Stranger in a ‘Blue’ Land: the plight of a political moderate

Remember hanging chads? You know, those pesky little half-punched-out cardboard holes in presidential ballots during the 2000 recount… Well, I remember them well because I lived in the Florida swing district at ground zero of the controversy. Florida was then and still is a swing state, voting with the winning presidential candidate in the last five quadrennial contests.  I felt more comfortable voting there because candidates in swing states have to appease moderate voters to get elected.  In fact, I recall voting in the 2010 off-year elections for the Democratic candidate for governor, an independent for U.S. Senate and a Republican for the House of Representatives.  In fact, I have always lived in swing states.  Before Florida, there was Pennsylvania, Colorado and New Jersey – yes, New Jersey was once a swing state as was New York when I grew up here. (Remember Nelson Rockefeller?) 

All of this came back to me recently as I pondered why I am so unhappy with New York State politics. Embedded deeply in ‘Blue’ ideology, the Democrats who now control state government endeavor to run the table with the headline ideas of their national party while complaining that a governor of their own party holds fast to a 2% cap on annual tax increases.  The debate boggles my mind.  New York consistently rates at or near the bottom in the Tax Foundation’s Business Tax Climate Index.  Why aren’t we reducing taxes? 

Seeking validation that I am not off my rocker, I recently took the political typology quiz on the non-partisan Pew Research website.  (Seventeen ‘either/or’ questions, 3 minutes – try it!) I landed smack dab in the middle of the nine categories from left to right -- ‘New Era Enterpriser.’  No wonder I’m a swing voter.  

Then, of course, there are the presidential elections.  I am not a Trump voter, but neither will I vote for any Democrat who promotes radical ideas like free tuition, Medicare for All or the Green New Deal.  Of course, if you live in a Deep Blue (or Deep Red) state, it really doesn’t matter for whom you cast your presidential vote.  All the electoral votes go the candidate who wins the most individual votes – in New York, that will be the Democrat. 

So, what’s a swing voter to do?

While I was pondering our choices in 2016, Bill Clinton convinced me to vote third party. Bill Clinton?you say.  Yes, Bill Clinton.  In a podcast promoting the candidacy of his wife –With Her – he pointed out that voting third party or even not voting sends a message to the major parties.  They feel compelled to figure out how to win you over, he asserts. If only…

WHO WILL LEAD?

What I’m Reading

Carole Cadwalladr, a reporter for the British newspaper ‘The Guardian,’ writes about delivering a TED talk about the transgressions of Big Tech while Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg and other Silicon Valley big shots were in the room…  NY Times columnist David Brooks writes about experiencing one’s ‘annunciation moment,’ the time when “a new passion is silently conceived…”  Joseph Antos and James Capretta of the American Enterprise Institute discuss how to achieve universal healthcare coverage without Medicare For All. 

#justanoldwhiteguy

Is it just me or is having a bunch of bureaucrats decide who won the Kentucky Derby a sign of the times?