Escape from Seattle

Pour out an overpriced coffee-based beverage for Seattle.

Howard Schultz, founder and longtime CEO of Starbucks, is leaving for Florida, a move he announced just after Democrats in Washington state passed a new (and illegal) state income tax that would have taken a tenth of his income. Schultz had been the epitome of a left-leaning, technocratic businessman—he even ran to be the Democratic nominee for president in 2020. And, well, he got what he voted for.

And so did Starbucks. It’s easy to pick on the company, but the Seattle-based chain led a coffee revolution because it was a huge improvement over what was usually on offer across America—it was church-basement-quality coffee from sea to shining sea. But now Starbucks is closing multiple Seattle locations while also opening a new corporate office in Nashville. Company leaders say they are keeping the headquarters in Seattle, but they are certainly positioning to change that in the future.

They would be fools not to move. Seattle is governed by a socialist who, true to form, relied on money from her wealthy parents until she was elected mayor at age 43. And the state as a whole is dominated by far-Left Democrats with a tenuous hold on reality, as seen in their denial that new taxes might drive the rich away. But rich people don’t get rich by letting the government adopt a massive tax without a fight. And though the Pacific Northwest was a nice place to live, the decision to leave is likely eased by the region’s general decline.

Governing in the Washington state should have been easy. The area is blessed with amazing natural beauty, fertile land, a temperate climate, and valuable ports. It also had a distinct culture that was casual yet hardworking, and produced hugely successful companies including Microsoft, Nike, Starbucks, Costco, and Boeing.

But Democrats can drive even the most favorable locales into the ground. And the problems go far beyond the eat-the-rich, tax-and-spend approach that drove the Starbucks guy out. Schools have become worse at teaching everything but left-wing ideology. Housing is expensive. Public order is a joke. Drugs are everywhere, along with encampments of homeless addicts. Forest management is a debacle that produces constant wildfires. And so on. In short, what people used to enjoy about Pacific coast life has almost universally degraded. Just look at Portland, which went from fun-weird to scary-weird—from Portlandia to antifa.

Nonetheless, the voters, at least those who haven’t left yet, keep asking for more of the same. A few voters, such as the Starbucks guy, might be personally insulated from the everyday decline and disorder. But most voters, especially in Seattle and Portland (which politically dominate their states) are suffering the consequences of their votes. And even someone as cosseted as Schultz should have seen that the left was going to come for him.

So why do they keep voting against their own interests? Yes, some voters are economically dependent on big government, either as clients or for a career. And in a polarized age, the dynamics of a one-party city or state make radicalism a reliable path to power. But we should not overlook the obvious explanation; people vote for far-left politicians because they want far-left policies. Maybe they don’t all want the whole package—the Starbucks guy isn’t keen on Seattle socialism—but enough of them want enough of it.

And so they get it. And they can get away with it for a while. A society may live, for a while, off accumulated cultural, social, and economic capital, even while it destroys the ethos and institutions that produced them. The hard truths that sustain civilization are neither fashionable nor flattering, and so they tend to be abandoned. But we need them. They are hard truths, but they are desperately needed in a hard world full of hard hearts.

But many would rather believe that they can get something for nothing, that socialism will succeed this time, that sexual liberation just might work for us, that criminals need rehabilitation not retribution, and so on. Even as the evidence of failure piles up (literally) on the streets of Portland and Seattle, and the businesses close and the kids can’t read and the UHauls leave—there’s always an excuse, always someone else to blame.

In this case, Howard Schultz and his ilk will undoubtedly be blamed if Washington’s new income tax drives away more revenue than it makes, and its architects will try to widen their tax next time. In the meantime, the region will continue to decline as its populace refuses to face the truth that their ideology has failed.