San Francisco Blues

San Francisco Blues

By: Bill O'Reilly for BillOReilly.com
Wednesday, Nov 23, 2005

It is hard to figure out the mindset of many Americans living in the secular-progressive paradise of San Francisco. A couple of weeks ago they voted to oppose military recruiting in the city's public schools including colleges. In the middle of a vicious war on terror, the City by the Bay says no to the people who volunteer to protect us.

When I criticized the vote on radio and television, there was wailing and gnashing of teeth. The basic thrust of the indignation was that San Francisco objects to the methods some military recruiters use. Of course, Proposition One on the ballot said nothing about that. It asked a simple question: should the city oppose military recruitment in schools? Sixty percent of San Franciscans voted yes.

That vote is flat-out disrespectful to the American Armed Forces. Remember, the military has no political power. It goes where America's elected leadership orders it to go. Men and women sign up to protect their country and they do their duty. Yet they are not welcomed in San Francisco's schools.

No one should be surprised by that vote. The San Francisco area is rated the most liberal in the country, according to a study by the non-partisan Bay Area Center for Voting Research. Nancy Pelosi is the congresswoman, and the district went for Al Gore by 61 points over President Bush.

In the recall of former California Governor Gray Davis, 80% of San Franciscans voted to keep him while the rest of the state voted overwhelmingly to boot him out. So you could say that not only is San Francisco out of touch with traditional America, it is out of touch with its own liberal state.

And San Francisco is the city that never learns. It passed an insane law that handed out $410 a month to any homeless person who showed up. Predictably, thousands of indigents, many of them addicted, poured into the down town area, panhandling and using the parks as outdoor restrooms. Businesses and families went crazy and the city council was forced to cut the payments down to $59 a month.

The progressives also gleefully hopped on the medical marijuana bandwagon. But now Mayor Gavin Newsome wants to shut down most of the 35 "clubs" that have opened up, selling pot to anyone who has a headache. SFPD Captain Rick Bruce told me, "A lot of our local drug dealers actually have medical marijuana cards, and they're using them as get-out-of-jail free cards every time they're arrested for dealing drugs on the street."

It has been said that people get the government they deserve, and in San Francisco's case, that could not be more true. The city's streets are chaotic, quality of life has deteriorated, and the prevailing wisdom would please Fidel Castro.

But most of us don't live there, so why should we care? Well, it is still part of America and we're supposed to be all in this war on terror together, right? But by banning military recruiting, are those folks looking out for us?

My solution is to have San Francisco form its own militia, a concept first put forth by the Founding Fathers in the Second Amendment of the Constitution. A S.F. militia could take over for the U.S. military if that city were ever attacked. But there's just one problem with that militia idea. On the same day San Francisco voted to oppose military recruiting, it also voted to prohibit the "sale, manufacture and distribution of firearms." Never mind.