Fiddling While Albany Burns
As the American imperial government continues expanding ad infinitum, the provinces are collapsing. California has been reduced to issuing worthless IOUs to its citizens, and the State of New York has less constitutional legitimacy then Honduras. For those unfamiliar with the shenanigans in Albany, the New York government has ground to a halt the past month due to a civil war within the state senate. News reports tonight indicate the war may be over, but I suspect this is among the first signs that the very infrastructure of the empire has begun its logical - and inevitable - collapse.
New York's government has been dysfunctional for decades. The lower house of the legislature has been dominated by downstate Democrats and the upper house by upstate Republicans. That status quo was rudely interrupted by the 2008 elections, which gave Democrats control of both chambers by the thinnest of margins - a 32-30 majority in the Senate. On June 8, Democrats Pedro Espada Jr. and Hiram Monserrate defected and voted with the Republicans to install Espada as temporary president of the Senate and Republican leader Dean Skelos as majority leader. Democrats responded by locking the Senate doors and refusing to acknowledge the coup. Monserrate quickly rejoined the Democrats, leaving an even 31-31 division. At one point, both sides tried to convene the Senate under their respective leaders.
Adding to the confusion, Governor David Patterson - the former lieutenant governor elevated by the resignation of Eliot Spitzer - announced late last night that he would appoint a new lieutenant governor, lifelong political hack Richard Ravitch, who would serve as the Senate's presiding officer to break the tie. Patterson was unconcerned by the fact he lacked the constitutional authority to appoint a lieutenant governor. Republicans rushed to file a lawsuit to enjoin Ravitch's appointment, but Democrats claimed Ravitch had already signed his oath of office at a Brooklyn steakhouse, which apparently is all one must do to claim political office in New York.
Late today, Espada apparently switched sides again and rejoined the Democrats, who have agreed to install him as their majority leader.
If this truly is the end of the Senate's deadlock, it's terrible news for New York residents. The civil war prevented the Senate from authorizing a host of local tax increases. LewRockwell.com writer James Ostrowski noted the gridlock effectively created a billion-dollar tax cut.
The longer-term question here is whether this civil war was a freak occurrence or the first positive sign that the state is collapsing under its own weight. I'm optimistic in thinking it's the latter. The larger U.S. states, notably New York and California, no longer have anything resembling a functional government. The states themselves are illogical relics of an earlier era. There's no reason why upstate New York should continue subsidizing the giant welfare bureaucracy that is New York City; the same is true of California's divergent regions. But the myth that states are perpetual and indivisible - combined with the dual pressures of federal controls and local unionization of state workers - have created organizations that are "states" in name only. What we're really looking at here are bankrupt corporations that can't be reorganized or liquidated.
But what makes the New York situation particularly telling is that is conclusively shows a failure of democracy itself. New York can't vote its way out of this. The elected governor was ousted by federal prosecutors over a prostitution scandal. The new "lieutenant governor" has no more claim to that office than I do. And the elected state comptroller was ousted for defrauding the government. (New York's only remaining elected statewide official is Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.) And there's nothing to prevent another Democrat or two from defecting in the Senate and reigniting the civil war.
There's been reinvigorated talk of secession in libertarian circles, but it's unrealistic to expect any state to make such a move against Washington. No state government is viable enough to pull such a thing off anymore. The real task before us is breaking up the states themselves. Without the states, the federal empire won't have an adequate infrastructure to carry out its dictates on health care, education, the economy, et al. New York could be the fountainhead for such a revolution. Upstate, New York City, and Long Island all have cogent claims for disassociating themselves from the other regions. Such thinking needs to be encouraged in any available public forum. Those who argue for "reform" of the current regime no longer have credibility in light of recent events.
Comments (16)
widgie
Of course, just as likely is a new consensus from DC that decentralized government is an obsolete notion and moves toward even more direct federal control.
Published: July 9, 2009 8:29 PM
Brian Macker
I'm from NY and I'm happy they're deadlocked. They aren't suppose to act as executives but as legislators, and frankly we don't need any more laws.
Published: July 9, 2009 8:57 PM
Tom E. Snyder
At its initial admission into the union Texas reserved the right to divide into 5 states. I don't know if that provision survived reconstruction and readmission. It's an interesting thought.
Published: July 9, 2009 9:49 PM
Nuke Gray
Tom, we have discussions about secession here in Australia! Usually the Kimberley region is mentioned. I came across an interesting idea- while our Constitution doesn't allow states to secede once they have joined, there is no physical description of any State, so if the Kimberley Region did break away from the rest of the State of Western Australia, it might not automatically be included in the Constitution! It might have Australian law on its' side if it wanted to stay independent. Maybe your laws have similar loopholes,
And you might still have some legal rights to secede, as individuals! A place near Mudgee, in NSW, called Snake Hill Principality, had the law on it's side when it seceded from our State over the actions of a rapacious bank, which wanted the property even after they owners had kept up with the payments! If you google them, you can judge for yourself, and a similar 'loophole' might be what would work for you!
Published: July 9, 2009 10:22 PM
Joe Law
I read your blog on Albany with interest, but am not sure how serious to take your joy at the prospect of a break-up of the states. They existed as political entities before the constitution and in my eye have always had more legitimacy than the "feds". After all, the Civil War was really a War between the States to preserve the constitution! If we fracture into city-states will we become like the ancient Greeks and get gobbled up by Rome...uh....one of the BRIC countries?
Published: July 9, 2009 11:55 PM
Gil
What sort of guff was that nuke? Why do you feel you need permission to secede? If you feel the state is criminal then asking to secede is akin to you asking the weirdo who kidnapped you if he will kindly let you out of his basement/dungeon. It's akin to dickering over what the 2nd Amendment exactly - is not gun ownership a 'natural' right hence you don't need neither the U.S. Federal Government's nor the respective State Government's permission?
Published: July 10, 2009 1:21 AM
Nuke Gray
I think the chances of success for an act of secession are better if you can hogtie the central authority in legal waffle. Also, if you look at the Snake Hill website, www.snakehillprincipality.info you will see that the law was on their side, so there was no need for a battle, or any bloodshed. Less drama, more effect.
You're also more likely to win if you have international sympathy on your side. You can get that if you always appear to have the moral high ground. Failing that, the Kimberley region is also close to Indonesia, so seceders could try to get Indonesia to support them, by leasing bases to the Indonesian within Kimbertopia. (America win with French help, remember?)
Published: July 10, 2009 2:13 AM
Gil
Or you could just find and join an Aborginal tribe and live off the land.
Published: July 10, 2009 5:13 AM
Gil
Or you could just find and join an Aborginal tribe and live off the land.
Published: July 10, 2009 5:14 AM
Daniel J. Fallon
The Ravitch family made big bucks off of public housing construction (boondoggles) in NY. Richard sold HRH Construction back in the '80s. Currently, as Chairman of the Board for the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust, Ravitch works to impose union involvement in construction and to make sure that this involvement fits his and his cronies' designs.
http://www.aflcio-hit.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=641
Ravitch is a major hack alright.
Published: July 10, 2009 8:17 AM
Bogart
Having grown up in Pittsburgh with family in Jamestown NY and having worked in North West Pennsylvania, I always wondered when the the whole state of New York would just crash under the weight of NYC. The political class in PA would complain about people leaving as they raised taxes, fees and made new regulations. But these jokers in PA were the junior varsity compared to the Cuomos, Pataki, Elliot and Rudy. The job and people losses in Buffalo, Rochester, etc were quite awful.
The best solution, for Michigan, California and NY would be to crash in bankruptcy quickly. But being somewhat pragmatic, I don't see that happening and the Feds will provide some money to keep these wealth destruction machines running.
Published: July 10, 2009 8:37 AM
newson
to nuke gray:
don't believe what you see on the website. this snakehill thing is a load of cobblers.
do you seriously believe anyone could secede from the federation and threaten canberra's cashflow?
a state referendum in 1933 for wa secession got the majority vote, but the british parliament declined to rule on the motion. the secessionist push died after a few years. similar movements are unthinkable today, however much the idea is appealing.
Published: July 10, 2009 11:43 AM
David Spellman
The Federal government has been working to destroy the states for decades. The 500 metropolitan statistical areas were set up to administer federal programs independent of the states. The constitution for the New States of America intends to create 10 administrative regions in place of the states, and already many Federal agencies are using these demarcations for administration.
You may be happy to see state government disintegrating, but keep in mind that it might also be welcome news to the totalitarians as well. Crisis in governance is an opportunity for government intervention, just like any other crisis.
Published: July 10, 2009 12:17 PM
Gil
Weaklings! If nuke & co. are the typical 'secessionists' (and I believe they are) then they're better off obeying the law and paying their taxes. In the case of the fight for American Independence, they didn't 'ask' for permission to secede, they just did, they didn't do it politely, they used force, they understood their overall standard of living would probably go down for some time compared to what might have been had they not revolted, etc. To 'secede' you're supposed to use so much force that the former rulers say "screw it, they can have that land, it's not worth taking it back!" It's just a dog who steals a piece of chicken off your plate and when you try to take it back, the dog growls as though he wants to bite your hand off, so you let the dog keep the chicken . . .
Published: July 10, 2009 11:27 PM
Nuke Gray
To Gil- go ahead, be our guests! Start the secession without us! We'll cheer you on from the sidelines.
When Washington and his cronies decided to escape their tax bills, they had a lot of tax-dodgers on their side. Not many Australians feel like taking down Canberra, since we've all been seduced by the "Democracy is the best form of government" argument.
To Newson. Does Snake Hill principality have a Tax file number? And if so, what for?
Published: July 12, 2009 7:40 PM
Dick Fox
Without the states, the federal empire won't have an adequate infrastructure to carry out its dictates on health care, education, the economy, et al.
What a naive view!! Did a lack of states stop Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Chaves, Castro? Give me a break.
Published: July 13, 2009 7:17 AM