing by anyone with a modicum of moral clarity.
Failing metros also represent symbols of embarrassment on the global stage. When people around the world see the fentanyl zombie hordes of San Francisco or Philadelphia, that image sticks in their minds as a meme for the US.
Hellbound and Down 