By John J. Duncan Jr.

duncanj@knoxfocus.com

Crime is out of control in many, maybe even most, cities where the mayor and/or district attorney are liberal Democrats.

It should be embarrassing to Democrats that all across the nation people are fleeing the cities and states where they are in charge.

Not only is crime a problem, but Democrat-run cities and states are also where state and local taxes are the highest.

These are the places where public employees are the most highly paid, but even they leave these high-tax cities and states about as soon as they can and take their lucrative pensions to states with no state income tax, like Tennessee, Texas, and Florida.

Home prices in Knoxville and Nashville have gone almost out of sight because of all the people moving in from liberal states.

This is good for our economy and for people who are selling homes here. But it has made it very difficult for young couples or families who are hoping to buy a house.

If you want to find a bargain in the housing market today, I guess you would have to move to a city or state where Democrats are in charge. But the future is not bright when people are trying to flee.

A friend of mine who is President of his condo association in downtown Knoxville told me a few days ago about a telephone conversation he had just had with a woman from California.

He said the woman had decided to move here, and he told her to please not bring California political views to Tennessee.

She told him not to worry, because that was why she was moving – to get away from liberal Democrats. You have no idea how often I hear things like this.

My mother moved to Knoxville in the very early 1940s after attending Iowa Wesleyan College. She had an older sister who had moved here after her husband, a University of Iowa engineering graduate, had gotten a job at TVA.

My mother came just to visit, and her sister talked her into staying. Obviously, I am glad we let people move in, or I wouldn't be here myself.

The latest example of the mess in a very liberal city is in Portland, Oregon, where Walmart has announced it is closing its last two stores there.

In December, the Walmart CEO had warned that "theft is an issue. It's higher than it has historically been," and he added that "prices would be higher and/or stores will close" if Oregon authorities failed to address rampant shoplifting.

Portland has had nothing but Democrat mayors since the 1950s, and Oregon has had Democrat governors for the last 35 years.

Nike and Cracker Barrel closed stores there in 2022. A major clothing store closed and posted this letter: "Small businesses (and large) cannot sustain doing business in our city's current state. We have no protection, or recourse, against the criminal behavior that goes unpunished. Our city is in peril."

A restaurant owner, Eric Post, closed for good and blamed it on Democrat mayors and governors who have been too soft on crime.

Even Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco, one of the most liberal cities in America, got so fed up with so many stores closing and so much shoplifting and crime, they voted to recall (kick out of office) the left-wing district attorney.

California, because of Pelosi, received mega-billions in Covid money, much more than their share. Yet California, despite a wonderful climate and great beauty, has led the U.S. in people leaving.

One report I read said 700,000 moved out last year, while 200,000 moved in (probably illegal immigrants).

For all of the last century, when California's state government and most of its cities were controlled by Republicans, millions moved in.

Not only are people fleeing cities and states run by socialist Democrats in the U.S., but people are also fleeing socialist-run countries all over the world.

Democrats need to explain why – if their policies are so wonderful, why are so many people voting with their feet and trying to get away from them?

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