Prop. 47: A New Business Opportunity!

Let's say you're a shopkeeper in San Francisco.

And let's say that you've grown weary of stepping over legions of the homeless and tent encampments and endless piles of s*it to get in your front door every morning.  And also of apologizing to your customers as they try and negotiate this urban toilet to buy their goods.

You've complained to your elected leaders and the police but to no avail.  They won't help, because to do so would be "to violate the human rights" of those who are doing their best to ruin your life and your business.  You see, to make things better for you, the taxpayer, they'd have to make things worse for the bums.  And they just cannot...for some unearthly reason...do that.  It's bad.

But you've done your very best to work around that problem.  And so have every one of your fellow business owners throughout the Greater San Franpoopville area.  But there's one problem you haven't been able to work around: Proposition 47.

Prop. 47 was passed into law back in 2014.  The intent of this law by the Progressive weenies in charge up there was to decriminalize shoplifting so the cops could focus on "more serious crimes."  So whereas thefts of $50.00 or more used to be the trigger that moved a small shoplifting infraction from a misdemeanor to a felony, these addled dweebs moved that magic, arbitrary number up to a stratospheric $950.00!  So, with the passage of this single law, the "Powers that be" in SFO created an entirely new category of crime!  

Penalty-free shoplifting!  

And in doing so, they created an all-new, very exciting and potentially quite rewarding business opportunity.

Now vagrants, bums, drug-addled crooks and the homeless can simply walk into your store, pick up a fifth of Jack Daniels, or a new pair of Levis, or a nice North Face jacket, and walk right back out.  Unimpeded.  Oh, you could try and stop him, at the risk he might knife you, or shoot you, or hit you over the head with that fifth of Jack Daniels.  

Or, you could call the cops, but all the cops would do, if they caught the guy, would be to write him a citation.  A citation to appear at some future date to be tried for this crime.  And if he doesn't show up?  Nothing.  The case is dropped.  By statute.  And the only loser?  The shopkeeper who's out a fifth of Jack Black.  Or the Levis or the jacket. 

A whole new industry has grown up around this flawed, feel-good law.  Now, hoards of thieves swarm shops and grab anything they can get their hands on.  And then bolt, arms full of expensive goods, all within a minute or so.  And then, believe it or not, they set up card tables, out on the sidewalk, all within view of the stores they just robbed, to sell the stuff they just stole.  

And the cops?  They're out patrolling for some "more serious crime," one could only assume.  Because they're surely not arresting these criminals. 

How would you like to be a store owner and have somebody steal hundreds of dollars worth of your merchandise and not fear being caught or prosecuted?  I'd guess you wouldn't be too happy.  And neither are the SFO shopkeepers.  They're uniting in an effort to try and end this outlandish perversion, but they're fighting a losing battle; the homeless are simply more important than they are.

Stores are shuttering.  Businesses are closing.  Prices are rising.  The quality of life there is rapidly eroding.  And the folks in charge of enforcing the laws are nowhere to be found.  Police won't try to enforce laws if their superiors won't back them up.  And their superiors aren't willing to back them up...

For those of you who think socialism sounds groovy, and something you'd like to maybe vote for come next November, this foretelling of a distopian nightmare in San Franscrewyou should be a word to the wise.  

And for those of you who are out of work and looking for an easy peasy way to earn a nice living, simply make your way to San Francrapville and start grabbing anything that isn't nailed down.  The store owners won't stop you and neither will the cops.    

For my Millennial friends out there, and Progressives who believe in decriminalizing smaller crimes, there is NO free lunch.  And if you try and legislate one into being, the guy on the corner who makes sandwiches will soon be out of business...   

BTW, 689,576 people chose to leave California last year (CA Dept. of Tourism).  Do you think this new law might be one of the reasons why?