Democrats' Promises of Equity Risk Leaving Division Behind

All politics is local, and all local politics is personal. In the midterm elections, the issues that preoccupy the media and both political parties in Washington have little to do with the personal matters that affect our daily lives.

Abortion (I never will need one), gun control (I don’t own one), open borders (I live near none), climate change (zero impact on my quotidian existence), the Jan. 6 insurrection (so two years ago): these are the lead stories for Democrats, Republicans, and the media.

Left out are more painful, visceral matters, such as how to stem fentanyl overdose deaths inflicting immense pain and grief across our country; and get the mentally ill and the homeless off the streets; and respond to double-digit increases in crime in major cities.

“And what about the rats?” as one woman, a blunt New Yorker, asked a city official at a private session of business executives the other night, which I attended.

These issues affect how we feel about our lives, which affects how we vote. In liberal New York City, Eric Adams, a retired subway cop, ran on crime as a Democrat (a rarity) and became the new mayor. The same issue may help elect the first Republican governor of New York in 20 years: Lee Zeldin, a Republican congressman from Long Island.

In his debate on Oct. 24 with Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, Zeldin criticized her for avoiding talking about “locking up anyone committing any crimes.” She shot back:

“I don’t know why that’s so important to you.”

In New York City, crime is up 30% year-to-date. On the subways, where you lack any escape, crime is up 40%. The mere awareness of the possibility of crime, even though the statistical chances of becoming a victim are remote, can shape our daily feelings and tap our deepest survival instincts.

I have lived in Brooklyn for many years now, and when I venture out, it is with hackles raised, a bit like it felt in 1990 in the crack epidemic, when 2,262 people were murdered in the city in a single year. Yet only 349 people have been murdered year-to-date (albeit this is more than the full-year total in 2019).

So far this year, nine people have been murdered on subways (vs. six a year ago), and a total 22 since March 2020; previously, it took almost 13 years to rack up 22 subway killings, the New York Post’s Nicole Gelinas reports.

Crime in the subway makes up less than 2% of all city crime, but this fails to quell concern. The city tells us to protect ourselves by putting away our AirPods and iPhones; it is like questioning the apparel choices of a woman harassed by a construction crew.

A related issue is how to help the homeless and mentally ill who inhabit subway stations, sleep on trains, and sleep on city sidewalks, despite the city’s occupying 40 hotels to house them. The other night, half a block down from my front door in Brooklyn, a man curled up on the sidewalk outside a big Michael’s store and tried to sleep, as passersby ignored him. 

Around the corner on Smith Street, a gaunt guy sat on the sidewalk one night and demanded dinner and $5. A friend of mine, an overly polite woman visiting from Canada, bought a Cuban takeout dinner and handed it to him, and he glared at her, told her he preferred the $5, and angrily tossed the meal into the street.

As the midterms approach, Democratic politicians have a challenge in how to address voters’ worries about rising crime, the homeless, and other more personal issues, while promoting their constant commitment to abortion, social justice, and racial “equity,” which promises equally divided outcomes, rather than equal opportunity.

Good luck with that.