I Loved New York by Jean Gannon

I grew up in Belleville, New Jersey, a quiet little town in northern New Jersey with the best delis and pastry shops known to mankind, and it was a hop, skip and a jump from New York City.  For this 6 year old kid, there was nothing like the thrill of cresting the hill on Greylock Parkway and having the Empire State Building and the rest of the New York City skyline all lit up like a beacon in the night. 

When I got older and savvy enough to ride the bus into the City, I’d gather my sisters and friends for a day of shopping in the Big Apple.  Dad would take us all to lunch at Rockefeller Center and we’d either watch the skaters in the winter or dine alfresco by fountain and the golden statue of Prometheus on the huge patio.  In my youth I saw John Lindsay, Abe Beame, Ed Koch, David Dinkins and Rudy Giuliani run the city with their own apathy and gusto, depending on the occupant of the office.  I grew up loving New York.

As with everything in life, time marches on and change makes its mark.  And boy, have things changed in New York.  Under their current Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, the City of New York has become a city of toddlers.  No one is capable of making a decision for themselves.  Mayor Busy-Pants has decided he knows what’s best for his constituents and had enforced edict after edict to make New Yorkers the healthiest group of drones to have ever walked the earth. 

He doesn’t want you to smoke a cigarette, that’s not healthy so he has taxed a pack of smokes up to $11.00 for a record $440 million in tax revenue for the City. Much to the Mayor’s chagrin, his gargantuan tax rates have also created a flourishing black market with runners coming up from the south to sell smokes at a lower price. Just linger for a short time at any convenience store and you will likely bump into someone buying 5 cartons of cigarettes at a time.  Another example of rising taxes resulting in illegal activity.

Salt and trans-fat were his next targets and you can’t find a decent donut anywhere within the city limits.  Then came the soda police – heaven forbid you want to drink more than 12 oz of a soft drink.  No, no, Johnny, Mayor Bloomberg says that’s not good for your and you can’t have it.  I get it that these things are not good for me.  I quit smoking, I try (not too successfully) to watch my weight and I have greatly reduced my soda intake.  But those are my choices, not my legislator’s.

After all this interference with the general public’s lifestyle, one would think that New York is a pretty good place to raise your family, right?  It was reported on CBS New York that according to school officials, nearly 80% of the New York’s high school graduates can’t read and need remedial courses when entering schools of upper education.  80%!  That’s unconscionable. 

When I hear things like this it makes me wonder – what could possibly be wrong here? I’m sure there are plenty of parents, teachers and school administrators who can point a finger at any number of circumstances.  But I wonder, is there a more subtle agenda at play here.  What happens when you keep a populous ignorant and unable to think for themselves?  What happens when you convince a group of people they are stupid and don’t know what’s best for them?  What happens when a group of people buy your story and put their complete trust and their lives in your hands?  Knowledge is power and the lack of knowledge opens the door to slavery.