COURIER L 12 IFE, MAY 22-28, 2020
OPINION
A change is needed to protect our liberties
New York State might be fl awed, but it’s
still more of a democracy than America
In several previous columns,
including my fi rst for this
paper as well as last week’s,
I’ve noted that the vast majority
of us never really had any say
in the picking of the American
president. Of course this is due
to the primary calendar and
the electoral college, but I think
it’s also because the country we
live in is simply too large to be
governed both coherently and
democratically any more.
The other countries with
more than 150 million inhabitants
— China, India, Indonesia,
Pakistan, Brazil, Nigeria,
and Bangladesh — are all dictatorships
or basket cases. The
next three countries on the list
are Russia (a dictatorship and
a basket case), Mexico (an advanced
narco-state), and Japan,
which is a functioning country
but also one where a single
party has held power for more
than 60 of the last 65 years.
It used to be that it was helpful
to be a large country, because
large countries could afford
large armies, which prevented
being conquered by other large
countries and allowed one to
conquer small countries. But
the last time two large countries
fought was the United
States and China in Korea in
1954. Since then, the paradigm
has changed: the United States
has been losing wars to smaller
countries for 50 years, and the
ones we won — like Grenada —
weren’t even worth it.
We’re past the age where
few people cared about democratic
legitimacy and leviathan
states existed to protect their
subjects from conquest. Now,
governments best protect their
citizens by being responsive to
them. And the most responsive
governments are in relatively
small states.
Which brings us to the
multi-state council, the group
of seven northeastern states
combating the coronavirus together,
which last week I identifi
ed as potentially our best level
of governance going forward.
Several states, like Delaware or
Rhode Island, are probably too
small to function on their own.
But are other states too large to
be democratic?
New York might be too large.
The Empire State’s government
seems imperial, where the governor
is very powerful relative
to other states’ and generally
holds power for a long time.
Four of the last nine governors
were in offi ce for over a decade.
At this moment, it’s hard to
imagine Gov. Andrew Cuomo
not winning a fourth term in
2022. He has the state Democratic
Party fi rmly in his control,
and no Republican has
been elected statewide since
2002.
I don’t think the state should
split up, but we need a bunch of
democratic reforms. In the longterm,
we also deserve some
democratic say over the multistate
council, which currently
consists of three appointees per
state. Right now, it’s worse than
the electoral college, but at least
we don’t have to worry about
the South.
Nick Rizzo is a Democratic
District Leader representing
the 50th Assembly District and
a political consultant who lives
in Greenpoint. Follow him on
Twitter @NickRizzo.
WORDS OF
RIZZDOM
Nick Rizzo
This pandemic has exposed
the dangerousness
of the progressive worldview
of limiting individual liberties,
stifl ing our free market
system, and treating our police
offi cers with disdain.
Like many fellow New Yorkers
across the fi ve boroughs, I
enjoyed the warm weather last
weekend by having a few cold
beverages outside a local establishment
on Third Avenue in
Bay Ridge. It was nice to catch
up with friends and feel some
normalcy again. Signifi cantly,
bar and restaurant owners also
got a needed jolt of business.
Mayor Bill de Blasio quickly
threatened to shut down these
local businesses, many owned
by our neighbors, with the
NYPD and the Sheriff’s Offi ce.
Hizzoner said, “I’m not comfortable
at all with people congregating
outside bars…If we
have to shut places down, we
will.”
What Mayor de Blasio and
many other blue state offi cials
forget is that the First Amendment
of the Constitution guarantees
“the right of the people
peaceably to assemble.”
By saying he will shut down
businesses because individuals
freely decided to congregate on
a public space, Hizzoner is saying
to hell with the business
owners and their employees
who have struggled for survival
over the past two months. He is
also saying screw quarantinefatigued
New Yorkers who are
ready to make their own decisions
about resuming life.
As I said last week, it is time
to open the Big Apple again.
New Yorkers who are not guaranteed
regular taxpayer funded
paychecks, like our mayor, governor,
and legislators, need to
get back on their feet to make
ends meet at home.
Last Monday, the mayor
even threatened to have people
pulled out of the water at city
beaches. He said, “If anyone
tries to get in the water, they’ll
be taken right out of the water.”
For de Blasio and his fellow progressives,
it is more important
for police to pull people out of
the water, shut businesses, and
break up New Yorkers that are
peacefully assembling, rather
than fi ghting the alarming increases
in shootings, robberies,
and burglaries.
Indeed, the growing criticism
that blue states and localities
are dragging their feet on
reopening seems more legitimate.
We need to trust individuals
to make the best decisions
for themselves and their families,
and businesses to use the
free market system and their
own entrepreneurship to open
our city, state, and country
again. Allowing government
to keep their foot on the necks
of businesses is choking the
livelihoods of Americans, and
is not the system our founders
created.
While Mayor de Blasio
was quick to respond with his
threats to New Yorkers socializing
with one another on our
public streets, he had no similar
stern words for his Health Commissioner
who said she didn’t
“give two rats’ asses” about cops
getting needed personal protective
equipment. She fi nally issued
a public apology this week
and it is forgotten.
The despicable comments
of Dr. Oxiris Barbot to NYPD
Chief of Department Terence
Monahan during a phone call
in March as the pandemic took
hold here was merely a vocalization
of the anti-police views
of the mayor and progressives..
Can you imagine anyone at
City Hall daring to utter such
words under Mayor Bloomberg
or Giuliani?
Detectives’ Endowment Association
President Paul DiGiacomo
summed up the skepticism
about the sincerity of her
apology when he stated, “Dr.
Barbot’s apology comes only
because her disgusting comments
were brought to light for
all New Yorkers to hear.”
This pandemic is also bringing
to light the path we are on if
we continue to elect democrats,
who are now almost totally controlled
by the far-left progressive
wing.
Perhaps the only silver lining
to all of this is that New
Yorkers may realize that a
change is needed in leadership
to protect individual freedoms
and the free market, and to
stand up for law enforcement.
Bob Capano has worked for
Brooklyn Republican and Democrat
elected offi cials, and has
been an adjunct political science
professor for over 15 years. Follow
him on twitter @bobcapano.
THE RIGHT
VIEW
Bob Capano