New York State Circus
I was all set to write this scathing diatribe about the NYS Senate and the circus that is Albany, but someone not only beat me to it, but wrote pretty much exactly what I wanted to say in a way that is way better than what I would have written. But then he *IS* a columnist for the NY Times, so… Here is a link to the full article by Mr. Haberman from the Times. And below is an except…
You will recall that in the statewide elections of 2010, voters rose up in anger and tossed out all 62 sitting members of the State Senate, regardless of party affiliation or job performance. New Yorkers said in interviews back then that the only way to repair Albany was to heed the call of some newspaper editorials by sweeping everyone out of office and starting over from scratch.
They were inspired, some said, by the resistance of Iranians to political repression that followed dubious election results in 2009. When the Iranian leadership stomped out opposition street protests, thousands of people showed that they would not be cowed by climbing to their rooftops late at night and chanting “Death to the dictator” and “God is great.”
In time, this nonviolent tactic caught on in New York. Every night, in growing numbers across the state, New Yorkers leaned out their windows in a “Network” moment, and yelled, “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore” and “Throw the bums out.” On Nov. 2, 2010, that is exactly what they did.
So let’s do exactly what he describes, and vote every single one of them out. It doesn’t matter whether or not they were directly involved, they let it drag on for 5 weeks. They all participated in a fiasco that costs us, the taxpayers, hundreds of thousands of dollars that didn’t need to be spent, in the middle of the worst financial crisis in over 70 years. They all contributed to untold millions of dollars in extra expenses and costs due to legislation being delayed or even canceled, and of course we will foot the bill for any lawsuits that are forthcoming. Every single one of them needs to be voted out. We need to do exaclty what Mr. Haberman describes, stand up and scream…
We’re MAD AS HELL! And we’re not going to take it anymore!
