By Phil Orenstein
This is not a lecture on American History. Rather, it is an updated reading of the American Revolution to alert us all to the dangers behind the facades of our “nice” politicians.
During the American Revolution, the Patriots were American colonists who supported the cause of independence and rejected British rule, while the Loyalists were colonists who remained loyal to the British Empire and King George. While Loyalists saw themselves as Americans, they often kept their loyalty secret and maintained a middle-of-the-road position in order to curry favor with the British and reap rewards at the end of the war. They didn’t fight for either the British side or for American independence and were despised by both the Patriots and the British Crown. After the war, the Loyalists were publicly humiliated, banished, and many fled in disgrace to Canada or Britain.
The moderate Democrat elected officials and Republicans-In-Name-Only (RINOs), are like the Loyalists in the American Revolution. They display the public demeanor of a nice person or a friendly politician, who doesn’t make waves, but they are the ones destroying New York City and State and it’s time for them to go, just like the Loyalists.
They may have originally gotten involved in politics to do good, but were weak and spineless, and succumbed to the base temptations of the political system. They lost their moral compass and became corrupted. They bow to their political bosses and toe the party line even though they may not agree with it.
They are the enemy of the people, and they need to be banished from office. Politics has become a corrupted criminal enterprise for these weak, go-along to get-along politicians, who end up as powerful lobbyists or multi-millionaires after they retire. The Clintons started out with no money, and now are billionaires. Has anyone seen Joe Crowley lately, who was a regular guy from the streets of Maspeth, Queens? He got into power as a congressman and chairman of the Democrat Party of Queens, and is now a millionaire lobbyist, who lives in a gated community in Virginia. We all know the affable Senator Joe Addabbo who voted for Bail Reform, and partnered with Resorts World Casino, which does not benefit the community and ends up taking money from the poor. It may be more about serving himself than the community.
The majority of the people support the police and are for law and order, and all politicians should be jumping all over this issue. But it’s these “nice” politicians who are undermining the will of their constituencies. They are afraid of the far left, and don’t want to lose their power and money. Besides Addabbo, it’s Leroy Comrie, John Liu, Toby Ann Stavisky, Nily Rozic, Ed Braunstein, Ron Kim, and all the other “kindly” Democrat State Senators and Assemblymen who voted Bail Reform into law, which is now destroying life in New York City. After the George Floyd riots, and the defund the police movement, the Democrats in the City Council voted to slash one billion dollars from the 2021 NYPD budget. To this day, none of them are standing up for our police, or speaking out to end cashless bail. Now they’re even refusing to vote to stiffen penalties for violent assaults against retail workers. It’s the “nice guy” politicians who are destroying our communities, and now it’s time for the people to rise up and stop voting for the same politicians who vote along with the progressives. They talk a good game in the community but go to Albany or to City Hall and vote against your interests.
Republicans aren’t off the hook either. Eric Ulrich, a 3-term Republican City Councilman in Queens, went to a Catholic High School and came into politics young, wide-eyed and idealistic. But he soon lost his high ideals and became corrupted, supporting leftist Melissa Mark-Viverito for City Council Speaker, who refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. In return she appointed Ulrich to Chairman of the City Council Veterans Committee. The next quid pro quo was his NYC Buildings Commissioner appointment by Mayor Adams after fundraising for the mayor’s election campaign, instead of supporting fellow Republican, Curtis Sliwa. Now Ulrich has resigned his office in disgrace and was arrested on 16 felony bribery-related charges since his involvement with organized crime. He used his public office to benefit himself, his friends and associates, rather than the people of New York City.
Public servants, as the name implies have to put the good of the people above themselves, their families and their self-interest, or they should get out of public service. What sane person would welcome thousands of unvetted migrants, possibly criminals, possibly terrorists, to destroy our schools, our neighborhoods, for whom we have to pay $12 billion or $387 per migrant, per day, to come into America, to NYC where they are treated better than American citizens? What sane politician would not fight this? But they’re not. They are the “nice” politicians who don’t want to make waves, who are destroying our communities. For example, City Councilwoman Linda Lee is a nice, amicable politician. She was vacationing in South Korea while 1000 unvetted single male migrants were moved into the tent city at Creedmoor in her district.
A principled public servant would have taken the next plane out of Seoul back to JFK, and stood in front of the Creedmoor migrant tents the very next morning saying to the community that she would make sure that this tent city was removed from this community. Instead of going into hiding during a major crisis in her district, putting her self-interest first, she should have been out there fighting for the community, fighting to shut down the migrant tents, and standing up for the police and for law and order to save our city.
Linda Lee is not the only one. Senators Stavisky, Comrie, Addabbo, Councilwoman Ariola, Assemblymen Weprin, Braunstein, and all the rest – all of them good moderate politicians, but they’re not doing the job they were elected to do, to protect the community. We’re almost at the stage where NYC is no longer livable, and it’s these good politicians who are destroying our lives because they’re not willing to stand up and do the right thing. They are the Loyalists. They sold us out.
They are allowing a small minority of leftist bullies to rule us. It’s a small minority such as Assembly Speaker Heastie, Senate Majority Leader Cousins, Councilwoman Tiffany Cabán, Congressman Jamaal Bowman, AOC, who want open borders, more migrants, defunding of the police, closing down prisons, and getting rid of Israel “from the river to the sea.” It’s the good middle-of-the-road politicians who vote with this small minority of leftists and allow them to rule us and dare not speak out against them. It’s time for these Loyalists to pack up and get the hell out of Dodge.
Voting matters. Elections have consequences. We all need to work to change the political climate and the status quo in New York City and State. This is not just for Republicans – it’s for Democrats, Independents, and Blanks, and everyone who wants to end the chaos.
Phil Orenstein is president of Queens Village Republican Club
