New York City, the 51st State
by Susan Stark
Liberals and leftists often look upon secessionists like the Texas, Hawaiian, and Alaska sovereignty movements as far-out whackjobs.
But I learned (too recently), that Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin supported an Upstate New York congressional candidate. The candidate did not win, but as a Gotham resident, that is far too close for my comfort. Enough for me to support the New York City Statehood Movement. This particular movement doesn't advocate succeeding from the US, but only from Upstate New York.
And I won't be the only one supporting this movement if Limbaugh and Palin try to invade NYC through the back door, when they think we aren't looking.
Susan
Liberals and leftists often look upon secessionists like the Texas, Hawaiian, and Alaska sovereignty movements as far-out whackjobs.
But I learned (too recently), that Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin supported an Upstate New York congressional candidate. The candidate did not win, but as a Gotham resident, that is far too close for my comfort. Enough for me to support the New York City Statehood Movement. This particular movement doesn't advocate succeeding from the US, but only from Upstate New York.
And I won't be the only one supporting this movement if Limbaugh and Palin try to invade NYC through the back door, when they think we aren't looking.
Susan
posted by Susan Stark at
7:33 PM
25 Comments:
"...succeeding from the U.S."
When we're in a hurry to make a point, we often fail to review and edit. It's 'seceding,' SS. Thank you. Thank you very much. Anonymous has left the building.
Wow, as an upstate New York resident (Orange County), there's nothing I love more than when those snobs from the five borroughs say we aren't New York, THEY are the real New York.
And everyone north of me, (Albany, Plattsburgh, Buffalo, etc) say that I'm not upstate, THEY are the real upstate.
Can we please put this kind of stuff behind us!? Territorial boundries were created for effecient administration and now they've morphed into an "us vs them" mentality.
I thought it was common knowledge that smaller communities are usually republican and the major citys are the liberal enclaves anyway? Look at a county by county map of any election and you'll see a whole lot of red.
All in all, I really don't see the point you're trying to make other than upstate New York (an entire region) doesn't agree with your political beliefs?
Susan,
Next time you have a thought....try sitting on it for at least a day before you run to the computer.
I'm proud of you for just now learning about this event that has been developing for several weeks, but I agree with Anon 9:54 that you are essentially trying to 'otherize' entire geographies of people just because of few far right fringies went up their and got their butts handed to them. What was the result? The result was a REJECTION of the Palin/Limbaugh/Beck crowd.
So, in an area that hasn't gone Democrat since before the invention of the lightbulb (which we already all know is meaningless given the history of the two parties), The extreme right was not welcome.
This is a VERY GOOD THING. And I hope that the extreme right continues to push themselves on people they THINK will support them, in their Stalinist purge of the Republican Party. And I commend the citizens of NY-23 for NOT buying into the stupidity of this national circus.
So maybe they aren't Gotham residents like you. How about their status as New Yorkers, or Americans, or...just perhaps....human beings?
That was a silly post. I return to my initial statement. Next time you have a thought....try letting it go....if it comes back to you, maybe it was worthwhile.
I recently visited family in Northern New York (aka, that place where the majority of the towns are within an hour's drive of the Canadian border one way and the Adirondack State Park the other). They might be happy if New York City seceded from the rest of the state as one of their major gripes was the amount of state funding that went to that one area while towns upstate were left to rot.
"...succeeding from the U.S."
When we're in a hurry to make a point, we often fail to review and edit. It's 'seceding,' SS. Thank you. Thank you very much. Anonymous has left the building.>>>
How do you know I didn't intend to spell it that way, Anon? Any breakaway from the US at this point would be "succeeding".
Susan, it would seem to me the The Great State of New York needs every taxpayer it can get. The rich are in the process of bailing.
Wow, Susan, America, Love it or Leave it, huh? Isn't fixing America better than running away?
Territorial boundries were created for effecient administration
Uh, right. Colonial and provincial boundaries are created for "efficient administration," or political gerrymandering, or whatever. Boundaries between different territories are created by different groups of men killing each other to control them, each group considering its own fighters to be heroes and the other side to be hideous monsters. The boundary between New York and Ontario has nothing to do with bureaucratic efficiency and everything to do with who got it in the neck in 1776 and 1812.
If that was your intention, then you're as brilliant as George W. Bush. Go for it!
I don't know why you see secession as political nuttiness, Susan. There was a time when neither of Alaska, Hawaii or Texas were part of the Union. Why is it crazy for them to think they might be better off as untangled from D.C.'s mandate as, say, British Columbia? Is it also wacky for Puerto Rico residents to want out of their non-statehood status into complete autonomy? What's the difference?
I was hoping Ted would do a commemorative cartoon celebrating the 20th anniversary of the most important historical event our generation witnessed. Will you, Ted?
I live in downstate Illinois, in the enclave whose voting patterns combined with those of Chicago makes Illinois a decent place to live. Please remember your friends outside the NY Metro - they need your city, just like Illinois needs Chicago to avoid becoming Missouri or Indiana (aka Christian theocracies).
Next time you have a thought....try sitting on it for at least a day before you run to the computer.
If Big Brother Cass Sunstein has his way, it'll probably be the law.
That being said, secession is stupid. Leave it to a New Yorker to want to have a city-state.
Excellent point! Southern Illinois is different but still not Missouri or Indiana. When friends ask when Mo went deep south I tell them what people there told me. It was always deep south.
Your northern progressive
I thought Indiana worshiped Basketball.
"How do you know I didn't intend to spell it that way, Anon? Any breakaway from the US at this point would be "succeeding"."
SUSAN, you really need to think through what you write before putting it up!!! You stated in your post, "This particular movement doesn't advocate succeeding from the US, but only from Upstate New York."
So you weren't initially talking about secession from the US, just splitting NY State into parts. In fact, there are many plans throughout the country that look at dividing states up to capture more reasonable municipal control, for example Northern California (The State of Jefferson).
Beyond that, I agree wholeheartedly with Incitatus, there is nothing whacky about the concept of secession. I think it makes a lot of sense to perpetually consider the administrative efficiency, logic, and cultural benefits of reevaluating political boundaries, especially in the age of global telecommunications. Simply put, we no longer need these excessive layers of administration.
Democrat since the lightbulb was invented?
Michael R. McNulty Democratic January 3, 1989
January 3, 1993
Samuel S. Stratton Democratic January 3, 1983
January 3, 1989
Peter A. Peyser Democratic January 3, 1979
January 3, 1983
Jonathan B. Bingham Democratic January 3, 1965
January 3, 1973
Charles A. Buckley Democratic January 3, 1963
January 3, 1965
Jacob H. Gilbert Democratic March 8, 1960
January 3, 1963
Isidore Dollinger Democratic January 3, 1953
December 31, 1959
Sidney A. Fine Democratic January 3, 1951
January 3, 1953
Walter A. Lynch Democratic January 3, 1945
January 3, 1951
Charles A. Buckley Democratic January 3, 1935
January 3, 1945
Frank A. Oliver Democratic March 4, 1923
June 18, 1934
Daniel C. Oliver Democratic March 4, 1917
March 4, 1919
Really, this one was dumb. Why should NYC be the only city where Senators can come from to represent NY State?
Should Philly secede from PA just because a Senator might be from Pittsburgh?
Get over yourself.
Thanks for responding, everybody. I don't have anything against the residents of upstate New York. But if you want to speak about being "otherized", well, inhabitants of the Big Apple have always been otherized as "elites" or "intellectuals" or worse.
And frankly I get sick of it. What's wrong with thinking about things.
And, we here in Gotham are also sick of real estate developers coming in communities without permission and destroying them. While at the same time vital services like transportation are degrading.
And, Billy Jack talks about taxes. Well the taxes that Gotham pays are not going to Gotham, where they should be going. A city this dense and complex needs to be maintained.
Good luck without upstate water.
Susan,
I think the point is not that elites and intellectuals think about things, it's that other people do as well. Cities need rural areas to supply them with resources essential to living. Trying to separate cities from their supporting hinterlands is not very wise, as Upstater (12:13 AM) points out.
That NYC has a crisis with paying for services is an altogether separate issue.
Also, the fact that the Limbaugh/Palin crowd otherizes urbanites as invalid is not a reasonable excuse for you to. Therefore your post seem to be quite non sequitur and erratic in nature.
In Fact, Upstate New York has a significant issue with NYC people coming up, buying farms, and then making aesthetic demands on their neighbors that are devoid of any true understanding of the realities of agricultural production. So there is enough inferiority to go around here.
The point still stands, that the people of NY-23 REJECTED the extreme right wing position. We should all give them credit for having the sense to do so.
The point still stands, that the people of NY-23 REJECTED the extreme right wing position. We should all give them credit for having the sense to do so.
That's ok, we got New Jersey and Virginia as well as another defeat for same sex marriage in Maine.
This just in from Gallup:
Republicans have moved ahead of Democrats by 48% to 44% among registered voters in the latest update on Gallup's generic congressional ballot for the 2010 House elections, after trailing by six points in July and two points last month.
Anything that brings the Senate closer to one-person-one-vote would be good. Splitting New York into two states would probably help. Splitting California into three or more would definitely help.
Or just amending the Constitution to so Senators were apportioned by population rather than by We Said So.
"Republicans" are not "the extreme right wing" in the US, and vice versa. "you" did not "get" VA and NJ, if you look at the reasoning for why voters made the choices they did. Continue the purge of the Republican party, and continue to be increasingly rejected, because the extreme right wing in the US is *NOT* mainstream, and *NOT* a majority.
The point still stands, that the people of NY-23 REJECTED the extreme right wing position. We should all give them credit for having the sense to do so.
Ooops:
Hoffmans concession -- based on snafus in Oswego County and elsewhere that left his vote undercounted -- set off a chain of events...
Better check the ACORN office for ballots
Yeah, as different people have said, it's what constitutes upstate that's the problem. Maybe New York to Woodstock? I can understand wanting to be free of Long Island, too, but in all fairness wouldn't you have to incorporate some of Connecticut in order for it to really be representative of New York City, as well as part of New Jersey? Ok, maybe not part of New Jersey.
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