Newsday was nice enough to print the piece, which was sent in to them as a letter on June 18th. Before doing so one of their nice editors called me to clarify a couple of points and the finished product is what appears in print.
But the paper decided to drop one paragraph before publishing
. And the one they chose concerned Billionaire Thomas Golisano. I think it is funny that they edited this part out especially in light of fact that it is completely relevant politically speaking.At the heart of every issue in politics, the art of the possible is money.
Do we have enough to do what we want to do?
If we lower taxes here how can we raise them there?
How can we increase our take of the constituents cash without them realizing what we are doing?
How can we pander to the wealthy who contribute to our funds while still appearing to be fair?
And finally how can we please billionaires such as Thomas Golisano and not get caught?
This last question, like the ones before it are all unspoken but nevertheless understood. As everyone knows "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" was a fantasy tale. In real life politicians are more like the anti-Smith than we would like to believe.
It is said that power currupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It is a rare individual who can make a fortune and not be corrupted by it such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet who are two of the most down to Earth people around not to mention generous. But there are too many Golisanos as well and way too many Golisano wannabes on Earth as well. It was nice of the paper to print my rant even though they left one big rat out of the mix. Unfortunately Newsday doesn't care to go that far. (Golisano is probably a subscriber.)
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