A Call for Unity Among New Yorkers
Tom Reed got the word right, but the message wrong. In calling Governor Cuomo’s medical order for New York State “reckless”, Reed reveals the quality of his own public policy — or lack thereof — on this life and death issue that we face.
But first, let’s set the context. Unable to address federal issues such as health care, education, or infrastructure for ten years running as a representative in Congress, Reed has chosen instead to focus on state issues and play politics. The childish “I beat the bully” attacks on Governor Cuomo about serious matters such as relations between the Seneca Nation and New York State or high taxes — which for New York hardly began with Andrew Cuomo — muddle Reed’s negligence as an officer of the federal government at the same time that he uses such ploys to foment cultural divisiveness between New York City and South Western part of the state.
In more luxurious moments when we do not face a world historical pandemic, one could readily chalk up such antics to politics. After all, Reed takes his lesson robotically from the President. But in times such as these, such childishness is unconscionable in one with the responsibility, first and foremost, to use government to protect the health and safety of his constituents.
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Already Reed has demonstrated more opportunistic interest in kowtowing to the president — including supporting the ridiculous call to “fill the churches by Easter” — than doing what Americans do best in a crisis: dropping the politics and rolling up our sleeves to find solutions that benefit all of us. That is precisely what Governor Cuomo’s order is all about. New York City needs ventilators and personal protective equipment. President Trump has failed to deliver on those needs while modeling politics as entertainment in a time of crisis.
If it were my mother who needed that ventilator in New York City, I would want the Governor to use his authority to provide for her. And then I would want the Governor to ensure that there would be ventilators available in Ithaca or Corning, Olean or Dunkirk for a sister or brother or cousin or just another person in New York State who needed it as the virus takes its predictable path.
Divisive politics have gone on too long. Bad enough when deployed to deny people what they need in health care or transportation or the internet, it is indefensible to play politics when it is a matter of life and death. Try as Reed might to use this pandemic to manipulate the people of his district, what he fails to recognize is that there is too much at stake now, and people know it.
I call on my fellow New Yorkers and neighbors to come together and support each other in this time of need. This isn’t the first time tragedy has hit our state, and we have always stepped up to help. That’s what New Yorkers, and patriots, do. And with God’s help, we will do it again!
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