At the heart of the case for progressivism is compassion. New York’s democratic socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, paused the police sweeps that had moved homeless people indoors in winter. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass cut the fire department’s budget while expanding city services and proposing cash assistance for people in the country illegally. Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation that would have allowed taxpayer dollars to support sober housing.
The result of those policies is death and destruction. In San Francisco, a mentally ill homeless woman lived on a sidewalk until her feet rotted from gangrene, after which the hospital amputated them and discharged her back to the same block. After Mayor Mamdani paused the sweeps, at least 19 mentally ill or drug addicted homeless people died outdoors in a single cold snap. In Los Angeles, the underfunded fire department failed to stop the fires in Malibu and other neighborhoods last year, and encampment fires continue to shut down freeways.
