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Be careful what you ask for, regarding 'change'
Date published: 7/25/2008
Be careful what you ask for, regarding 'change'
Each time I hear the word "change," I grimace with awful memories.
Some of my contemporaries from New York might remember John V. Lindsay's disastrous terms as liberal mayor from 1966-1973.
Like many young, liberal-minded couples of the 1960s, my wife and I looked forward to a "new agenda" promised by the suave, Ivy-educated six-term congressman from the "Silk Stocking" district in Manhattan.
Boy, did we get "change"! New York's first income tax, a substantial rise in corporate and real estate taxes, a loss of more than a half-million jobs as corporations left town, catastrophic social policies encouraging generations to depend on welfare checks, lowered educational standards in the schools, and the fleeing of whites to the suburbs!
John Lindsay's appointees were like him: Well-intentioned Ivy Leaguers with great moral integrity but no spine or savvy for a street fight.
The unions and militant community groups walked all over them. By the time Lindsay left office, the city was bankrupt.
We fled Brooklyn for Long Island after I was mugged in my own neighborhood.
We left behind transit strikes, teachers' strikes, garbage strikes, senior citizens who became captives in their apartments, and generations of welfare recipients.
So to my Democratic friends who clamor for "change," I offer this advice: Be careful of what you wish for--you just might get it!
Alan Branfman
Spotsylvania
Date published: 7/25/2008
Most recent reader comments:
Slarrivee
(posted by
jasonmva
, Aug. 14, 2008 12:56 pm)
You wrote: "Pelosi and Reid are doing everything they can to scuttle E-Verify and the SAVE act so their cronies can hire all the illegals they want for skilled and unskilled labor. Does that help Americans down on their luck? " Some Americans down on their luck are chosing not to help themsleves. I always see Now Hiring signs at McDonald's but they don't want the job because it is minimum wage. I don't think it is one party or another keeping them down, it's themselves for not taking those opportunities.
catz - amnesia along with the rose colored eyewear?
(posted by
theobc
, Aug. 13, 2008 11:24 pm)
you do remember trickle down economics? reagonomics? voodoo economics? surely, you jest when you say clinton inheirited anything from reagan. if you recall, and i see your memory of history is extremely faulty - there was another bush in between reagan and clinton and while america made the mistake of putting bush1 in office they didn't make that mistake a second time. i know you republicans have a very selective memory, but clinton inheirited a mess from bush1, but he left this us much better off.
theobc
(posted by
Catz
, Aug. 13, 2008 11:06 pm)
Honey Clinton rode on the tails of the changes bought about during the Reagan era and poor Bush has to step into the spoils of Clinton. Its gona be bad either way, but God help us all if Obama is elected.
Catz - LMAO - what you smoking?
(posted by
theobc
, Aug. 13, 2008 3:52 pm)
Leftovers from clinton - like the budget surplus or the fact that unemployment was down or housing market was stable. you got that right, clinton left him a lot of GOOD leftovers. what leftovers is bush going to leave for the next guy? you keep complaining about problems to come - well, i hate to be one to break you plastic rose colored glasses, but we GOT PROBLEMS NOW. we have a war we can't win, we have no clout with foreign nations anymore, our economy is horrendous, housing problems, etc. etc. etc.
Bush
(posted by
Catz
, Aug. 13, 2008 3:27 pm)
Its really hard to conduct a debate in the 3 sentences allowed here, but I must defend Bush. He has had more on his plate than any President in recent history, much of it leftovers from the Clinton years. Liberals second guess him, but one has to wonder what the past 8 years would have been like if a Liberal had been in office during this time. Obama? Yeah, you libs keep believing every word he feeds you with his smooth, forked tongue - you ain't seen problems yet!
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