By Jeff McCoy @ Shutterstock.com
In our nation’s capital, Mayor Muriel Bowser broke her pact with the city’s residents. So guess what? Daniel Turner is leaving. Permanently. In Human Events, Mr. Turner outlines why, “cities are now angry, dangerous, garbage dumps” and why he is taking his money elsewhere.
My role in the fabric of urban society, overlooked but essential, was to spend my money. Eat, drink, shop, spend, tip, pay. And man, did I pay: taxes, rents, then a mortgage and HOA fees. I paid taxes on things the government deemed “bad” for me, like alcohol and cigarettes; taxes on services (that) organized labor deemed “bad” for them, like rideshare. I paid gas tax, cable tax, cell phone tax, and, of course, income tax. Lots of income tax.
A Broken Tactic Pact
All I asked in return was relative safety and to be left alone to enjoy the city. City-living in America, for decades, meant tolerating mild inconveniences so that you could be left alone, alongside millions of others. That was the tacit pact.
And DC broke it.”
Government Mandated Compassion
When Mayor Bowser spray painted “Black Live Matter” in front of the Regis Hotel on 16th Street, Mr. Turner says he knew he was done.
Not because of the issue itself or the cause (remember I don’t really care) but because through her actions, Bowser effectively mandated empathy. This was government-sanctioned compassion. The mayor used taxpayer dollars—the one’s I’ve forked over for years—to force her beliefs on me. And, just like that, the pact was broken.
The Stink of Decay
Following Mayor Bowser’s spray-painting gesture, Mr. Turner writes of his litany of grievances against D.C., which, he notes, had been unconsciously accumulating for years:
- Why do I accept that it’s dangerous to ride public transportation after hours?
- Why do I accept that if I go to the ATM on Barrack’s Row, I will have a homeless guy pounding on the door waiting for me to come out?
- Why do I tolerate my car windows smashed, again and again, only to have both cops and friends say, “well, you must have left something on the seat”—as if it’s acceptable to commit a crime if the reward is valuable?
- Why do I tolerate streets full of urine and stinking of marijuana?
- Why do I put up with having to stick my fingers into my dog’s throat to unchoke chicken bones someone discarded on the sidewalk?
- Why do I have to wait until an hour after the local school is dismissed to avoid problems with teen gangs?
- And take note: I have yet to even talk about the big crime events like murder or rape.
A man can only tolerate a homeless guy defecating outside his window for so long. The shuttered restaurants, the burnt out stores, the mask-shaming and sloganeering calls for “diversity” or “justice” are all just exhausting, not to mention intellectually vapid and morally bankrupt.
DC Can’t Afford to Lose Law Abiding Citizens
The thing is, DC cannot afford to lose me. Not “me” as a person, but “me” as a citizen. Economically, I am extremely valuable to the city. I have no kids in (D.C.’s) failing schools. I use no government welfare services for food, housing, or health. I pay … taxes and patronize … stores, businesses, and shops.
I am a buying, consuming, spending, law-abiding DC citizen, one who adds and adds to the city’s coffers and never takes. DC needs me. Cities need me.
Learn more about BLM and the Marxist agenda to transform America from Rudy Giuliani and Ron Paul.
