New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has written a much-noted piece about how badly "his" liberals have mangled what conservatives call "the Left Coast" or rhyme "West Coast, messed coast." It's behind a paywall but you can read a pirated copy at DNyuz.com. Hat tip to RealClearPolitics for the link.
An Oregon native, Kristof finds much to like about the West but concludes it has too many drug problems, too many homeless, and too little housing. I suppose what irritates him most is that local governments are all run by Democrats and have been for decades so he can't blame Republicans for the region's problems.
See why he believes the current (unhappy) state of affairs exists.
My take is that the West Coast’s central problem is not so much that it’s unserious as that it’s infected with an ideological purity that is focused more on intentions than on oversight and outcomes.
Perhaps on the West Coast we have ideological purity because there isn’t much political competition. Republicans are irrelevant in much of the Far West, so they can’t hold Democrats’ feet to the fire — leading Democrats in turn to wander unchecked farther to the left.
He does write one thing that is semi-ridiculous, giving credit to blue governments for the following.
The three states with the lowest rates of unsheltered homelessness are all blue ones in the Northeast: Vermont, New York and Maine.
Homeless people are not intentionally suicidal; is it any wonder they don't stay where the winters can easily kill you? The West Coast is above freezing much of the time, and blizzards are rare, though not unknown in OR and WA. In the late '60s I experienced nearly 3 feet of snow over a weekend in Eugene.
Santa Barbara, on the coast north of Los Angeles, has had a homeless problem longer than almost anywhere. Its temperatures almost never drop below freezing, avocados and lemons are grown nearby.
Some of the West Coast's homeless problem is simply down to weather. Living outdoors is way easier where the temperature is moderate.
