| | Hi folks... I think it is telling that I wrote this little piece back in 1999, five years ago... and two years before the horrific events of 9/11. I don't think I've had a change of heart concerning Rudy Giuliani; I still think he is one of the more complex politicians, ideologically speaking, to have ever graced New York City. I don't believe that the good things he achieved were built on massive violations of civil liberties (that's not to say that nobody's rights were ever violated---this is politics, after all). It's just that most of the things that he objected to were taking place on public streets. While the ideal libertarian political solution is to privatize everything, including the streets, the existence of public streets does not mean that citizens must put up with people's "rights" to urinate on the street, or to get "in-your-face" when you refuse to have them wash the windows of your car with filthy mops.
Giuliani accepted the so-called "broken window" theory of crime control. If somebody throws a rock through a window, you don't wait until thirty or forty other rock throwers create more broken windows. You simply draw a line, create a standard, create a bar below which you will not tolerate certain violations in the quality of life. Moreover, he instituted Compstat in the police department, tracking crime in certain districts, and putting more resources in those districts to repair the "broken windows," so-to-speak. This meant also targeting those who were committing petty crimes---like spray-painting graffiti on buildings, or jumping the subway fare---because, invariably, those committing petty crimes were also committing more serious crimes.
Prior to Giuliani, NYC had over 2000 murders per year. There have been approximately 600 murders a year in this city for the last 6 or 7 years. The crime rate continues to drop because of strategies the Giuliani administration pursued, even while many other major cities have had an increase in crime.
I remember too how so many people made a big deal over Giuliani's anger at the Brooklyn Museum for its public display of a dung-adorned portrait of the Virgin Mary. It was all much ado about nothing; he had no objections to the display of that portrait in any private museum---but questioned whether government funds should be going to such ... crap.
Jim is probably correct; there is a small segment of so-called Liberal Republicans (mostly from the Northeast or the West coast). But given the electoral demographics supporting the current GOP, I doubt that it will ever transform that party. I hope, one day, that Ayn Rand's vision will be realized... where the "non-traditional conservatives" and the "non-totalitarian liberals" might build a political future that we can live with.
Until then, I recognize the complexity of current political realities, and vote, when I must, for the candidates that are least likely to cause more damage. But that doesn't mean that I have to like the ideological currents in either the Democratic or Republican Parties.
|
|
