The problems that lead to change
The epic failures of the government over the last five years are reflected in a national climate that conveys little has occurred to improve life for the average American. The quality of life has declined, savings dwindled and/or became nonexistent, wages have not kept up with the cost of living, the middle class eroded and our moral fibers unwound. This has been unveiled through more people realizing that America is being destroyed. It’s not that we haven’t always realized it, it’s just that more people are truly conscious of it and readily identify what is happening. This was an issue I brought up in my campaign for the 41st District State Assembly this year. I also affirmed, that we can’t continue to have politics as usual.
From defeat to victory
The very fact that I am from a copper-colored race of people, that ran on the Republican and Conservative lines against an entrenched 36-year incumbent speaks volumes to the emergence of a new political paradigm. For the political machine to succeed in America, it must diversify. The political machine also fails when it allows politicians to stay in office for extensive periods of time which was the case with my opponent Helene Weinstein. This act alone levels democracy to the ground in our failing republic. The moral decline which contributes to a lack of nation building creates districts that don’t even have candidates to run for public office. And, community members have abandoned their right to choose candidates based on accountability, inquiry and track record. Instead they relinquish their power to the politician that is currently in power regardless of facts and some cases perpetuating the decline of democracy.
California, Chicago and New York
We feel the pain but where do we place the blame? Three of the States with the most socio-economic problems in the country are Democratically held States. Yet, the American people fail to ask themselves critical questions. The economic collapse of the state of California was a lesson, and the extreme murders and gun violence in Chicago is another lesson, and in New York we have a mixture of it all with the cost of living high and quality of life low of most community members. The fact that I live in a predominately Democratic district crippled my election. Although I didn’t succeed in winning, I think I got enough people to realize that the New Political Paradigm still continues to emerge as district members are beginning to wake up and look at values as opposed to party affiliation.
The Brooklyn Tea Party
Becoming a board member of the Brooklyn Tea Party on November 13, 2016 after the elections, to me was providence. As a candidate, some of my strongest support came from the Brooklyn Tea Party, so there was no second guessing myself in choosing to accept my appointment. I feel God was working through our organization to assist me in the emerging New Political Paradigm. I saw where the Brooklyn Tea Party (BTP) was heading. I know it’s members and I know the history. And, I can truly say the BTP is on the leading edge of the Tea Party Movement in producing positive political change unencumbered from the history of the party itself.
Tea Party history
As a former and emerging political candidate, I shifted my mind to look at the epic fails also within the Tea Party. The Tea Party emerged at a challenging time in National history which was in response to the Mortgage Bailout Fiasco in 2009. Then in 2010, the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights released a seminal report on the Tea Party entitled Tea Party Nationalism. It explored the deeply concerning links between the sometimes racist agendas and strategies utilized by certain founders and activist within the various Tea Party factions in the country. I think the emphasis has to be placed on the word ‘factions’. As a member of a copper colored race of peoples, I know the racial divide within my own Republican Party and the New Political Paradigm that promotes diversity.
The way to epic success
Like anything that forebodes an epic success you must diversify to have it. Many people will have their views and probably the most riveting ones comes from the New York Times reporter Kate Zernike’s 2011 book, Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America, and The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism by Harvard’s Theda Skocpol and Vanessa Williamson which explored Tea Party supporters. I just think that in order to facilitate the emerging New Political Paradigm, we must focus on where we want to get to and not where we came from. I will work passionately and diligently as a Republican with some strong Godly values and a passion to see better politics.
Editor’s Note: Kings County Politics is a bipartisan news site that favors ideas over party politics, and that Democracy requires a varied political, cultural and social discourse. As such, we seek and post op-eds of all views. These views reflect the author of the op-ed, and not necessarily the views of KCP.
