Some years back one of my literary heroes, Robert Heinlein, wrote one of the more astute observations of human history I've ever seen.

“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as "bad luck.”  

He was right, and we're seeing it happen, right here, right now. Our major cities are seeing a run of bad luck lately, as my esteemed colleague Streiff pointed out. Businesses are closing down as well, not only in California but in all of our major cities.

Major metropolises like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Portland and Washington, D.C., were plagued by retail thieves ransacking malls and department stores, with many of the instances caught on video that were posted on social media.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) announced in September that shoplifting accounted for $112.1 billion in losses in 2022, up from $93.9 billion in 2021.

"Retailers are seeing unprecedented levels of theft coupled with rampant crime in their stores, and the situation is only becoming more dire," said David Johnston, NRF vice president for asset protection and retail operations. "Far beyond the financial impact of these crimes, the violence and concerns over safety continue to be the priority for all retailers, regardless of size or category."

The producers leaving the state, the business closures, and the crime all have at their heart one thing: Unchallenged rule by liberal Democrats. That small minority - productive people who start and run businesses, who risk their capital and, these days, their safety to operate retail establishments in these cities - they are facing the fate that Heinlein describes. It's bad in California, where the state is overseen by one of the most hapless, incompetent governors in the history of the republic (even if he does find the occasional acorn), but all of our major cities, with almost universally Democrat mayors, council members district attorneys, and prosecutors, are suffering from this. Some of them, granted, are starting to see the light - probably too late.

In August, a Bay Area county supervisor, frustrated by rising retail theft in the area, admitted that state laws were "not working" to deter criminals.

"Enough is enough. All this retail theft. All this sort of crime, enough is enough. We really need to look at state laws. What we have in place right now is not working," San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa said. "We can't go on like this."

The Democrat admitted that he regretted supporting California's Prop 47, which voters passed in 2014. Prop 47 downgraded certain thefts and drug possession crimes from a felony to a misdemeanor if the value of the stolen goods was less than $950.

"I had supported Proposition 47, which basically said you wouldn't prosecute — the crimes were much different at the level of up to $950. I thought it was a good idea at the time because I thought we need to give people an opportunity, we need to give people a chance," Canepa said to CBS News Bay Area.

Oh, they were given a chance, all right. The chance to rob, to steal, with almost no fear of any consequences. People in these cities also now have the chance to sell illegal drugs openly, to shoot up in public, to drop trou and take a dump on the sidewalks. The people who live in those cities are, justifiably, getting sick of it. They are sick of being unable to go out at night. They are sick of stepping over poop, discarded needles, and lakes of urine during the day. They are sick of the thievery, the breaking and entering, the vandalism, and the smell. The productive among them are leaving, and one can scarcely blame them. They are closing their businesses and heading for greener pastures, leaving those cities with fewer and fewer places to buy the necessities of life. Those who stay, well, let's be honest; many of them are voters, yes, and they will continue to vote for the gravy train promised by big-city Democrats. This has caused the problem, this will perpetuate the problem, and this will be the downfall of our major metropolises.

I’ve been worried for years now about the decay of our major cities. Maybe California's metroplian areas cities are leading the way, but cities like Chicago, Baltimore, and Detroit are close behind. Our major cities are destroying themselves, and some of them may well be past the point of no return. Ayn Rand saw it coming; in her novel "Atlas Shrugged," the protagonist, John Galt, proclaimed that he would "stop the motor of the world" and that people would know his task was complete when they saw the lights of New York go out. As it turned out, though, it didn't take a John Galt; all it took was a couple of generations of one-party, Democrat rule. 

How long will it be before the lights of New York go out? And what will happen after that?

It's coming. Get out of the cities, folks.