Communist San Francisco?

by Rod Williams, Aug. 2, 2024- Donald Trump says so many preposterous, irrational, crazy things that one becomes accustomed to them. And, there is no time to ponder what he has said and refute it because by that time he has said something even crazier and more preposterous. 

Today in campaigning against Kamala Harris, he referred to San Fransisco as "Communist San Fransisco." What does that even mean? San Fransisco certainly has problems. It has a soaring crime rate, massive income inequality, steep housing costs, a drug problem, dirt and decay, and homelessness. So do many cites although San Francisco's may be worst on these measures than most other cities. 

Even if San Fransisco is in decline and even if it does have serious problems, that does not make it "Communist San Fransisco."  Actually, most Communist cities were, and where Communism still exist still are, low crime cities. Also, homelessness was not a feature of Communist cites. People may have been severely overcrowded, but not homeless. Also, except for a tiny fraction of Party officials who lived quite well, in Communist cities there was less income inequality. There was massive poverty and a something like the equality of slaves, but income inequality was not a notable feature. Also, Communist cities were often clean. They might have been drab and ugly, but they were mostly orderly and clean. In a totalitarian environment, one can have order and clean streets.

San Francisco is one of the most decadent cites in America with lots of full-nude strip clubs, hookers walking the street in almost no clothes and platform shoes, and a large queer scene. San Francisco is often considered the gay capital of the USA. From the first "gayborhood" to the largest Pride March, San Francisco is a must-visit queer destination, for people of that persuasion. A lot is tolerated in San Francisco that would not be tolerated in other American cities. This however is not a feature of Communism. During the Cold War, Communist leaders condemned Western decadence and claimed that no prostitution existed in Communist countries. And, Communist countries were less tolerant of open expression of homosexuality than were Western countries. 

In America we still have the same basic fundamental freedom everywhere. No city can suspend the Constitution. Saying San Fransisco is "Communist San Fransisco" is one of the dumbist, irrational things one could say. 

I know that some liberals like to call anyone to the right of them "fascist." The term has lost all meaning and when someone calls you a fascist, it basically means, I don't like you and you are a bad person. That is unfortunate. The term "fascist" should mean something more specific. The term fascist however was never as precise as the term "Communist." There were few fascist scholars and there are not tomes of fascist analysis and doctrine. Communism has that. We know what Communism is. The word has a more specific meaning than the term fascist ever had. However, when used the way Trump uses the term, it will come to be meaningless much the way the term fascist has become meaningless.  

It is amazing how Trump can say stupid things and get by with it. Some of it, by itself, is relatively harmless, like calling San Fransisco "Communist San Fransisco," but it contributes to a dumbing down of the electorate. It also creates a divide where differences that are matters of degrees are presented as massive chasms. It creates this them-versus-us mentality. It makes it easier to demonize others. It avoids analysis and thought and replaces it with thoughtless name calling. 

After Trump grabbed the headlines by questioning Kamala Harris' ethnicity, this reference to San Francisco as "Communist," will simply go uncommented upon. That is what Trump is good at. One does not have time to refute one outrageous thing he says, because before you can, he has already said something more outrageous. 

Top Stories