Dad lived long enough to see that once-great city begin its downward spiral. While he returned to Iowa after his discharge and lived there the rest of his life, I spent the entire year of 2017 working in Silicon Valley and mooched around the area a lot in my spare time; I still remember Dad sadly shaking his head when I described the "feces maps" the city put out.

Things have gotten worse for San Francisco since 2017, and it's looking a lot like that city is past the point of no return. Here are a few examples of that ongoing decline:

Forget the poop maps. The city has now implemented a car break-in tracker. And boy howdy, does that tracker track a lot of break-ins.

In February, 879 vehicle break-ins were reported, or roughly 30 per day. Many were in such tourist-heavy areas near Fisherman’s Wharf, a known hotspot for the crime.

30 per day. That's a lot of cars broken into; that's a lot of property damaged and stolen.

There's more. Last August, the streets of the city's Richmond district were taken over by over two hundred dirt bike riders, who raced up and down the city streets, popping wheelies and blocking traffic. The police seemed unable to do anything.

Residents were perplexed by what they saw as inaction from law enforcement. Jim Riley, who lives on Lake Street, recalled hearing the sputter and roar of motorcycles as he worked in the backyard that afternoon. When he went out front to investigate, he saw dirt bikes and ATVs flying down the bike lanes and sidewalks at speeds exceeding 25 miles per hour, Riley estimated.

His son had to quickly duck out of the way as three motorcycles barreled by, nearly hitting him. Riley said he also watched cyclists bob and weave to avoid the swarm. 

The Richmond district, we see only this morning, is still beset by crimes, not just car break-ins but burglaries, robberies, and more.

Crime will likely be a major issue in November’s supervisor race for District 1, which includes the Richmond District. 

San Francisco Police Department data largely supports residents’ sense that crime is escalating. The number of reported robberies in the Richmond police district rose 52% last year to 132 from 87 in 2022 —  the most recorded in at least six years. The Richmond also saw four homicides in 2023, a noticeable spike given that police statistics show no more than one killing annually in the district since 2017. 

Burglaries reported in the neighborhood in 2023 increased about 8% over the previous year to 480 from 443, even as tallies continued to come down from record highs recorded during the earliest months of the pandemic. 

At least one city official is calling out inadequate police staffing as part of the problem. After years of Democrat rule, after years of calls to "defund the police," it's amazing that this is finally starting to sink in.

As crimes ticked up in several categories, Richmond residents, merchants and Supervisor Connie Chan insisted that their neighborhood lacked adequate police patrols, and that city leaders have prioritized downtown at the expense of outlying areas.

There's another solution, of course: Make it easier for the regular citizens to arm themselves in their own defense. But I think we all know how far such a proposal will go in the liberal Bay Area.

One of the few legitimate purposes of government, at any level, is to protect the liberty and property of the citizens. In this San Francisco's municipal government has utterly failed; indeed, the government of the state of California has utterly failed in this basic task.

But this problem isn't just in San Francisco. That city's problems with lawlessness are problems all over California; this is what years of one-party rule have wrought. This is what years of Democrat rule have wrought. This is what happens when "progressive" city and state officials prioritize criminals over residents, illegals over citizens, vagrants over property owners, and lawlessness over public order.

See Related: California Legislature Seeks to Fund the Defense of Illegal Aliens With Violent Criminal Records

What's wrong with the voters in San Francisco? What's wrong with the voters in California? Is this an inevitable phase in the evolution of a society, from courage to innovation to strength, to complacency, to weakness and ruin? Because if that's what's happening, San Francisco is sure as hell in the "weakness and ruin" stage. 

Throughout human history, there are few, if any, examples of an organized society redeeming itself from lawlessness and ruin. What happened to the Roman Republic is happening to our American cities now, in San Francisco and elsewhere: The barbarians are already in the city walls, vagrancy is on the rise no matter how much money the various levels of government throw at it, some areas of the cities are open-air drug bazaars that the authorities seem unable to shut down. 

San Francisco is just one example. Our major cities are decaying. Local elected officials — almost all Democrats — seem unable or unwilling to do anything about it. Maybe it's time for the residents of those cities to look for some electoral alternatives, but most seem little inclined to try something new.

There may be a few rays of hope starting to shine through; earlier this month, San Francisco voters approved an ordinance loosening the rules for police in the pursuit of criminals. 

See Related: Flying Pigs Alert: Crime-Riddled San Francisco Overwhelmingly Votes to Expand Law Enforcement Powers

While this is a step in the right direction, the malefactors captured by police will still be appearing in front of liberal justices and liberal prosecutors; this may be one step, but it's only one step, and San Francisco has to do a lot more to reverse the decline — if it's not already too late.