“We are fighting for democracy. We’re fighting to bring government back to the people and out of the hands of dictators. Trump and Zeldin and Molinaro – just jump on a bus and head down to Florida where you belong. OK? Get out of town. Because you don’t represent our values.”
—-New York’s unelected, acting-Governor Kathy Horchul, fighting for democracy and against dictatorship by ordering American citizens out of her state because she doesn’t like their political beliefs
Wow. How must it feel to New Yorkers to get rid of a thuggish governor like Andrew Cuomo and have this as his replacement? Well, come to think of it, it probably feels fine, since they continue to vote for unethical hypocrites election cycle after election cycle. Nonetheless, Hochul is special. Democrats have been projecting their own totalitarian ways on their political opponents for many moons now, but seldom has the flagrant absurdity reached this epic level of self-indictment. Does Hochul even know what democracy means? Does her party? “Get out of the state if you won’t do things my way”? Exile for dissidents?
We saw this before from Democrats—if a GOP mayor or governor ever demanded that her opponents move out, I missed it—back in 2012. Then the mayors of Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and New York City all vowed to ban the fast food chain Chick-Fil-A from their cities because its CEO Dan Cathy expressed his support for a traditional definition of marriage, meaning that same-sex marriage was not on his list of favorite things. Pundit Ed Morrisey called their grandstanding the beginnings of “the easy slide into fascism.” Ethics Alarms called it “Democratic politicians attempting to use the power of elected office to stifle free speech and impose mandatory thought conformity,” and elaborated in part,
…they are embracing what is undeniably wrong, according to this country’s values: government and its officials telling the public, not what they should do, which is a proper role of the government, but what they must say and believe, which is what the Constitution decrees that government must never do.
What does this clear abuse of power accomplish? As with any time unethical methods are applied to seek “good” ends, it forces both advocates and opponents to either accept unacceptable conduct, or to ally themselves with those who oppose what they believe is right, in order to reject a wrongful means of accomplishing it. And the results of this is inevitably corruption. Everybody is sullied….
Put the blame squarely on the political correctness dictators for turning this into an ethics train wreck. But thank them for demonstrating, for those who need yet another demonstration after the thousands our history already provides, why those who are willing to trample on our core freedoms in pursuit of “right thinking” are not only untrustworthy, destructive and doomed to fail, but also fools.
With its unerring talent for being dealt a strong hand and still overplaying it, the conservative media is claiming that Hochul ordered the New York’s Republicans, “all 5.4 million of them” to leave the state. No, but her hyper-partisan comments does breach the bond of trust a public official is bound to maintain, and the obligation to serve and respect all citizens, not just those of a particular party or ideology.
Are New York’s values really as fascist as she claims, holding that there is no place in the state for anything but a single party and a single world view? If so, I don’t know why any Republicans would stay there. I don’t know why any Americans would either.
Ethics Alarms 
To truly “fight for democracy” means working to help people understand each other, although I wager none of the people who use the phrase actually mean that.
Democracy doesn’t work if the public doesn’t talk about their different perspectives on issues and brainstorm constructive policies that satisfy people’s various needs and values before anything comes to a vote.
Reducing democracy to the voting process, a majority winner-take-all, cuts out all the aspects of democracy that make it work. Without the groundwork, the communication and negotiation and vision to make sure the policies that come up for votes are constructive ones, democracy becomes nothing more than a tidy war of attrition.
We need to show people what it looks like to maintain a real democracy.
Do you mean democracy or the social structure?
jvb
I’m not sure I understand the question. What I mean is that in order for democracy as a form of government to function effectively, the people have to do more than simply vote for what they want. They have to negotiate with each other and come up with policies they would actually want to vote on, and a culture that will support those policies rather than trying to exploit them. Does that answer your question?
Yes, I think that clarifies your position. Thanks.
jvb
Hochul can best be described as the dog that caught the car.
Scary thing is, odds are that she’ll keep the seat.
Biden had some interesting comments on republicans last night as well. I’m curious how long it will take for them to go from calling for republicans to leave, to calling for them to be exterminated. Any bets?
The name “Hochul” sounds like the unpleasant guttural noise you might make while dry-heaving. Perfectly appropriate.
The current crop of high-profile politicos in this country has got to be the worst in history, right? I feel confident in that assessment, because if a worse, more authoritarian, less competent, less ethical, stupider crew had held the levers of power at some point in the past, there wouldn’t be an America today. I mean, there have been some incredible shitheads in the past, but the sheer quantity and extreme shitheadedness of this group is utterly astounding. Virtually across the board, with very few exceptions, they are all vile trash. And just when you think we’ve hit rock bottom, they elect somebody even worse than the last asshole. And then somebody even worse after that. Mathematically speaking, at some point we’ll have to pass the event horizon of awfulness and it won’t be possible to have worse candidates, because the people running will literally be the worst humans we can find.
Jeff
I am not sure we have not had them in the past. It is just so much easier for them to show how vile they are because of social media.
A related thought came to me immediately after posting the above. Several days ago, an analogy was made about animal processing and how people never wanted to see the abuses. I think we can say that social media has been the equivalent of those undercover expose’s that shine a light on the perversions of power by those we elect. Much of that abuse took place behind closed doors and the press was less likely to publish it. No more can we turn a blind eye to what they are because the elected now have their own publishing house to broadcast their ideas to the masses. With all of social media’s faults, perhaps that is its one saving grace.
That’s certainly one element at play, and a significant one. But I also suspect that the overall quality of candidates is plunging, in part because of the relentless nature of today’s media landscape (including social media). Honorable, decent people don’t want to subject themselves to a relentless barrage of attacks 24/7, so the majority of people seeking public office are attention-seeking narcissists or venal, corrupt crooks who are willing to put up with the bullshit to get rich and wield unearned, undeserved power.
The phrase “the best and brightest” to describe people going into public service was always an obvious lie, but once in a while a quality person would still show up. Our system today seems specifically designed to filter out anyone who might still have some vestigial ethics and principles left in their head.
But I think the most convincing evidence to support my hypothesis is that the current group of politicians has brought us to the precipice of the collapse and dissolution of the nation, and aren’t backing off the throttle. If equivalent politicians had been in charge during the civil rights movement, or during the Great Depression, for example, we’d have split into several smaller countries by now.
I nominate this for unethical comment of the decade, and one of the top unethical comments of all time.
She’s literally calling for a breakup of the United States. That’s what happens when states start “encouraging” its undesirables to leave for somewhere else.
If I were Ron DeSantis, I’d put out a press release welcoming any New York (“deplorables,” I guess) to Florida. The Texas governor could do the same thing. Shine a light on her horribleness so bright you can see it from space.
People have already started doing just what she asked, and I expect that to only accelerate after her comments. Good. I am beginning to see a divorce as the likeliest outcome of our current rancid politics, and perhaps that would be for the best for both sides. I don’t want it, but it’s never looked more likely than now.
Californians are urging residents not move to Texas. Here is a link: https://www.chron.com/politics/article/billboards-seen-in-LA-and-SF-warn-Texas-17397900.php
We are gearing for civil war.
jvb
Actually, nobody knows who’s behind that billboard. It might be Texans.
Indeed, could be.
As a Texan, I’d be willing to contribute to this ad campaign.
All the good comments re totalitarianism have been made above.
This unbelievable statement did leave me with one whimsical thought. I think the Republicans should take her admonition seriously and move en masse to New Jersey. What the heck would she and New York do with that enormous loss of tax revenue?
Clearly, Hochul can’t think beyond the single inflammatory statement, as for example what it would mean if people hated New York enough to get the hell out. I love NY for its arts (performing and otherwise), but that’s all. Live there? I’d chew off my foot first.