No one doubts that the Democrats earned their majority, fair and square, in the N.Y. Senate, breaking 42 years of G.O.P. domination. Last week, the G.O.P. tried to steal it back (link to article). Excerpt below:
June 14, 2009
Senate Coup Exposes Albany’s Lack of Order
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE
ALBANY — As New York’s governor, David A. Paterson might be expected to act as the leader of his party. But when two renegade Democrats handed control of the State Senate to the Republicans, he said there was little he could do but vent.
"I have no way to actually dictate the process, other than to use this forum to express my feelings about it," Mr. Paterson, a Democrat, said at a news conference on Monday.
The governor was not the only one flailing.
(excerpt continued)
Last week’s coup may signal the final breakdown of New York’s long-declining political order, in which governors and senators were once feared and powerful county leaders provided a check on ethnic feuds or individual ambition. Even veterans of New York’s rough-and-tumble political scene seemed shocked at the revolt, which left the balance of state power in the hands of two freshman senators, Pedro Espada Jr. and Hiram Monserrate, and a rogue billionaire, Tom Golisano, who helped organize their defection.
This event is the end result of the breakdown in tradition that started with the abolition of the seniority system, and party discipline. Gone is the era when a President could approach Congress with a matter of urgent national importance and get prompt action.
This past October, amid a financial meltdown, Nanci Pelosi's tepid leadership prolonged the stock market slide and asset collapse, leading to loss of values and jobs. Was her purpose to help propel Barack Obama to the White House?
Who knows in this day and age of banana republic politics.
In places as diverse as Canada's Parliament, where the Liberal, NDP (a far-left party) and French Separatists tried to pull off a coup to overturn the results of elections two months earlier, to New York's Senate, rules, both written and unwritten, are being trounced. Sometimes the victims are "progressive" forces, as is the case in New York. Sometimes it's "conservative" forces as was the case in Canada, and the U.S. House last fall.
It doesn't matter whose ox is being gored. Democracy depends upon a consensus to abide by fair play and good-faith dealing. It is now gone.