The political news is always interesting, even the fake news. Sometimes that is more interesting than the real news. The political writers and especially columnists can be very creative. The spin doctors can make a boring situation or even a non-situation more fun to read.
This column is definitely written by a right wing person who has, upon occasion, accused of being to the right of Attila the Hun. Attila was famous for conquering lands and nations, but he was not noted for his prose. Perhaps that was taken into consideration.
We have to admit that this column has always been critical of the liberal leftist point of view. At least for most of their points! As a citizen of New York and a dedicated voter, it is easy to find politicians, laws and procedures worthy of discussion.
Being a resident of a state that has been nationally known for its corrupt government and practices, finding issues to write about is not a difficult task. The dealings in Albany, which affects everyone in the state provides a wealth of subjects and issues as material for the column.
Right now, the corruption issue is a subject that is hitting the headlines. Conservatives are gleeful as they read about the Cuomo involvement with the Buffalo Billions and the accusations about the “pay for play” necessities in order to get state contracts.
It is amazing to read about how campaign contributions to Governor Andrew Cuomo are connected to lucrative state contracts for construction or “services.” It would appear that the size of the contract has a real effect on the size of the campaign contribution. Maybe the law of supply and demand applies to politics, too.
While the recognized news services provide information, it can be tempered and focused depending on the makeup of the editorial boards of newspapers and the program directors of electronic media.
Most of them favor the liberals and their agenda. We can usually find a balance with social media as the people who are interested in politics will voice their opinions on Facebook or websites. That is the source of real grass roots attitudes for those who are involved in the process,
The politicians in New York have a big advantage with the apathy of the citizens. It is seldom that more than forty percent of eligible voters will vote. This allows the corrupt politicians to have a reelection rate of more than ninety percent. Gerrymandering works.
That is the power of party politics and many will agree that in New York the majority of the politicians focus on strengthening the party rather than considering the welfare of the people. If two-thirds of the people won’t vote, why bother with them? The most powerful motivation for most humans is “what’s in it for me?” Politicians are no exception.
Until the people have a shift in attitude and are willing to get involved in the political process, the status quo will continue and the people are the losers. They are willing to sacrifice their freedoms and even their resources rather than become involved. Because of that, the professional politicians do very well with the current system.
This column has given the definitions of politicians and statesmen. When making decisions on issues, a statesman looks forward to the next generation. A politician looks forward only to the next election. We have too few statesmen and too many politicians.
A future column will show the math on how the November elections may turn out. A lot will depend on the primaries and who the survivors will be.
Politicians hate primaries because it eats up their war chest of money and in some of the gerrymandered districts the primary IS the general election. Also, the opposition usually digs up dirt and negative events involving the opponent. Some districts won’t have a contest. The minority party won’t waste money or can’t find a sacrificial lamb to go on the ballot.
The summer months will be filled with fund raising events which get more expensive every election cycle. For candidates who used to hold events for $25 to get more people involved in the campaign the costs have doubled, or more. It is now common to find events charging $100 and a bargain of two people for $175.
Then, there are the ones that separate the sheep from the goats with the cheap tickets charging $250 with “special” categories going up to a grand. The more powerful the position, the more expensive the ticket!
Of course, those who can afford to spend a thousand bucks or more can generally expect to have more access to the candidate if that candidate is the winner. The statement that politics is all about power and money is never challenged. It is the truth.
This should be a challenging campaign time. The parties are going whole hog to get control nationally of the congress and senate. The state power brokers want to shift the Senate to Democrat so they can take complete control of the state.
There will be a lot of “dirty politics” (so what else is new?) in the races because of the vulnerability of Andrew Cuomo this year. This column is geared to attack the dirty politics techniques and to get the readers (hopefully) to get involved with dollars and votes.
This is the best year we have had, as voters, to make changes. There is a lot of difference in having the ability to make the change and the willingness to do it. What is your choice?
