The Grim Reality of "Progressive" Policies in San Francisco and Seattle
The very same phenomenon is occurring in France. Does the same ideology lead to the same effects? "Progressivism" is a failure. Or rather, a successful return to feudalism.
As the demise of USAID is blatant, we republish our analysis from November 20, 2021, on the consequences of progressive policies, which allows an elitist minority to seize the bulk of public resources for its own gain. It is a hallmark of a society on the path to feudalism.
The original article published in french is here.
In France, we have little understanding of the scale of the opioid epidemic—and more broadly, drug use—in the United States. This is an issue we do not encounter on such a level, although the increasing normalization of crack abuse is more than alarming (effective substitutes exist for opioids, but not for crack).
Overdose is now the leading cause of death for Americans under 50. More than 100,000 deaths were recorded in 2020, with similar numbers in 2021. From 1999 to 2021, over 900,000 people died of ODs. Synthetic opioids alone cause twice as many overdose deaths as all other drugs combined. By comparison, 45,000 Americans died in traffic accidents last year. This death toll is akin to that of a high-intensity war, striking the same demographic that would be affected by conflict—the nation's vital force, those under 50.
Apart from the infamous episodes of the French Connection and the Pizza Connection in the 1960s and 1970s, the first opioid epidemic started in the early 1990s during Bill Clinton's presidency, fueled by prescription drugs. The second (heroin) and third (fentanyl manufactured by Mexican cartels) waves began in 2010 and 2013, respectively, during Barack Obama's term. These three epidemics are still ongoing. The crack epidemic, on the other hand, was a hallmark of Ronald Reagan's two terms, with some suggesting unsavory reasons linked to the Iran-Contra affair, involving cocaine trafficking to fund CIA operations that Congress had banned.
The onset of these epidemics coincides not with economics crises but with periods of rampant deregulation. The reason behind the prescription drugs, i.e. “legal” epidemic is particularly sordid: money. Legal money. The pharmaceutical industry, with assistance from consulting firms like McKinsey (the same one involved in managing France's "vaccine strategy"), managed to deregulate the use of potent painkillers, previously reserved for patients in extreme pain or at the end of their lives.
One company directly involved, Purdue Pharma, was liquidated on September 21, 2021. The Sackler family who owned this company, had to pay $4.5 billion in reparations to avoid criminal charges, despite their wealth being valued at $10.3 billion before Purdue's liquidation. The penalty hardly matches the harm caused.
Do you have a back broken, shoulders, and knees destroyed from the hardship of your job? Take Percocet, Fentanyl, or OxyContin. You can continue to work yourself to the bone without pain, for minimum wage, in your two jobs, without which you cannot support your family. However, all opioids, whether natural (morphine, heroin) or synthetic, lead to a dependency from which escape is extremely difficult. As tolerance builds, the required dose for pain relief increases, heightening the risk of overdose.
In some states, "pain clinics" proliferated where unscrupulous doctors issued prescriptions en masse not for medical use, hardly recreational, for "patients" whose only pain was withdrawal. Addiction, "just what the doctor ordered"…
Prince, far from being a junkie, died from this. To alleviate back pain from decades on stage, he was taking Fentanyl prescribed by his M.D. He overdosed on April 26, 2016. The list of celebrities who have had the same fate is long.
The rampant drug addiction we see is just a manifestation of a profound societal dysfunction. It goes beyond the uniquely American cultural relationship with drugs; it's really about the separation of the elite—be it in finance, administration, politics, or media.
In the United States, these elite groups are distinct from one another, though they share numerous interests. Many have been schooled at elite "Ivy League" universities. They socialize at country clubs, fashionable eateries, bars, charity functions, think tanks, and at the entry points of expensive private schools costing $30,000 per year where they send their kids. However, these groups are not as intertwined as they are in France. While social mobility in the U.S. is not perfect, the possibility to transcend one's socioeconomic origins is more achievable than in France, where social reproduction is more entrenched.
It must be acknowledged that individual success, more than inheritance, opens the door to elite status. Transitioning from one elite group to another is challenging because the law restricts it, and also because there's a consensus among the elites that by staying in their respective lanes, class interests are better protected.
You may have seen those videos filmed on Kensington Avenue in Philadelphia, the largest open-air drug market on the East Coast. This one dates back to November 14, 2021.
Philadelphia lies in the "Rust Belt," the once-thriving industrial heartland now marked by decay. As the capital of Pennsylvania and the first capital of the United States, it is home to the "Liberty Bell," which is said to have rung out following the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Yet, the city has been struck hard by the collapse of its steel and textile industries. Once the robust and prosperous industrial heart of the United States before globalization, this heart has been transplanted to countries with cheaper labor costs over the past fifty years.
There is a reality that French corporate media will not show us, largely due to the Anglo-Saxon bias of journalists stemming predominantly from the upper-middle class. San Francisco and Seattle are portrayed as the "startup nation," a modern Byzantium, the future of humanity. They are depicted as lands of universal opulence, sunny havens of Big Tech where electric bikes and Teslas have replaced traditional cars.
San Francisco Bay is Silicon Valley. It's Intel, HP, Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Oracle, among others. Seattle is home to Microsoft and Starbucks. It’s this quasi-religious belief system that holds that corporations and technology are inherently beneficial, destined to solve all problems sooner or later—better than governments, better than democratic institutions run by elected officials. Hence, the hubris to address the Covid epidemic through vaccination, despite historical medical evidence suggesting it has never succeeded. Because mRNA is an innovation, a "revolution," and thus inherently good and morally justified. One must not confuse progress with recklessness.
It’s the Gold Rush 2.0, where immense fortunes are amassed as quickly as those of the 19th-century prospector who stumbled upon the right vein. But beware, this is done in a supposedly eco-socio-gender-racial-responsible way, saving the world one quinoa-beet-jalapeño salad at a time. Or, if you're Bill Gates, by vaccinating the entire planet with well-ordered philanthropy—a charity that's self-serving, boosting your "net worth" by creating new markets for companies you hold stakes in.
This, we are told, is the American Dream.
The American Dream for the tens of millions of immigrants—first European, then Asian, then Latino—was never as it's often portrayed. African Americans had to wait until the end of the Civil War, or even the end of segregation, to begin dreaming. Native Americans, having first been subjected to genocide, can only dream from the reservations to which they've been confined.
The American Dream is simpler, more prosaic: to live freely, decently, and to offer one's children a better life by starting anew. Immigration is about staring with a blank page and writing a new chapter. The French did not emigrate en masse to the U.S. in the 19th and 20th centuries because in France, one could live freely and with an assured future, even if living conditions were tough. This was not the case for the Irish, who couldn't feed themselves under British rule, nor for Eastern European Jews persecuted by pogroms, nor for Italians, Poles, Greeks, and others.
The catastrophic consequences of "progressivism" in Seattle and San Francisco (add Portland and Denver to this list) are not the downside of the American Dream. They are the result of the hijacking of public means and its institutions by a minority "establishment" and their "woke" offspring, who are indifferent to the societal impact of their selfish freedom to smoke marijuana in public and buy it freely. Smoking pot is a marker of the upper middle class and universities. In the working or middle class, one starts directly with methamphetamine, heroin, or crack.
In the 2019 documentary on Seattle below, filmed before the advent of Covid, one can witness the following scene, epitomizing the disconnect between the ruling class and the people.
Residents of Ballard, a middle-class neighborhood, frustrated by the hundreds of drug-addict homeless camping on sidewalks and in parks, the heaps of trash piled everywhere, syringes in sandboxes, feces on every corner, and the inevitable crime associated with these unfortunate souls sustaining their addiction (in Seattle in 2019, there were over 5,000 burglaries per 100,000 residents), simply demand that the city rules be enforced. They ask for the ban on camping in public spaces to be upheld, not out of anger or hatred towards drug users, but because their daily life in their neighborhood has turned into a living hell.
The response from an elected official? "In case of burglary or assault, call 911"...
In San Francisco, one of America's richest cities, the situation might be even worse. Misery is not any sweeter under the California sun.
The working and middle classes bears the brunt of this situation. They do not have the resources to rely on anything other than public authorities for protection. Unless they take justice into their own hands, which leads to the proliferation of self-defense groups or even armed militias in certain scenarios, as witnessed during the looting masked as Black Lives Matter protests in over a hundred cities. The tragedy in Kenosha, where a 17-year-old killed two protesters and seriously injured another in what was deemed self-defense by a court of law, serves as a stark reminder.
The choice of vocabulary is never neutral. We speak of "homelessness," carefully avoiding mention of what led these individuals to the streets: their drug addiction or mental illness—often both. These are not people merely experiencing a temporary setback.
In San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, and Portland, weed sale and consumption are legal, and drug possession is decriminalized. It's not just about permitting the open sale of marijuana to adults; there's also the justified belief that hard drug use does not inherently make one a criminal. But the rationale doesn't stop there. It's concluded that drug addicts committing criminal offenses due to their addiction are not accountable for their actions, and imposing any form of restraint would violate their constitutional rights—a circular argument.
In Seattle, the police have orders not to arrest individuals with less than 3 grams of heroin. Yet, 3 grams of heroin equates to 30 doses. Dealers quickly caught on. This has set in motion the vicious cycle where addicts can feed their addiction without hindrance, while dealers accumulate considerable sums of money unimpeded.
All this so that a small minority can enjoy the recreational “freedom” to get high; ignoring the fundamentally mafia-like and international nature of drug trafficking. It's false hedonism but real selfishness.
Consider for a moment the impact in Mexico, for example, if U.S. drug consumption were halved, where over 20,000 people die violently each year in cartel wars.
Keep in mind that, according to Antonio Maria Costa, then director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, it was the hundreds of billions in drug money that kept the banking system afloat during the 2007-2008 crisis. This dirty money was the only liquidity available to some retail banks on the brink of collapse. The Wachovia case, which laundered over $350 billion for Mexican cartels during the crisis, serves as a reminder. The penalty for Wachovia, now acquired by Wells Fargo? A $160 million fine and no criminal prosecution.
Moreover, the tax revenue from cannabis sales is a boon for local governments and states whose finances have been drained by massive transfers from the public to the private sector over the last forty years.
The situation is intractable unless one turns the table over.
Are individuals whose entire lives revolve around finding their next fix still free men? Not in a legal sense, but in a philosophical one? To what extent does drug addiction remain a choice?
The equation posed by progressive ideology is grim: for some to have the freedom to use drugs recreationally, we must accept the enormous human, social, and financial cost borne by others who use drugs having lost the freedom to choose otherwise.
City centers and neighborhoods are literally devastated. There's widespread insecurity. Businesses close down. Companies leave. Residents move out, replaced by poorer ones. The downward spiral is well-known.
Legalization is the marker of the upper-middle class's secession.
But we must maintain a clear conscience, sleep the sleep of the just. The homeless drug addicts are visible, audible, tangible; they affect us , even if we don't live in the urban centers or neighborhoods where they congregate.
Thus, we build "tiny houses" for them, but we do not attempt to restore the freedom and dignity they've lost, because in most cases, this would require coercion, as they are no longer masters of themselves but slaves to their addiction. And since, on principle, we are against coercion because we refuse to have it applied to us by any authority, we build tiny houses.
Building tiny houses is good, it's charitable, it boosts endorphins, allows for showing off one's generosity on social networks, during charity galas and concerts, demonstrating involvement by nailing a few boards in brand-new carpenter's attire for a half-day, or by advocating for the "community" with placards and marches.
And if all this could be done without paying taxes, choosing how much to contribute and to what, that would be even better. If you wonder where ideas like "defund the police" come from, look no further.
Nor is there any talk of incarcerating repeat offenders to take them off the streets and disrupt the market while offering them medical substitution programs that continue post-release. This costs money and isn't "progressive."
The smallest state in the U.S., Rhode Island, has launched such a program. Substitution drugs and medical follow-up. In prison, success is guaranteed unless one wants to face withdrawal. The medical follow-up continues after release, and substitution products are provided free for life because methadone is to an opoid addict what insulin is for a diabetic. In its five years of existence, 93% of former inmates turned patients remain in the program and thus do not reoffend. Overdose mortality in this population has dropped by 65%.
In Seattle, the McNeil Island prison stands empty, yet it could be repurposed for this use. But that wouldn't be "progressive."
This "progressive" ideology primarily serves the elite, the top 15% of the population whose futures are secure, rather than the masses (consider why Trump was elected). It permeates various sectors of society:
Education: The increase in private schools to ensure children are socialized and educated according to class-specific principles. In public schools, there's an imposition of "degendered" curricula.
Health: Policies that might not address the broader public's needs but rather cater to those with access to better resources.
Security and Justice: Systems that might not equally benefit all, potentially favoring those with greater influence or resources.
Transportation: Measures like banning cars to combat pollution, which might disproportionately affect those who rely on personal vehicles due to inadequate public transport in their areas.
Urban Planning: Developments and policies that might prioritize aesthetics or efficiency for the well-off rather than accessibility for all.
Environment: Participation in global events like the COPs (Conferences of the Parties), which are often criticized as performative, aimed at securing a better future for one's own children rather than effecting substantial change.
Immigration: Advocating for open borders, which can be seen as a way to access cheaper labor rather than genuine humanitarian concern.
This leads to the disintegration of both physical and non-physical structures that are crucial for societal life, beginning with authority. Authority's function is to manage social interactions and settle the inevitable disputes that arise from diverse interests and behaviors.
The individualist values the autonomy of each person, reflecting the liberal emphasis on universal freedom. They recognize that their own choices can only exist if the same freedom is extended to others. However, what we see here is merely a childish form of selfishness, reminiscent of a three-year-old's.
We have decided to concentrate on the legalization of recreational drugs because it encapsulates what is often referred to as "progressive" ideology. This push is notably prevalent within the Western cultural and societal left.
The effects, including human, social, and economic costs, are starkly visible across various regions, offering a clear comparison. The issues are consistent, suggesting a common underlying problem.
The breakdown of both social systems and physical infrastructures is propelled by those who deliver paradoxical messages at all hours, teetering on the edge of neurosis. One such contradiction is the advocacy for communal living among these very advocates.
This phenomenon can be observed from the Tenderloin district in San Francisco to The crack hill in Paris, from Ballard in Seattle to La Guillotière in Lyon, from Portland to Bordeaux, and from Denver to Grenoble.
Here are a few examples for context:
"The mayor of the 7th (arrondissement of Lyon) had suggested to Le Progrès that a supermarktes move its entrance or install bike racks to discourage people from gathering in front of the store."
In Grenoble's Alma district, to combat drug trafficking, the Mayor had installed misting systems so that residents can "reclaim the public space." In summer, dealers conduct their business in the cool mist.
It's also the wall that the City of Paris constructed to block the Forveval tunnel, aimed at preventing drug users from returning to the cleared encampment on Rue Riquet in Paris's 19th arrondissement. A new camp has been rebuilt at the Porte de La Villette in Pantin, one of the poorest neighborhoods in the inner suburbs.
The title should be "the grim reality..." I suppose :)