On Beautification and Militarization.

HERE’S AN E-MAIL I SENT TO MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL PULSE EARLIER TODAY, BUT I WANTED YOU ALL TO READ IT, TOO. IF YOU WANT TO JOIN UP TO THE NATIONAL PULSE AND RECEIVE MORE REGULAR MISSIVES, SIGN UP HERE. THANK YOU.

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Folks,

TGIF, AMIRITE?

I write you from the Acela to Manhattan, having run around the National Mall and traversed the newly secured Union Station just moments ago.

I posted a “story” of the latter on my Instagram page, if any of you still use that platform (I still personally refuse to use TikTok). I know, I know, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is barely any better than the CCP but it’s that “barely” that keeps me sane.

And what is keeping me SAFE right now, whether they feel appreciated or not, are the thousands of cops and National Guard deployed to the nation’s capital in order to restore some level of presentability to this place.

This place, picked by Washington himself and planned out by L’Enfant is not just a playground of politicos, or indeed a cesspool of corruption, though both of those things are, indeed, true.

What Washington, D.C. was originally supposed to symbolize was the “seat of empire” for a new American nation. Not my words, the words of General Washington, himself.

L’Enfant, however, was unamused at what became of his plans, calling the “a mere contemptible hamlet,” which it has mostly remained since its inception.

Poet Thomas Moore once wrote an incomplete poem describing the place:

Indeed.

The city has around 700,000 residents, proper. And I’m not talking about the Maryland and Virginia areas which are effectively suburbs. I’m talking about the potential voting public of the city: about 500,000 people.

This breaks down into a population of 42% Black or African-Americans, 37% Whites, 11% Hispanic, 4.5% Asian, and around 5% “Other.”

Just 5% of these people identify as Republicans, with 75% picking the Democrats, and the rest choosing some other affiliation. Kamala Harris won 90% of the D.C. vote. Trump won just 6.5%.

And so a mere contemptible hamlet it shall remain, unless something drastic is done to save the nation’s capital from its self-destructive residents.

While it’s nice to see law enforcement visible and preemptive this week, that is not the only thing that counts. D.C.’s culture lends to its muckiness: its garish murals, profanity-laced political graffiti or bill stickers, its terrible traffic patterns (thanks, L’Enfant!), and the list goes on and on.

Some things have improved in this city over the past few years, and we should be ready to give credit where it is due. Mayor Bowser and the city’s transportation department actually have managed to clean up and improve the Metro, and the city’s food scene is certainly getting better (and I don’t just mean Butterworth’s!)

But public transport and a few good restaurants a city does not make. Which is why the crime crackdown should be regarded as simply the beginning of a long-needed restoration of the nation’s capital, and those who disagree should be embarrassed to say so.

Only those who live in fancy Kalorama mansions and take Escalades to all their meetings have no cause to complain about the upside-down nature of this city. And let’s face it: there are a LOT of other places just like this, all around America.

D.C. residents should be grateful to be the guinea pigs in an exercise of national transformation. I’m not one of those “flee the cities!” types.

I think America’s cities can and should be gorgeous and fun and safe and pioneering again. Shame on those who think any less.

Have a great weekend!

Raheem Kassam

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The National Pulse