In an inaugural address worthy of a president, Andrew Cuomo was sworn in for his third term as governor of New York State, saying he was finally “liberated” by having a truly Democratic legislature to fulfill an ambitious, progressive, Justice Agenda:
“Within my first 100 days, I will propose to the new Democratic Legislature the most progressive agenda this state has ever seen, period. From voting reforms to Roe v. Wade for New York, to protecting a woman’s right to choose.
To better gun laws, to healthcare protection, to legalizing marijuana, to protecting the labor movement, to a green new deal, to real criminal justice reform – we will make history and New York will move forward. Not by building a wall, my friends, but by building new bridges, and building new airports, and creating new middle-class jobs and an economic future for the next generation and showing us how good we can be at our best when we are together.”
The chosen venue was significant: the Great Hall at Ellis Island from which 40 percent of Americans today can trace their lineage from the 12 million impoverished, anxious immigrants, escaping poverty and persecution to pursue the American Dream who, after being interrogated and inspected by immigration officials, passed through its doors.
On this occasion, Ellis Island and Lady Liberty with her Lamp in the Harbor stand as the greatest symbol of difference with the Trump administration, which has made a border wall its own defining symbol.
The setting was relevant, as well, because the shutdown of the federal government, forced by Trump’s demand for billions of taxpayer dollars to build a wall across the 2,000-mile length of the southern border with Mexico, has caused a cascading series of closures at national parks and monuments, but New York State is paying to keep the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island open, and Cuomo used it as a symbol of what the state stands for and would strive for, and as a parable for the different approaches to leadership and governance.
“Let New York say that the federal government may shut itself down, but it will never extinguish the Statue of Liberty’s torch. It will never erase the words of her poem. They will never close our harbor. They will never close our hearts. They will never close this hall of dreamers. They will never disrespect the legacy they left,” he declared.
At this writing, Trump was about to exert (abuse) his power to declare a national emergency (something he has already done in order in order to violate international law in imposing tariffs, even on Canada) to circumvent Congress’ will and Constitutional power of the purse to deflect money and manpower from the Department of Defense to build his monumentally narcissistic edifice.
Besides defying law, it defies common sense and logic that getting $5 billion to build a few miles of wall would address a true national emergency – it takes time to build a wall, when the $5 billion ($1.6 billion already allocated for border security) could go to actually address the humanitarian and national security crisis the Trump administration has created.
That is: spend the money on judges to adjudicate who is truly deserving of asylum or legal status to be in the US, and who is truly a threat; money for technology to monitor the border; for border agents and yes, for medical personnel and social workers to address the humanitarian crisis Trump created, believing that cruelty bordering on torture, would deter desperate people fleeing for their lives, from daring to make the risky journey to the US in the first place.
Trump isn’t interested in real solutions, only in tearing down. He is a wrecker, not a builder.
“The hard, but true path is to confront and actually solve the problem,” Cuomo stated. “The easy, but false path is to use the anger to blame someone else, and the easiest target to blame is always the people who are different. And this federal government has sought to demonize our differences and make our diversity our greatest weakness, rather than our greatest strength…
“New Yorkers know the difference between rhetoric and results. We either perform by delivering real solutions that restore hope and progress in people’s lives or we fail. It is that simple. Either the government works or the government doesn’t work…. But, in New York failure is not an option, my friends.
“It is New York’s duty, it is New York’s destiny, it is New York’s legacy to bring the light to lead the way through the darkness and I pledge to the people of the State of New York, that’s what we will do together….. New York should lead by example.. and show the nation the way forward, show them the better way….”
Just a few days later, Gov. Cuomo came to Clinton G Martin Park in North Hempstead to swear in Anna Kaplan as New York State Senator from the 7th district. In 1978, when she was just 13, her parents put her on a plane by herself to come to America to escape the Iranian Revolution. She is the first political refugee and the first Iranian immigrant to be elected to state office.
“I came to this country as a hopeful 13-year-old girl and took a chance on the American dream not knowing what the future may hold,” newly sworn-in Senator Kaplan told the overflow audience. “I stand here before you today humbled and grateful to tell you that the American dream still works in New York…. I ran so the next young girl who comes in search of her dream has the same opportunities as I had.” And she won.
