The National Partisan Nastiness Is Now Poisoning Local Politics
A Former Ventura Mayor Says Washington's Ideological Warfare Is Making Municipal Governing Uglier, Harsher, and Harder
Not long ago, a homeless man wandered into a restaurant on the ocean promenade in the city of Ventura, California, and stabbed to death a young man who was eating dinner while holding his young daughter in his lap.
The incident itself was ugly enough, but the subsequent debate proved just as bad. Many Ventura residents expressed disgust with the city’s inability to deal with people they regarded as vagrants, while many others expressed disgust that their friends and neighbors could dehumanize homeless people as part of the debate.
In the …
