By Al D’Angelo
“As you sow so shall you reap.” The people in Manhattan are getting a taste of voter apathy. In our last election only 20% of eligible voters cast ballots. The results can best be seen in the election of the Manhattan District Attorney who will minimalize fare beating, trespassing, resisting arrest and interfering with police. These offenders will no longer be prosecuted. Prosecutors were also instructed to downgrade felonies to misdemeanors in certain cases; for example, a person charged with armed robbery which was previously a felony, the charge now will be downgraded to petty larceny, a misdemeanor. I was under the impression that a District Attorney was supposed to protect law abiding citizens, not criminals. What is it going to take the 80% of eligible voters who sat on their hands in the last election, to realize they are to blame for what is happening in this city? Are you happy with what you see? A city under siege. Elected officials more interested in trying to blame someone for our country’s problems than coming up with solutions. Let’s blame Russia, let’s blame someone for not handling the COVID crisis properly, let’s blame the protests in Washington as an attempted overthrow of the government, let’s blame white privilege for the problems that plague the black community. Why do people in NACHA housing live in squalor while we take better care of illegal immigrants? Have bail reform laws helped our safety? Has allowing rioters to go unchecked, helped our businessmen? Is it OK for social media and institutions of higher learning to sensor unpopular views? Has politics become more important than right and wrong? How can politicians on both sides of the aisle flip flop their arguments depending on who is in power? A perfect example is the fight over the filibuster rule, when the Republicans were in power, they were opposed to the filibuster and the Democrats were in favor; now the Democrats are in power, so the Republicans are in favor of the filibuster and the Democrats are opposed. While they fight for power, we the people sit back and shake our heads while our democracy slips away. The right to vote is a privilege and a duty in a free society to shirk that responsibility is unamerican.
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