So, we have a ‘situation’ in Downtown Seattle. A group of ANTFA/Black Lives Matter-related folks have ‘occupied’ a six or seven block area of Seattle, formerly known as Capitol Hill. The new name, depending upon whom you ask, is either Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) or Capitol Hill Organized (or Occupied) Protest (CHOP). Regardless of the acronym used, what started off as a protest has now become a country-within-a-city. What do we make of such a construct? Let’s dig.
First: Seattle has long been a Democrat stronghold. The folks in the area enjoy their Liberal approach to politics, and life in general. While party affiliation isn’t a big deal there, the last GOP mayor left office in 1969. The current mayor, and nearly all of the city council, is Democrat. For example, since 2004, the State of Washington has had the following percentages of Democrat ballots cast in their Presidential elections: 2004 – 90.5%, 2008 – 84.3%, 2012 – 83.0%, 2016 – 84.2%. Seattle does not vary much from those percentages. The current mayor, Jenny Durkan, was elected in 2017. From raising minimum wage to $15/hour to championing minority rights, Seattle is considered a very Liberal city, on par with San Francisco and New York City.
The Liberal attitudes of Seattle became very obvious over the last few years. Relaxed enforcement of illegal drug possession and sales, along with non-prosecution of ‘minor’ shoplifting offenses, coupled with overnight ‘camping’ allowance, has created ‘tent cities’ to rival Los Angeles. The resulting ‘challenges’ to downtown shoppers, residents, and businesses are severe. A YouTube video, ‘Seattle Is Dying’ went viral, with over 6M views. Rather than re-hash that video (it is worth viewing, just as a shock value), just understand that the underpinning political attitudes tend to the extreme Left, and leave it at that.
With those attitudes as a starting point, Seattle’s reaction to the recent George Floyd protests may not have been too surprising. When the protests became riots, Mayor Durkan pulled police completely out of the area, ceding the six block area to the protesters—including a major police building. CHAZ was born. Along with a new ‘zone’ came a series of demands that were appropriately Liberal in nature—but with a dash of anarchy. Armed individuals moved barricades in place to separate their new area from everything else, preventing people from entering or leaving the area, etc. They have even been shaking down local businesses for cash and food.
The reactions to the creation of CHAZ have been all over the map: from measured indifference to President Trump sending in the military, treating this as an armed insurrection. Some have suggested that a military response is just what the CHAZ folks are egging Trump into, just to make Trump look authoritarian. My reaction might be a bit different than others: I think CHAZ should be left to its own devices. The ‘occupiers’ have demands that would be extra-legal if demanded anywhere else in the US–but, by definition, they are NO LONGER in the US. Their quasi-Socialism experiment is a visible test tube experiment–it appears to be a great example of the pros and cons of the logical conclusion of Liberal needs/wants. Let’s see how they do. The success or failure of their ideas will be quite public. Note that the CHAZ folks have current resources that were the product of Capitalism—but those resources will be expended at some point. NEW resources will have to be created some time. THAT will be the test of their preferred system..
