If You Live in a Major US City, It’s Probably Time to Move

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola Fact Checked

• May 19, 2023

Story at-a-glance

• The crimewave overtaking Chicago, Illinois, is a perfect example of the moral degradation happening in most metropolitan areas around the U.S. A person is shot every three hours and 41 minutes in “The Windy City.” This despite having some of the toughest gun control laws in the country
• Democrat-controlled cities and states are decriminalizing theft, looting and even violent crime and murder under the banner of fighting systemic racism and inequality. Yet the end result is always the same: More crime and rising lawlessness
• Brick and mortar stores are intentionally being pushed out of the big cities due to rising crime. It’s a consolidation program. The end goal is to transition to a traceable central bank digital currency and near-exclusive use of online shopping
• The World Economic Forum (WEF) is working to create tiny self-contained vertical cities where your every move is surveilled and countryside excursions are forbidden. To get there, they must destroy the old infrastructure and rebuild according to new specifications
• If you live in a big city — any major metropolitan area — consider moving to a smaller one, preferably in a less “woke” state where lawlessness is not openly embraced and accepted as some form of “equity” arrangement, as it’s only going to get worse from here

Although this may seem to be an article focusing on Chicago, please realize Chicago is only being used as an example of the moral decay and corruption in virtually every major city in the United States. It serves as a stark warning to relocate if you are in one of these areas.

As noted by ReallyGraceful in the video above, Chicago, Illinois, ought to be “a haven of the United States.” The third largest city in the U.S., it’s filled with world-class architecture and technological advancements. It’s a center for manufacturing and transportation industries and has become a tech sector mecca.¹

But rather than being the apple of America’s eye, Chicago has become known as “a center for murder, crime and corruption.” A person is shot every three hours and 41 minutes in “The Windy City.” This despite having some of the toughest gun control laws in the country.

Someone is murdered every 15 hours and 54 minutes in Chicago. According to statistics cited in the video, you’re more likely to be murdered in Chicago than die as a civilian in the Ukraine-Russia war. The violence in Chicago is primarily Black on Black, and most victims are Black men under the age of 25. How did this happen? How did Chicago become a center for crime rather than advancement?

Chicago’s Failed Policies

Lori Lightfoot, a Black gay Democrat, became mayor of Chicago in 2019. In the summer of 2020, she went along with the nationwide movement to defund the police. In August she pledged to cut the city’s police budget by $80 million, but a month later she changed her mind and in the end “only” cut the budget by $59 million.²

To her credit, she rejected the community’s call for eliminating police altogether and replacing them with social workers and medical professionals, saying she does “not support defunding the police” and could not “responsibly enact any policies that make communities less safe.”³

Clearly, Lightfoot understood the value of police presence, seeing how she made sure she had a squad of 71 police officers protecting her personal home.

That said, Lightfoot also implemented some of the most draconian lockdown policies in the country and pressured Chicagoans to get the experimental COVID jab. She also launched a universal basic income pilot program, which is yet another way to get people hooked on government assistance.

All the while, crime surged. In December 2021, Lightfoot begged the federal government for additional law enforcement resources to address out-of-control crime rates.⁴

In April 2023, Lightfoot became the first Chicago mayor to lose reelection, ostensibly due to her failure to rein in crime. Remarkably, the new mayor is anything but hard on crime and is even more permissive than she was.

Contrary to Lightfoot, who at least pushed back against the irrational if not suicidal “defund the police” movement, the new mayor, Democrat Brandon Johnson, a former union organizer and Cook County commissioner, was a staunch supporter of police defunding, and to this day defends looting as “an outbreak of incredible frustration and anguish” caused by “a failed racist system.”

Meanwhile, Walmart, a major donor to the Democrat Party, is now closing four of its eight Chicago stores due to rampant theft and looting. Walmart simply can’t afford to stay there. Protesters gathered outside Walmart, criticizing its decision, but in the end, economics rule — even in Democrat-controlled areas.

Decriminalization of Crime Leads to Lawlessness

Remarkably, the Democrat trend to decriminalize theft, looting and even violent crime and murder — because “racism and inequality” — is resulting in more crime. Who could’ve guessed that lack of law abiding would lead to lawlessness?

As noted by Cook County prosecutor Jason Poje, who in early May 2023 resigned from his post that he’s held for 20 years, “This State and County have set themselves on a course to disaster.” He continues:⁵

“... the worst part is that the agency for whom I work has backed literally every policy change that had the predictable, and predicted, outcome of more crime and more people getting hurt.

Bond reform designed to make sure no one stays in jail while their cases are pending with no safety net to handle more criminals on the streets, shorter parole periods, lower sentences for repeat offenders, the malicious and unnecessary prosecution of law enforcement officers, overuse of diversion programs, intentionally not pursuing prosecutions for crimes lawfully on the books after being passed by our legislature and signed by a governor, all of these so-called reforms have had a direct negative impact, with consequences that will last for a generation ...

The current people in charge of this state, including the [State’s Attorney’s Office] suffer from a fundamental misunderstanding ... we live in a society with adversarial court and criminal justice processes.

Defense attorneys, legal aid clinics, Public Defenders, defendant advocate groups ... they fight like hell to protect the rights of criminal defendants. And they should. Their work is as noble as ours. But we have an obligation to fight like hell on behalf of the People. It should go without saying that this must be done ethically and evenhandedly.

When both sides vigorously defend their positions, a balance is reached between protecting rights while preserving some sort of order and safety. Once we start doing too much of the defense’s job, once we pull our punches, once we decide that it’s worth risking citizens’ lives to have a little social experiment, that balance is lost.

The unavoidable consequences are what we are witnessing in real time, an increase in crime of all kinds, businesses and families pulling up stakes, and the bodies piling up ...”

Why are political leaders implementing policies that, obviously, will result in more rather than less crime? They’re intentionally implemented because the end result is a desired one.

Chicago is not alone in this folly. Seattle, Los Angeles and many other Democrat-run cities have implemented similar policies, and the end result is the same everywhere. Why are political leaders implementing policies that, obviously, will result in more rather than less crime?

ReallyGraceful has a theory. She believes these insane policies are intentionally implemented because the end justifies the means since it is a desired outcome.

She suspects large brick and mortar stores and small shops alike are intentionally being pushed out of the big cities so that “only those with the money and infrastructure to support online shopping can survive.” In other words, it’s a consolidation program. The end goal is to transition to a traceable central bank digital currency and online shopping.

Beyond that, we have the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) well-laid plans for the cities of the future.^6,7 They want tiny self-contained vertical cities where your every move is surveilled and countryside excursions are forbidden. To get there, they must destroy the old infrastructure and rebuild according to new specifications.

According to the WEF, cities worldwide will gain 5 billion new inhabitants by 2050.⁸ In all, they predict 80% of the global population will be pressed into cities. Never mind the fact that city living has long been linked to stress, depression and increased aggression.⁹

So-called “isobenefit urbanism” plans include building cities where essentials are all within a 1-mile walking distance.

This makes sense, considering the green goal to have all electric cars by 2050 is a fantasy that cannot be achieved. There aren’t enough minerals on this planet to replace existing gas-powered cars with EVs. The plan is simply for average people to not have a car.

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Coordinated Effort to Unleash Lawlessness Across America

The key takeaway here is that the promotion of lawlessness is not restricted to Chicago. Chicago is just one example of the moral degradation that is happening in virtually every major U.S. city.

Violent criminals are released from prisons in many major cities and state prosecutors are either handing out slaps on the wrist or refusing to prosecute violent offenders altogether. That’s intentional. You don’t have to have some special Ph.D. to realize that if there’s no punishment for looting and murder, more people will loot and kill.

According to FBI data, on average, murder and manslaughter in U.S. cities with a population over 10,000 increased 26% between 2010 and 2020; rape increased by 38%, aggravated assault by 29% and car theft by 48%.

Those are averages. Some cities are far worse than others.¹⁰ To dig deeper, see CBS News’ “Murder Map,”¹¹ the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Homicide Mortality by State” map,¹² and/or World Population Review’s “Cities with the Most Murders 2023” map.¹³ It’s worth noting that 18 of the 20 cities with the highest murder rates have Democrat mayors.

Save Yourself — Move Out of the Cities

My advice? If you live in a big city — any major metropolitan area — consider moving to a smaller one, preferably in a less “woke” state where lawlessness is not openly embraced and accepted as some form of “equity” arrangement.

Your and your family’s safety, security and long-term welfare may depend on it, because it’s only going to get worse from here. We can easily predict this because the degradation we’re currently seeing is clearly intentional.

10 Cities and States Homeowners Are Fleeing

Since the pandemic began, we’ve seen an unprecedented exodus from Blue cities across the U.S. The top 10 cities homeowners have been fleeing are:¹⁴

1. San Francisco
2. Los Angeles
3. New York City
4. Washington, D.C.
5. Boston
6. Chicago
7. Detroit
8. Denver
9. Seattle
10. Philadelphia

People are also fleeing certain states more than others. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the 10 states with the highest population loss in 2021 due to relocations were:¹⁵

1. New Jersey
2. Illinois
3. New York
4. Connecticut
5. California
6. Michigan
7. Massachusetts
8. Louisiana
9. Ohio
10. Nebraska

Safest Cities in America

As for where to relocate, taking a peek at crime statistics can be helpful. As of 2022, the following 10 towns and townships were rated the safest.¹⁶ Additional lists of low-crime areas can be found here¹⁷ and here.¹⁸

1. Lewisboro Town, New York
2. Wayland, Massachusetts
3. Rye, New York
4. Broadview Heights, Ohio
5. Franklin, Massachusetts
6. Norfolk, Massachusetts
7. Sparta Township, New Jersey
8. Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey
9. Berkeley Heights Township, New Jersey
10. Holden, Massachusetts

As for the states people are flocking to, the top 10 states that have seen the greatest influx are:^19,20

1. Florida
2. Texas
3. North Carolina
4. South Carolina
5. Tennessee
6. Georgia
7. Arizona
8. Idaho
9. Alabama
10. Oklahoma

To Rebuild, We Must Address the Real Problems

This article hit home for me as I was born and raised in Chicago and about as native as they come as I went to kindergarten, grade school, high school, college, medical school and residency all within the city limit of Chicago. Thankfully, I left over 12 years ago and escaped to sunny Florida.

I agree with ReallyGraceful who states that what we’re seeing is the Hegelian Reaction in real-time: Problem, Reaction, Solution. They’re intentionally creating a problem that they know will result in a certain reaction, so that they can then introduce a preplanned “solution” — a solution that centralizes and cements power at the top of government.

And, while there is a political divide, there are rotten apples and Great Reset promoters on both sides. For example, some Republican leaders are now calling for the U.S. military to intervene and restore order, but that’s just part of the same agenda. The result is more government control and power. Military intervention is the last thing we should hope for.

What we really need to do, as a society, is to take a cold, hard look at the problems that government is ignoring or trying to sweep under the rug, because that’s where the solutions lie. The real problems that need to be addressed can be summed up as:

Lack of family unit, which has eliminated the security and confidence that family used to provide.	Lack of traditional values that benefit the individual and the collective equally.
Lack of pride and purpose in the workplace as workers are viewed as disposable.	Lack of community and meaningful connection with others.
Lack of personal responsibility and sense of self.	Failure to keep government power in check.

The only ones who can fix these problems are We the People. We have to change how we live and interact in our local communities and stop looking to the government for solutions. Government is in the business of creating problems to introduce fake solutions that centralize power. We need to identify and address the real problems, and only we can do that.

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