| Cross-posted at RebootNY . Check us out and get involved!
Hat tip to an interesting piece by the New York Times for a thought-provoking dialogue between academics, good government experts, and politicians on Friday. It's important that many people from both sides of the aisle recognize the problems of our dysfunctional government and debate solutions on curing the culture of corruption eating away the heart of Albany.
One person who definitely gets it is Kenneth Sherill, a Professor of Political Science at Hunter College. He writes:
The Legislature's core problems can be solved by changing its members and its rules - and sadly for the many good members, it increasingly seems as if you can't change its rules without changing its members. We need independent, nonpartisan apportionment of districts, serious campaign finance reform, and a liberalization of the rules of each house.
We agree entirely. We know that New York State government has the potential to work. It's worked in the past. New York used to be a model of effective government throughout the country, responsible for some of the brightest government programs around. Through strong leadership and a culture of responsibility, our politicians stood up for us. It's only in the recent era that we the people have been subverted by corruption and dysfunction by those who claim to represent us.
The answer is to kick out the trash currently occupying our state government and elect those who will stand up for our interests. With better leaders, we can change the way the state is governed and promote transparency, efficiency, and fairness. With a fair system of government, we can finally get back to a government that works for the people and responds to our needs.
Gerald Benjamin, a Professor of Political Science at the State University of New York, reminds us that some in the state have been down this road before.
The governance system needs serious fixing, as I've elsewhere argued. But ungovernable? Remember, we used to say that about New York City. No more. We found leaders that could make the city work. Now we have to use this election to do the same for the state. And then follow with the hard work of fixing the system itself.
We can change our state. It starts by booting out those who have failed us and electing those who will pus us first. |
