I Can't Stand It Anymore

There's got to be a revolution in New York State. Not a bloody coup, mind you, so anarchist gun nuts and Koresh compound holdouts need not apply. I am talking about a purely peaceful, purely democratic, purely radical revolution.


Our state government is corrupt and defunct. At its best, it takes a third of your income and puts three men in a room behind closed doors to decided how to spend it. The biggest chunk goes to the worst social welfare system in the nation - - we spend the most per Medicaid enrollee of any other state in the Union by far and yet our outcomes are less than so-so.


The state Senate is not working. Viscious party politics have hamstrung the legislative branch. While the two dominant parties devote most of their effort to trying to figure out how to screw the other party the people's work remains unaddressed - - this is a year forecasting massive budget deficits and an economic crisis gripping the state and the nation in ways that have not been seen in an age.


Our economy lags behind the nation, which in turns lags behind the world, which makes New York, the Empire State, into the world's laggard. But instead of leading us towards tomorrow, our political leaders squabble and squawk about what happened yesterday.


The icing on the cake is that any serious effort to reform the state government requires the approval - - yes, the state government. The same government that hasn't been able to decide whether it's even open or closed for business in over three weeks. By the way, any reform under the current rules would take at least three years and would not be approved directly by the voters at the end of the day. So good luck with that.


I can't stand it anymore.


I can't stand giving my money to a government that quite simply fails of its intended purpose. I want my money back. Or, I want a real government - - one that puts its responsibilities to the people above individual responsibilities to "the party." I don't really give a rat's ass whether Democrats "win" or Republicans "win" or the Green Party "wins," as long as they are doing things that make New York nicer to live in. And generally speaking, making New York nicer to live in means getting out of my shorts.


So what is needed, as far as I can tell, is a brand new government. It will begin with a convention of delegates from each of the counties, and end with a state government that is genuinely by the people, and for the people.


The process must be democratic beyond fault, and utterly peaceful. And it must be driven forward with a will of iron and an unerring eye for truth, liberty, and justice.


It has to happen. It has to happen now.