All Politics Is Local (or How To Read The Mail)

Let us take a moment to look away from the Trumpster and his “see no evil, hear no evil” followers and take a look at some other things that are slightly askew in our Democracy. I will try to do this more often, if only to take a break from the endless flow of outrage which, in the end, doesn’t get me very far along the path to good government. 

I could ask why, but that would break my resolution almost before it starts.

So, let’s take a look at an experience we have all shared, although it is so insignificant that many people have probably forgotten it. It involves going to the mail box. 

I got a post card in the mail the other day, from my State Senator. It’s a good bet that every other family in New York State got the same kind of post card.

Why do I say that? Because it was addressed to The Freedman Family or Current Resident.

This was from Sen. John Flanagan, because I live in his district. You can see how his name could be swapped with any other state senator, because there is a big empty space on the post card where you can fill in a name. And, you can do the same thing for every member of the State Assembly. 

That’s because it’s so generic. Except for the space left for my senator’s address and phone of his local office, website and e-mail address, every single word on the post card can apply to every assembly and senate district in the state.

The front side, with my address, says New York has passed A BUDGET THAT PUTS FAMILIES FIRST. Nothing wrong with that.

The back side tells me in big type that the state budget helps families, and in smaller type tells me that the best way to improve the lives of New Yorkers is to fight for policies that makes the state a better place to live and raise a family.

Nothing wrong with that, either. Every Republican and every Democrat in the legislature can be proud of doing it. As far as that goes.

Then it lists nine specific things the budget does. And, it’s magical. Why? Because the first thing it tells me is that we have a historic $4.2 billion tax cut for middle class families.

The other eight items are kind of the same. They talk about more tax cuts and more government spending. At the same time. Which, I guess, means there was so much extra money raised last year by outrageously high taxes in New York State that we were able to soak away enough cash to lower taxes and spend more this year.

Or, maybe the pay of state workers was cut. Or New  York was able to buy gas for its fleets of cars and buses for a nickel a gallon. That might do it.

Gosh, I wonder what kind of magic will be done in two years, when the next state election cycle roles around.

So, how did we voters do? Well, after cutting $4.2 billion in taxes, we gave an extra $1.1 billion in school aid statewide, gave another $1.1 billion to college kids in the form of tuition assistance grants, gave millions of homeowners another $453 million in property tax rebate checks, and gave yet another $47 million in tax relief to expand child care tax credits.

Not that there’s anything wrong with all that spending and all those tax cuts. It’s just that the post card leaves out a few zeros.

The budget approved nine days late on an otherwise uneventful Sunday in April this year is a $163 billion spending plan. Add up all the cuts and extra spending on the post card and they don’t hit 10 per-cent of the budget.

So, it’s a nice post card as far as it goes, but, it really doesn’t go very far. Still, its what the legislature calls “constituent service,” because it lets us know what they are up to. Again, it’s not Mr. Flanagan’s idea. He is just doing what everyone else does.

I certainly didn’t expect a meaningful discussion of how we plan to re-build our state roads and bridges over the next 10 years, or how we plan to finance the small start-ups that will be creating jobs in the 2030’s, or how we are going to rewrite the criminal code to deal with cyber crimes. But, hope springs eternal.

The card did give me one other bit of information. It’s in the box where you and I would normally put a postage stamp.

No, there is no stamp on this post card. Just a few words: U.S. Postage PAID New York Senate.