Orwell's 1984...thirty years late
Publisher's note: In case you missed it, NY Governor Cuomo has declared all out war on anyone that doesn't agree with him and leftist ideology in general. His recent comments have made the rounds mostly under the radar of the sleeping masses, however, those of us who are awake do indeed take umbrage to those comments and the underlying thinking.
Mr. Imre Beke has once again merged thought with paper, and in only a few very understandable paragraphs, points out the grossly flawed thinking of the Governor and his ilk. Indeed, such thinking of the left is exactly why so many escaped tyranny in Europe, and is exactly why we declared independence from a tyrant named King George.
Imre Beke: In his famed novel "1984," George Orwell warned us that Government will seek ever increasing and corrupt extents and forms of power for the single minded purpose of complete control of the populace:
"Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing."
History has proven him absolutely correct in his characterization. He was only wrong about one thing: timing. The dictatorship did not come upon us in 1984, but it is rapidly approaching three decades later, in 2014.
A perfect case in point is New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's declaration that New York is now an exclusionary ghetto. Cuomo stated in a radio interview that "If they are extreme conservatives, they have no place in the state of New York..." He further defined "extreme conservatives" as those who are "right-to-life, pro-assault weapon, anti-gay..."
Cuomo has essentially drawn a political wall as solid as that which surrounded West Berlin for decades. He has declared war on those New Yorkers who oppose his policies and pronounced to the world his intention to force them out of his State. In the 1981 cult classic "Escape From New York," the entire island of Manhattan becomes the world's biggest maximum security prison. Andrew Cuomo seems intent on going one better by turning the State of New York into a gulag which would make the old Soviet oligarchy envious.
The problem is not that his remarks are offensive. The problem is not even that they are anti-freedom. The problem is that his comments are a trial balloon by the American Left to see whether they can re-define the roles of politicians vis-a-vis the voters.
America began her existence as a combination refugee camp and prison. Colonies like Georgia were established for purposes of exiling criminals. Other colonies - such as Maryland and Pennsylvania and the first settlements in modern day Massachusetts - came into being as safe havens for those whose religious beliefs did not match those of the official Church of England. Puritans, Quakers, Catholics and others fled Great Britain to the New World because this continent had become a place where everyone could believe as they wished - both politically and religiously - without fear of persecution. Despite that ignominious start, the Colonies quickly became the one place on Earth where individual freedom had true value.
Over the course of two centuries, the British Crown exerted increasing control over the society and economy of the Colonies. Eventually, the power of the Crown reached the point where it was too onerous to endure. The leaders of the Colonial independence movement commissioned Thomas Jefferson to encapsulate their grievances in the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson defined the relationship between Government and the People in very simple, definite terms:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."
For the past two centuries, politicians have perverted that definition, claiming that elections equate to the "consent of the governed," giving them the right to a blank check between campaigns. The truth is that an election simply gives politicians the right to continue to seek the "consent of the governed." They are obligated to create only those laws and regulations which either already meet that standard or which they can convince the governed to support.
Andrew Cuomo and his Leftist co-conspirators seek to turn that standard on its head. Rather than seeking the "consent of the governed," Cuomo has declared war on anyone who refuses to consent. Were he able to drive them out of New York State, the only ones who will be left are those who agree with him and thus, consent will be a foregone conclusion. In essence, Cuomo is endeavoring to re-establish segregation, to remove the power of realistic opposition to his agenda from the populace by removing the votes of those who would challenge him.
In essence, Andrew Cuomo wants to end the process of democracy by creating single Party rule. In his New York, there would be two political groups: Democrats and those Republicans who agree with the Democrats. Conservative Republicans would be shipped to the State line along with members of influential third parties such as the Conservative Party and the Independence Party. New York is one of the few States where third parties wield actual influence in electing candidates. Andrew Cuomo would love nothing more than to end that influence as well as to re-mold the New York State GOP in the image of his own Democrat Party.
This is just the beginning. The signs of creeping tyranny from the Left are everywhere. The Democrat Party has long been characterized by a stunning disregard for the both the letter and the spirit of the Constitution. Since the election of the current President, they have become emboldened to the point of open disdain for the underlying principles of the democratic process and for the sovereignty of the American People.
Cuomo himself wants to carve out a State which is diametrically opposed to the character of the majority of the American People. Recent polls show that Americans are roughly evenly split on the issue of abortion on demand but are strongly opposed to abortion after 20 weeks. Andrew Cuomo wants to legalize abortion up to any point before birth and to allow non-physicians to perform abortions. The majority of Americans oppose a ban on assault weapons. Cuomo strong armed the State Legislature into passing one of the most sweeping, anti-Constitutional bans on firearms in American history. Recent polls show that anywhere from 45% to 53% of Americans are opposed to homosexual "marriage." Cuomo bullied the State Legislature of New York into voting such "marriage" into law. His insistence has cost at least one Republican State Senator his job.
The fact is that those who happen to agree with the majority or with a strong minority on divisive issues cannot be legitimately labeled as "extreme." Cuomo splits hairs in his statement by stating that those who oppose him are extreme in New York. By saying so, he is declaring New York's philosophical secession from the rest of the Nation. He is the 21st Century's version of Jefferson Davis. While not actually declaring independence from the USA, Cuomo's message is clear. Just as the South separated itself from the country as a whole over the right to oppress those who were unable to stand up for themselves, so New York is pronouncing that it stands apart from the rest of America in order to continue the persecution of those who hold traditional values in politics and religion and the mass murder of unborn human beings.
Our Founding Fathers held certain truths to be self-evident. Andrew Cuomo views them as obstacles to his personal ambition and to the creeping power of the American Left. Our Founding Fathers wrote a Constitution to protect the People from the Government. Andrew Cuomo seeks to solidify the positions of Liberal politicians against the will of those People. Our Founding Fathers believed Government to be a necessary evil. Andrew Cuomo embraces the evil of Government for his own purposes.
The People of the State of New York need our prayers as they face dark times. The People of the United States of America need resolve and determination to ensure that Cuomo's attitudes do not become prevalent among America's politicians on both sides of the fence.
We are facing a watershed moment in America. The road we choose is up to us today. If we make the wrong decision, it may not be up to us tomorrow.
"I hate purity, I hate goodness! I don't want virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones." (George Orwell, "1984")