Commentary

Has it really come to this? A duly elected governor of one of the most populous and powerful states in the Union actually believes that citizens who don’t agree with his liberalism should vacate his kingdom?

Governor Andrew Cuomo, raised at the knee of his father as a prince owed the inheritance of power, money and influence, announced on the radio last week that pro-Life New Yorkers should simply leave his state. They are not wanted; perhaps soon they won’t even be tolerated.

Of course the pro-Life community in New York was not the only group of citizens smeared as “extremist”. Cuomo finds gun rights advocates, limited government activists and most Christians very difficult to tolerate and has invited them to simply leave his realm.

We are living in days when the outrage bucket is sloppy-full: It is getting hard to work up much emotion for the latest abuse of the common man by our political elite. Yet we must resist the temptation to look the other way. This Cuomo statement betrays a contempt for the average citizen which is downright scary. To put it in some kind of context: Remember those history classes when we learned the founding principles? Remember the story about a nation founded by throwing off the shackles of a corrupt English nobility who were entitled by birth to rule over a rabble? Or the idea that the citizens of this nation were sovereign?

Or what about the funny notion that these guys worked for us?

History has shown us many faces of the tyrant, though not many examples come to mind in the American experience. Cuomo’s public statements seem unique, if only for their breathtaking honesty and arrogance. We pray our fellow citizens in New York rise up to reject Cuomo’s monarchial ambitions.