Democrats in America are realising they must moderate or die

Perhaps no place has been a haven for counter-culture quite like San Francisco. The Bay Area has hosted psychedelic enthusiasts, beat writers and gay-rights activists. Now another variety of counter-culture may have sprung up in the city. Unexpectedly for the epicentre of leftism in America, however, it is one of mass discontent with progressive excesses.

In February, San Franciscans took the remarkable step of recalling three members of the local board of education who resembled a caricature of wokeness. Despite keeping schools closed for an exceptionally long period, thus harming the least-advantaged children, the board found time to recommend renaming 44 closed schools—including those named after Abraham Lincoln and George Washington—on social-justice grounds. Then on June 7th, Chesa Boudin, the progressive district attorney of San Francisco, lost his own recall election. Mr Boudin’s compassion for the incarcerated and calls for less punitive punishment were not too radical for the city three years ago. By 2022 that had changed, amid a nationwide rise in homicides and local disaffection over petty crime, open-air drug taking and homelessness.

London Breed, the city’s moderate-leaning mayor, has begun forcefully arguing for more police—not fewer, as was once voguish in progressive circles. “The reign of criminals who are destroying our city, it is time for it to come to an end,” she said in December. “And it comes to an end when we take the steps to be more aggressive with law enforcement…and less tolerant of all the bullshit that has destroyed our city.”