The former Democrat says the policies that cause cities to flourish are not coming from his old party.
Dallas, Texas, is fortunate. The city has elected Republican mayors as recently as 2007 and 1991, and it now has a Republican mayor again after Eric Johnson announced that he’s switching parties from Democrat to Republican. It’s now the largest city in the nation with a Republican mayor.
This switch is noteworthy partly because Johnson is black, and partly because of his explanation for doing so. To mark the change, he wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal laying out his rationale. It boils down to economics and public safety.
Saying his priority over his more than four years has been “to make the city safer, stronger and more vibrant,” he implied that his policies were already more Republican than Democrat. Being family friendly, welcoming to businesses, and supportive of police is not exactly the Democrat Party line these days.
As for the last part, crime has been a huge and growing problem in many major American cities. Johnson addressed that head on: “Alone among America’s 10 most populous cities, Dallas has brought violent crime down in every major category, including murder, year-over-year for the past two years.” He did that by opposing the “defund the police” movement — a mind-numbingly foolish movement in a city where five cops were murdered in a high-profile case back in 2016.
“The future of America’s great urban centers,” wrote Johnson, “depends on the willingness of the nation’s mayors to champion law and order and practice fiscal conservatism.” Republicans are simply better at this, he said, adding, “American cities need Republicans — and Republicans need American cities.”
Why is that? The portion of Americans living in urban areas has exploded, going from 20% just prior to the War Between the States to 40% at the turn of the 20th century to nearly 80% today.
He sounded downright Reaganesque when he wrote: “With my change in party affiliation, I recognize that the number of Republican mayors leading the nation’s 10 largest cities has increased from zero to one. This is hardly a red wave. But it is clear that the nation and its cities have reached a time for choosing.”
Indeed they have. Dallas is the nation’s ninth most populous, behind the other Texas cities of Houston and San Antonio. Only neighboring Fort Worth has a Republican mayor.
In fact, of America’s top 20 most populous cities, Dallas and Fort Worth are the only two with GOP mayors. Of the top 40 cities, only seven are led by Republicans. Los Angeles, the second-biggest city, has had one Republican mayor since 1961. Chicago, the third biggest, hasn’t had one since 1931. Similar trends abound nationwide, especially in the cities with the worst crime — Baltimore (1967), St. Louis (1949), Detroit (1962). You get the idea.
Nevertheless, Joel Abbott at Not the Bee jokes, “A black leader switching to the Republicans is like a Muslim becoming Christian in Pakistan: There’s zero worldly profit and a whole lot of persecution in store.” Indeed, there may be no more persecuted or hated minority than a black conservative.
Here’s hoping that more mayors, city council members, state legislators, and many others of whatever color begin to realize that Democrats are leading our cities, states, and the nation itself down a very dark road. Crime is suffocating our cities. Radical leftism is destroying our schools. Spendthrift waste is driving our nation to bankruptcy.
That will continue unless more voters and leaders take the red pill.
