Lion of the Blogosphere is wringing his hands over the prospect of a left-wing loon becoming the next mayor. I think it is rational to have some concern. New York has become quietly intolerant since the 1970′s and that intolerance has made the city a better place. By that I mean the citizens decided enough was enough and elected politicians willing to clean up the crime, urban blight and dysfunctional public sector. Rudy cleaned up the tourist areas and public parks. He reformed the police department. Bloomberg left things in place and convinced liberal New Yorkers that it was OK to be tough on crime. He also showed how they could avert their gaze from the realities of gentrification. That reality is rich white people buy up the apartments, evict the brown people and then move in the kids of rich people. If Richmond enacted the same polices as New York, liberals would be staging freedom rides to Virginia.

Now it appears the intolerant wing of the political class has tired of the fight and the lunatics are taking over. You’ll note that I do not call them the tolerant wing. The opposite of intolerant in politics is stupid. Civilization is about not accepting a wide range of human behavior. Laws against violence, rape, sex acts and so forth are what allows civilization to flower. To be a liberal means not understanding this basic truth of the human condition, which seems to be the case with the next mayor. That probably means he will attempt to roll back that which has worked and replace it with polices that have failed everywhere they have been tried. The question is will the voters put up with it.

New York could go one of two ways. Right now it is following down the path of San Francisco. Economics and subtle racism have made San Fran a NAM free zone. The city is 5% black and 15% Hispanic. The rest is Asian and white. New York is getting less black and more white. Part of it is due to the economy of the city. Part of it is due to gentrification. Part is due to those police tactics to chase NAM males out of the city if they were inclined to dress like extras from a Jay-Z video. How much of each is responsible for the transformation of the city is unknown, but my bet is the latter is a declining factor. It is why the loons feel it is safe to go after it now. The danger is gone and the bad men hired to clean up the streets can be dismissed. It is reminiscent of the movie, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Once the tough guy does his job, he can be replaced by the soft guy who does not startle the ladies.