New York Times columnist and former Oregon Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nicholas Kristof admitted Saturday that West Coast cities are “a mess” because of Democratic Party leaders.
In a column for the New York Times, Kristof argued that “West Coast liberalism” focuses more on the intentions behind its policies than their results. As a result, deep blue states like Oregon have significant homelessness and drug problems, “below average” high school graduation rates, and high homicide rates.
“But liberals like me need to face the painful fact that something went very wrong where we are in charge, from San Diego to Seattle,” the columnist declared at the beginning of his article, adding that the West Coast offers “a version of progressivism that does not result in progress.”
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New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof slammed West Coast Democratic Party leaders for turning their states and cities into a “disaster.” (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
Kristof, who was forced by the Oregon Supreme Court to end his 2021 gubernatorial bid for failing to meet eligibility requirements, clarified that he does not believe this is a problem with liberalism across the board and cited examples of how you think Democratic states are doing better than Republican states in general.
“Democratic states enjoy a life expectancy two years longer than Republican states. GDP per capita in Democratic states is 29 percent higher than in Republican states, and child poverty is lower. Education is generally better in blue states, with more kids graduating from high school and college.”
“The welfare gap between blue and red states is widening, not narrowing,” he wrote, leading him to conclude: “So the problem isn't liberalism. It's West Coast liberalism.”
He went on to point out major problems in California and Oregon, noting that the blue states on the East Coast don't have them.
“The two states with the highest rates of homeless people are California and Oregon. The three states with the lowest rates of homeless people are all blue in the Northeast: Vermont, New York and Maine. The Liberal “Massachusetts has some of the best public schools in the country, while liberal Washington and Oregon have below-average high school graduation rates.”
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Kristof added that youth mental health services have declined in blue states on the West Coast, while they have flourished on the other side of the country. Furthermore, drug use increases in the west and decreases in “the northeast.” The homicide rate is also experiencing the same corresponding dynamics, he noted.
He then offered his theories on why the Democratic Party leadership seems “less effective on the West Coast,” stating that “my view is that the central problem on the West Coast is not so much that it is not serious but that it is infected with a purity ideology that focuses more on intentions than on supervision and results.
“Politics is always partly theatre, but in the West we too often settle for being performative rather than substantive.”
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California Governor Gavin Newsom recently came under fire for describing California as a “national model” for combating homelessness. (California Governor Gavin Newsom's YouTube channel)
Kristof provided examples, such as the fact that Oregon took money from an “already tight education budget” to put tampons in elementary school boys' bathrooms, “including boys' bathrooms in kindergartens“.
He also mentioned that Portland created the “Portland Freedom Fund,” a volunteer group that pays bail for people of color. He explained how he posted bail for a man after he was arrested for allegedly threatening the life of his girlfriend. Once he was released from prison, he murdered the woman.
Kristof continued, noting that despite being inspired by anti-racist Critical Race theorists like Ibram people of color.”
“We are leaving an increasing number of people to struggle with homelessness, particularly black and brown people. Black people in Portland are also murdered at higher rates than in cities most notorious for violence, and Seattle and Portland have some of the largest racial disparities in arrests in the country,” he wrote.
To clarify the issue, he added: “I think intentions and framework can matter, but it is absolutely true that good intentions are not enough. What matters is improving opportunities and quality of life, and the best way to achieve this is a relentless empiricism.”
At the end of the column, Kristof concluded: “We need to get our act together. Less purity and more pragmatism would help a lot. But perhaps the first step should be the humility of acknowledging our failures.”
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