Is Scherie Murray a Republican?

Update on Scherie Murray: An insider in the Queens, New York Republican scene has assured me that Murray has long-time Republican affiliations in the borough, and she has already run for City Council as a Republican.  My source says that she was in the past not knowledgeable about pro-freedom issues, but she has been willing to learn. The source speculates that she is being backed by Ted Cruz and concludes: "There are 4 or 5 Republicans in the race, and we'll see who leads in fundraising and publicity and who wins the primary." 

Scherie Murray just announced her Republican congressional  candidacy in AOC's district. A friend just forwarded this image of a tweet by Scherie Murray in which she heartily congratulates AOC for her victory. While not fatal to her credibility, the tweet raises questions that require investigation before Republicans can take Murray's bid seriously.  Might she be a plant, an empty suit, or just a left-leaning Democrat who is angry about the damage AOC has done to property values in Western Queens?  I co-own an apartment on 34th Avenue and 21st Street in Long Island City/Astoria, just a few blocks south of AOC's district, and I can attest to the serious damage AOC and her fellow left-wing Democrats did to property values when they rejected Amazon's proposed headquarters.  

Admittedly, if she is just an annoyed Democrat, she's probably still better than AOC, although AOC does serve some useful purposes for Republicans nationally.  Perhaps AOC can be viewed as a useful idiot...  

Letter to the Honorable Kevin Cahill (D-Ulster County) Re A05498

The Honorable Kevin Cahill

New York State Assembly

LOB 716

Albany, NY 12248

Dear Mr. Cahill:

I urge you to support A05498, a bill that will, when passed, divide New York into three autonomous regions: upstate, New York City, and the suburbs of New York City.  It proposes regional governors and legislators, and it limits statewide taxation to a sales tax. It also proposes that state court and prison systems be separated. 

In an emailed press release, the Divide NYS Caucus Inc. says that under the bill a token New York State government will remain, with most taxing power transferred to regional governments. About three-fourths of state laws will become regional laws. Each region will have its own legislature and regional governor. 

The time is right to consider separation. As an aside, separation will be beneficial to assemblymen because it will open up promotional opportunities.

Years ago I briefly moved to Northern New York, and I was surprised to hear some of the North Country people talk in terms of separation of upstate and downstate.  It seemed to me that the idea wouldn’t be helpful because the flow of funds favored upstate since Wall Street and other major corporations are based in the city.

However, the issue is no longer flow of funds.  The issue is strategic. The city has gotten into the habit of destroying the upstate economy.   The city has moved further and further to the left, with extremists like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez influencing important policies.  The recent extremist triumph vis-à-vis  the proposed Amazon headquarters deprived the state of an infusion of jobs and taxes net of the tax reduction.  Extremists increasingly dominate the city government and increasingly receive support from the city’s voters. 

The policy mix favored by the city has consistently harmed our region economically.  A few years ago I read David Soll’s Empire of Water, and I realized how high a cost old-time families around here have paid over the years.   I live in a beautiful area and have a secure income, but for the majority of upstate New Yorkers the end result will be exit of business, exit of jobs, and dependence on government.  

The resulting culture of hopelessness eventually will turn into desperation. What is going to happen in the city is that there will be increasing calls for wealth redistribution and regulation. In turn, the tax base will exit, the super rich will exit, and corporations will exit,  creating a massive underclass that will no longer be able to depend on the state’s welfare system. Sooner or later the 36-year-old stock market bubble will pop, and Wall Street will lay an egg.  The end result will be widespread poverty and possibly economic collapse.  Upstate will be better off free of the city’s problems.

Years ago a restaurateur in Babylon, NY, Robert Matherson, posted a sign in various places, including outside his restaurant: “Move out of New York State Before It’s Too Late.”  It is time to heed Matherson’s warning.

Sincerely,

Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D.

Saying Goodbye to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Michael Gianaris

I congratulate Erie County's Assemblyman David DiPietro (R-NY) for introducing A05498, a bill that would divide New York into three autonomous regions: New Amsterdam, New York City, and Montauk.  It proposes regional governors and legislators, and it limits statewide taxation to a sales tax. It also proposes that state court and prison systems be separated.  

In an emailed press release, the Divide NYS Caucus Inc. says that under the bill a token New York State government would remain, with most taxing power transferred to regional governments. About three-fourths of state laws would become regional laws. Each region would have its own legislature and regional governor.  

When I lived in Northern New York (the region north of the Adirondacks, running along the Canadian border  from Plattsburgh to Watertown) in the early 1990s, I scoffed at some who advocated separating upstate from New York City.  Most of the state's revenue came from Wall Street and other New York City industries. Nevertheless, since the 1910s the city has eliminated growth in upstate New York.  Some of this is the aim of elite upstate landowners such as Kingsman Gould and the Rockefeller family, who will almost certainly be opposed to this proposal because it would end their environmentalist bullying of the people of the Adirondacks and Catskills.  

My own neighborhood, the Town of Olive in Ulster County, has been subject to the  rapacious theft of land to build reservoirs and impose costly regulation that saves the city's inhabitants billions each year. The city's corrupt,  imperialist history is outlined in Professor David Soll's Empire of Water.

The plugging of fracking proposals for the Southern Tier handed Pennsylvania massive economic opportunities and had zero effect on the environment. New York consumes the same amount of natural gas as it would have, only it buys it from Pennsylvania instead of producing it.  Better that  the people of the Southern Tier should be forced onto the welfare rolls and forced into long-term poverty than they should earn good wages in the energy business.  The people of New York City are true geniuses, as they   frequently claim about themselves.

More recently, the grotesque performance of Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Michael Gianaris with respect to Amazon.com gives new meaning to the term "jerk."  Given New York's national leadership in taxation and bloated state and city governments, after the $3 billion in tax breaks, Amazon would have probably  been paying more in taxes than the majority of Fortune 500 corporations. That's a brilliant reason to deprive the state of 25,000 jobs that pay $150,000 on average. (Disclaimer: I own an apartment 1.8 miles from the site on the Long Island City/Ocasio-Cortez border on the Long Island City side, and I saw my property value rise and then sink by 20%.) 

With the media attention paid to Ocasio-Cortez, the people of New York City look like jerks now more than ever. It is time to end the pain that they are imposing on upstate New York. 

Left-Wing Extremist Wins Democratic Primary in NY 14th Cong. Dist.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Fourteenth Congressional District in Queens, which is in Astoria, near to where I grew up, and the Bronx, has elected a left-wing extremist in its Democratic primary. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated moderate Democrat Joseph Crowley. The Journal opines that this will influence the Democratic Party to move further to the extreme left, and it observes that is not a cause for celebration. If the Democrats regain control of Congress, there will be further impetus toward totalitarian solutions, authoritarianism, political correctness, and socialism.