It was a troubled time in history.
New York City was a mess.
The streets of the Big Apple were plagued with crime, and folks felt anxious and downhearted.
Then along came Rudy Giuliani.
He had made a run for mayor in 1989, but it wasn’t his time.
After having lost that election, he stepped up a few short years later for a 1993 electoral re-match with then-New York City Mayor David Dinkins.
Law and order was the big issue on voters’ minds. This time Rudy would take the trophy.
He became New York City’s mayor and went on to make the city safe again.
New Yorkers would thank him with a second term, which would be monumental in its import and in its place in history as on one fateful day in September 2001, Rudy would rise to become "America’s Mayor."
Fast forward to the Summer of 2020.
We sit in shock as in real time we watch a string of crimes play out on our television screens, tablets, and cell phones.
We gaze in horror as we witness the destruction of our shops, restaurants, and even our police stations.
Our hearts break as we see neighbors being beaten with fists, bricks, clubs, and skateboards.
We witness smashing, looting, burning, and unvarnished hatred unlike anything we have ever experienced before.
And we weep to the depths of our souls.
We learn a whole lot in the weeks to come, and the knowledge arrives in the form of revelations.
We hear about current Democratic state governors, including those in New York, California, Michigan, and Washington, and sitting Democrat city mayors in New York City, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Seattle, among others, who allow and even encourage outright lawlessness.
We see elected Democratic leaders violate their oaths to protect lives and property, giving carte blanche to terrorists.
We hear Democratic city mayors order police officers to stand down as cities are overtaken, livelihoods are demolished, and dreams of everyday folks go up in flames.
We recoil from the blows of vandals, who strike our own bodies as they deface cherished monuments and topple statues of heroes past.
We listen to Democratic state governors and Democratic city mayors order law enforcement to refrain from exercising their sworn duties.
We smell the stench of anarchy as we stare at city blocks, which are cordoned off in a neighborhood that many used to call work or home, the new area being proclaimed a "sovereign nation."
We cry alongside a father, who is forced to bury his own son at a time that the Seattle Democrat mayor dubbed a "summer of love."
We taste the bitter fear on our tongues — fear for ourselves, our families, our friends, and our neighbors — as Democratic officeholders defund our police departments.
We stop in our tracks for a moment to remember what happened just before the protests and riots.
We were, and still are, a nation in the grip of lockdown brought about by state and local officials who implemented harsh, and in many cases, illegal exercises of power.
We notice that the emergence of the coronavirus had handed governors, mayors, and myriad local officials the power of their wildest dreams, and the heightened profile that goes along with it.
Those who understand the allure of fame know how intoxicating it can be if gone unchecked. It is oftentimes checked by the virtue of humility, but we’re not seeing much of that in the current crop of Democratic gubernatorial and mayoral newfound "stars."
Why does it matter?
Because power has been placed in the hands of individuals who appear to be overwhelmed by the high it provides and who likely find themselves craving it all the more.
Consequently, it is highly unlikely that they will ever want to hand that power back, in this case, back to the American people.
In 1993 New Yorkers were in a similar situation.
The city’s high crime rate was making ordinary life anything but ordinary.
Here are some quotes that appeared in The New York Times in December of 1990, which divided New york City crime into two categories:
The first category had to do with "the large number of shootings of bystanders, whose victims were often children — crimes that frightened by their casualness and unpredictability."
The second category had to do with "crime that seemed to follow a pattern . . . "
As the Times went on to explain, "The second sort led to a growing sense of chaos in the city as the criminals eluded capture. But the first kind gave many residents a moreunsettling feeling: that anyone, at any time, could become a victim."
After what our country has witnessed of late in the Democrat-run cities and states referenced above, these categories of crime may have a great deal of relevance to the upcoming elections.
In 1993 New Yorkers were not about to become victims. This led to an unexpected, and very much welcomed, victory for Rudy Giuliani.
We're about to find out in four months if Americans in 2020 are in the same New York state of mind.
May this be the election that proves the America that we know and love is so worth fighting for.
James Hirsen, J.D., M.A., in media psychology, is a New York Times best-selling author, media analyst, and law professor. Visit Newsmax TV Hollywood. Read James Hirsen's Reports — More Here.
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