The Bloomberg Syndrome

From The Bloomberg Syndrome by Victor Davis Hanson.

A perennial from back in 2013.

The syndrome is prevalent now among mayors and politicians but Hanson's original description is still appropros.

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg was a past master of lecturing about the cosmic while at times ignoring the more concrete. Governing the boroughs of an often-chaotic New York City is nearly impossible. Pontificating on the evils of smoking, fatty foods, and supposed anti-Muslim bigotry was not only far easier but had established the mayor as a national figure of sensitivity and caring. He was praised for his progressive declarations by supporters of everything from global warming to abortion.

But Bloomberg’s carefully constructed philosopher’s image was finally shattered by the December 2010 blizzard and his own asleep-at-the-wheel reaction. An incompetent municipal response to record snowfalls barricaded millions in their borough houses and apartments, amid lurid rumors of deliberate union-sponsored slowdowns by Bloomberg’s city crews.

[snip]

It is a human trait to focus on cheap and lofty rhetoric rather than costly, earthy reality. It is a bureaucratic characteristic to rail against the trifling misdemeanor rather than address the often-dangerous felony. And it is political habit to mask one’s own failures by lecturing others on their supposed shortcomings. Ambitious elected officials often manage to do all three.

The result in these hard times is that our elected sheriffs, mayors, and governors are loudly weighing in on national and global challenges that are quite often out of their own jurisdiction, while ignoring or failing to solve the very problems that they were elected to address.

Quite simply, the next time your elected local or state official holds a press conference about global warming, the Middle East, or the national political climate, expect to experience poor county law enforcement, bad municipal services, or regional insolvency.

And that is indeed what we have. My own home city is cursed with corruption and incompetence, mitigated only by arrogance among its pissant local politicians, most of whom can barely tie their own shoe laces much less accomplish something ethically.

And while the tax-paying citizens simmer and quietly slide out of town, the know-nothing politicians pontificate about human trafficking, global climate change, sanctuaries, and other such gilded concerns while the pot holes grow larger, the crime increases, and the sidewalks crumble away.

The Bloomberg Syndrome indeed.