Sadly, there is not much that we upstaters can do to change the political spectrum in our state. The good news is that upstate New York wasn’t hit hard by the global recession. Due to the downstate focus of state politics, upstate New York has been in a prolonged recession for decades.

Right now my work and family situation is decent enough to keep me where I am. But it wouldn’t take much for me to start looking for work out of state. Don’t worry, as much as I agree with Texas politics, I don’t think I could take the heat. Besides, it wouldn’t be Christmas without three feet of snow on the ground.

I won’t shed a tear after the next attack and I certainly won’t be fighting for their freedom that they have thrown in the trash and stomped on.

Do hope they stay out of Texas, we have our own collection of looney toon characters and don’t need any more.

Giuliani was the best thing to happen to that state. He cleaned it up and made it a place you could actually live. After his changes, murders in Central Park were so rare that they made front-page news.

But oh noes he has an (R) after his name. Can’t vote for that, it would be like spitting on Woodstock. Better vote for the idiots who are driving the entire country into the ground.

Energy will be a huge issue going into late summer next year, mark my words. “Green jobs” is nothing but code for government bloatation, because the real jobs don’t come until the technology is there to start producing. Where are all the jobs? They are lost in mountains of environmental regulations, most of which revolve around te lie that humans can control earth’s temperature.

If Americans want real reform, we should start with stepping back and taking a fresh look at the burden these regulations have been on our economy and an honest cost-benefit analysis by someone other than the IPCC, which hase every reason to propagate an alarmist perspective.

Americans now trust republicans more on virtually every issue, including healthcare:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/trust_on_issues

It’s time to take advantage of it with concrete alternatives to unicorn oil, wings and prayers, knocking on wood, and crossed fingers.

- jobs; highlite huge gaps between empty promises and actual practice
- more domestic energy production; I’ve always wondered why oil drilled half way round the world and shipped across an ocean is more environmentally friendly.
- deficit control; making real “tough choices”, like cutting government bloat at a rate commensurate with job losses in the private sector, and not taking easy short term gains that create long term pain for our posterity.
- audit the fed
- ensure real competition in health insurance by allowing interstate policies; cut costs through competition and tort reform. Assess anti-trust laws to make sure they are having the intended effect in health insurance.
- To me the biggest would be education. One of Obama’s first acts in office was to repay the teachers unions by killing the DC voucher program. It was proven to work for the kids, but worked against the union bosses. Sorry kids, the Harvard grads running Washington need you to be dumb and poor to stay in power. Better luck to the next generation of you.

Cat – leftism is, itself, a religion. It is based on opinions resting in faith rather than facts.

There are several problems with this. First, a political, economic and societal analysis has to be based on facts not faith. Second, socialism is an elitist structure;it sets up an elite of Guardian Rulers, those who deem themselves the Smart and Powerful (limousine liberals)..versus the unwashed masses. There’s no room for a middle class in Socialism. That’s why NY is in a mess; it has ignored reality – and that important requirement for a middle class, free and individualistic.

Another key problem with the socialist ideology is that it is a tribal religion, which means that you are sub-human if you are not an ‘inherent’ or faith-based member of the tribe. Dissent is not allowed within the tribe; any who dissent are Others, Outsiders, and, of course, sub-human.

Christianity, by the way, is not tribal but emerged as a rejection of the isolationism of tribalism. Its mantra of ‘love thy neighbour’ speaks against tribal dehumanization of Others.