I know this is a not a big issue, but if you do vote this year in NY state (and you should) please consider that Cuomo will be re-elected. I am not telling you how to vote, but if you do plan on voting for him, vote for him on the Working Families Party ticket, not the Democratic one. It would be a reminder to him and his team that he has to take his progressive supporters into account. If you don’t want to vote for him, and I wouldn’t blame you one bit, then may I suggest a vote for the Green Party candidate, Howie Hawkins.
Cuomo is hoping for a big blowout victory for one reason and one reason only – to line up financial backers for a run at the Presidency either in 2016 and/or 2020. Despite his support for a few social issues (Same sex marriage equality and reasonable regulations on guns) he is for the most part a corporate hack, heavily indebted to Wall Street, and also just looking for an excuse to open up New York to hydrofracking operations.
So far we’ve been able to hold him at bay on allowing hydrofracking in NY, but a big Cuomo victory would likely enable him to push fracking through, which as anyone from Pennsylvania can tell you, would be an unmitigated environmental disaster, that would provide little if any real economic return for the state, but huge deferred costs and liabilities after the oil and gas drillers are long gone.
As for the other votes you cast, please vote for the Democrats and not the Republicans, no matter how nice they try to portray themselves. The Tea Pary extremists have made serious inroads in the NYGOP, with a boatload of out of state Super PAC (i.e., ALEC) funding for their chosen candidates. Cuomo doesn’t seem to care much if the GOP regains control of the NY Legislature, since in many cases his interests are aligned with theirs in terms of favoring business interests above the health and economic well being of most New Yorkers. Yes, we have our share of bad Dems here, but I’d rather the devil I know than the Tea Party crazies I don’t.
Regardless of where you live, make sure you vote. The GOP is relying on big money attack ads, voter suppression efforts and stirring up their rabid base by using the animus they’ve ginned up against President Obama over the last six years to get out their vote. But even more than that, they are relying on voter apathy among Democratic, liberal and progressive voters. Votes matter, even in states without high profile Senate or Gubernatorial races. Just ask the folks in Wisconsin and Michigan and Pennsylvania what allowing the GOP to takeover state and local governments has done for them. If you live in a state that allows early or mail-in voting and have already voted, thank you. If like me, you have fewer voting options, find a way to get yourself to the polls on Tuesday, and bring someone else with you.
Thanks,
Steven D
