All Local Politics Are Stupid (in Part Because They’re National)
31st October 2017
Matt Welch scratches his head.
If we were to update that graying motto in 2017, it might read “Think National, Act Stupid”—at least judging by the New York General Election Voter Guide, which plopped into my mailbox late last week like a sack of wet cardboard. The nonpartisan pamphlet, presented as a cheerful paean to civic involvement, is instead a festival of bad policy ideas frequently untethered to the job descriptions or even jurisdictions of the offices under competition.
“We’ve got to do more to make sure working families can afford to live in New York—and that means focusing on housing costs and the quality of our public schools, and creating more good-paying jobs,” writes New York City’s incumbent, uh, comptroller. (To the surprise of no one, Democrat/Working Families candidate Scott Stringer believes that the best way to create those good-paying jobs is to adopt a $15 minimum wage, a policy that has produced opposite results elsewhere.)