OPINION:
Atlanta’s wealthy Buckhead district residents say they’ve seen enough crime — they’ve dodged enough bullets while walking the dog — that they’re seeking to secede from the rest of the city. That makes sense.
Note to Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms: Your vision of “One Atlanta — an affordable, resilient and equitable Atlanta” — doesn’t seem to be making the grade. The once-majestic jewel of the South has been brought low by a 50% increase in murders in about a year’s time. What’s she done to solve the problem?
She’s blamed Republicans.
“Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms blames crime increase on GOP’s reopening plan, easy access to guns,” one New York Post headline blared.
She’s blamed Gov. Brian Kemp.
“Remember in George we were opened up before the rest of the country, even before the CDC said that it was safe for us to open so our night clubs and our bars remained open so we had people traveling here from across the country to party in our city,” she told MSNBC.
She’s blamed the people — for having too much free time on their hands.
In short, the left-leaning mayor has blamed everyone but herself.
But isn’t that how Democrats roll? Right over the word “Accountability,” like a road roller over asphalt on a hot day.
“Until we deal with the systemic issues of gun violence in this country …” yada yada, blah, blah, insert eye-rolling emoji here.
Fact is, the mayor’s in a position to deal with gun violence in her particular jurisdiction. She just doesn’t want to; she doesn’t want to address the gang violence or family breakdowns or fatherless homes or drug addictions — not in any way that’s meaningful, at least. Democrats only want to address those issues by throwing money at the problem, preferably yours and mine. They don’t want to make the unpopular decisions that should be part and parcel of good governing — of recognizing, identifying, naming and dealing with the roots of such issues, moral-based and tough-on-crime demanding as they are. So they boot. They boot the can. They shield themselves from blame and point fingers somewhere, anywhere, somewhere and anywhere else.
And when that wheel of political fortune stops spinning, they run. They announce they’re not seeking reelection — because, once again, of someone, anyone, someone and anyone else’s fault.
“The last three years have not been at all what I would have scripted for our city,” Bottoms said back in May. “There was last summer. There was a pandemic. There was a social justice movement. There was a madman in the White House.”
Cut and run. It’s the Democrats’ playbook for long-time political service.
Atlanta’s residents are left with the devastation of such poor leadership, though. They’re the real victims.
“Most of our residents live in fear,” said Bill White, CEO and chairman of the Buckhead City Committee, a group formed to secede from the rest of the city, Yahoo! News reported. “As a result, daily activities such as getting gas, carpooling or going for a walk are no longer done without careful consideration and concern for safety. We have shootings in our neighborhoods every day, at all hours of the day.”
That’s the reality of a liberal-run city.
That’s the legacy Bottoms leaves.
Buckhead will probably now be targeted by social justice warriors accusing racism and dismissing their very real fears to inherent biases against the majority black population of the city.
But let the facts speak for themselves.
“Crime is way up,” White said.
“Arrests [are] way down,” White said.
“Nothing makes sense,” White said.
And that’s Democrat Leadership 101.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Socialists Don’t Sleep: Christians Must Rise Or America Will Fall,” is available by clicking HERE.
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