Democrats, since the Progressive Era, have fed off of
class warfare. It is the meat and
potatoes in their stew; misanthropy, the garnish on their plate. Where would this party be without strife and
inequality? It’s the mother’s milk of
their totalitarian ideology.
Mario Cuomo died a week ago, today. His speech at the 1984 Democratic National
Convention epitomizes the thought processes of your average liberal. They believe there are two Americas: one of
privilege residing in the “shining city on the hill,” and the other is full of dregs
sloshing around in that city’s trickledown sewer in the valley below.
Gov. Cuomo’s speech emphasizes this tale of two
cities in America. Here is an excerpt:
MARIO CUOMO: Ten
days ago, President Reagan admitted that although some people in this country
seemed to be doing well nowadays, others were unhappy, even worried, about
themselves, their families, and their futures. The President said that he
didn't understand that fear. He said, "Why, this country is a shining city
on a hill." And the President is right.
In many ways we are a shining city on a hill.
But the hard truth is that not everyone is sharing in this city's splendor and glory. A shining city is perhaps all the President sees from the portico of the White House and the veranda of his ranch, where everyone seems to be doing well. But there's another city; there's another part to the shining the city; the part where some people can't pay their mortgages, and most young people can't afford one; where students can't afford the education they need, and middle-class parents watch the dreams they hold for their children evaporate.
In this part of the city there are more poor than ever, more families in trouble, more and more people who need help but can't find it. Even worse: There are elderly people who tremble in the basements of the houses there. And there are people who sleep in the city streets, in the gutter, where the glitter doesn't show. There are ghettos where thousands of young people, without a job or an education, give their lives away to drug dealers every day. There is despair, Mr. President, in the faces that you don't see, in the places that you don't visit in your shining city.
In fact, Mr. President, this is a nation — Mr. President you ought to know that this nation is more a "Tale of Two Cities" than it is just a "Shining City on a Hill.
The Irony of this speech is that Reagan’s “shining
city on the hill,” was invaded and pillaged by Washington D.C. Indeed, the courtesans that infest that town
are making s’mores over the burnt embers of American prosperity. It is Washington D.C. that is the gated
community on the hill. If you don’t have
the code, you don’t get in. Now,
ordinary citizens are wading through that city’s trickledown filth of greed and
corruption.
The “shining city on the hill” so eloquently
described by President Ronald Reagan has been replaced by the glaring eye of
Washington D.C.
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