A Conversation About What’s Happened to Our Cities

It was a slow afternoon at the hospital when one of my regular patients started talking politics — not in a combative way, just matter-of-fact. He shook his head and said, “You ever notice how all these cities run by Democrats — San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit — are falling apart?”

I smiled. “I’ve noticed. And yet somehow, it’s always the Republicans’ fault.”

He laughed, but it was the kind of laugh people use when they’re tired of pretending things are okay. “Yeah,” he said. “Fifty years of the same leadership, and they still act like somebody else did it.”

We talked about it for a while — about how San Francisco used to be one of the most beautiful cities in the country, now buried under crime and addiction. How Chicago can’t seem to get a handle on violence. How Detroit, once the symbol of American industry, has never fully recovered.

He wasn’t ranting, just observing. “I don’t understand,” he said. “People keep voting for the same party, even though everything keeps getting worse.”

“Maybe they’re afraid to change,” I said. “Or maybe they keep believing it’ll finally work this time.”

Many people are drawn to socialism’s promises — equality, fairness, and security — not necessarily its track record. It sounds compassionate, even noble. But history shows it rarely delivers what it promises. That’s the thing about ideas that sound good on paper — they can crumble fast when real people get involved.

He nodded. “That’s what’s sad about it. It’s like watching someone stay in a bad relationship because they remember how it used to be.”

We both sat quietly for a second. Politics aside, we agreed on something bigger — that the people in those cities deserve better. That leaders, no matter their party, should be judged on results, not slogans.

As I left the room, he called after me, “You know, you should write that down.”

So here it is — a simple conversation between two people who care about what’s happening to our country, and wonder why common sense seems to be the one thing nobody’s voting for anymore.s://www.facebook.com/John Bottrell's Facebook