The new year is well under way and the winds of political change swept across America, Queens and specifically Woodside continue on in the bosom of the Democratic Party. If 100 years have passed since a Republican was elected anywhere within our district, I would not be surprised.
In the past two years, the community may have switched elected personalities, but the same ideology and pattern of the ruling party runs the show, with the same dinner parties, controlling nature and love of certain views people like me do not embrace. From pro-life, -faith and -business to small government and individualism, exactly the opposite rings true for the Democrats. Thus, I and others like me can be thought of by the Democratic hierarchy as your disloyal opposition, disloyal to the Democrats because we will not disappear into the sunset or roll over and cry uncle like they would want us to.
I became a Republican about one year ago and I have never been happier to do so. If the Democratic Party and its allies throughout the district who dominate all local organizations faced stiff competition and managed to survive that circumstance, I would have more respect for their efforts. In a bizarre world, where we complain about the lack of democracy in other places like Egypt, we find that our local democracy is nothing more than a shuffling of the same ruling oligarchy. One-party rule fails everywhere, but apparently not in our own backyard.
The Republican and conservative movement has failed to win elected office in this district and throughout the borough, and I am aware of all the tragic consequences of not having a seat at the table. But the longer the Democratic Party is in power, the harder it will take the loss in a future election where its ideas and politicians are challenged by well-funded, well-organized candidates because its power has as much to do with the 10 percent of the voting public, most of those the triple-prime voters the Democrats curry favor with, actually showing up for elections in our district than it has to do with them being in tune with the silent masses.
The clarity of distance has only made the obvious become more so. The political class in Queens and its predictable habits and actors reminds me much of the movie “Groundhog Day,” where the news reporter played by Bill Murray is trapped in the same day in Punxsutawney, Pa., hence the title of the movie and the political situation in northwest Queens.
I could count on one hand the active remnants of the opposition to the current ruling government. I often think of them in solemn praise because they carry on the bitter struggle to have their voices heard completely cognizant that they are not at all being heard.
Well, I heard you, I hear you and there will be an election someday where the ruling party will have its hands full trying to contain the cascading political crisis it will find itself in. It has to happen because nothing lasts forever. The manner of its reversal of fortunes may not be clear today, but its inevitable day of reckoning is not.
David Rosasco
America’s Mayor Republican Club
Jackson Heights
