Democrats Seize State Sentate

[olddog71]

There are two sides to every issue.

 

Regarding the poster who wants to screw all Republicans, I have one basic counterpoint to that. You can thank NYS Republicans for the public education you received in kindergarten through high school, particularly if you attended schools upstate or in the NYC suburbs. NYS Republicans consistently supported hefty increases in state aid to public education. Proof of that came just recently when the largest teachers union in the state backed most Senate Republicans for office on Tuesday. I truly fear the loss of the Senate to the Democrats in this state, as one party will now control ALL the major functions of government in this state. One thing I have learned in my relatively long life is the facet of human nature that power corrupts, and the closer the situation to absolute power the chances for political skullduggery increase all the more.

 

Having said that, I'm not sure what the record of support for higher education from Senate Republicans has been.

 

Regarding what people in Europe think of the United States, I'm not that really pressured to kowtow to their perceptions of our country. All I know is that this country was attacked on September 11, 2001, and Europe was spared that day. Many times in history, especially since the early 1900's, Europe has had certain expectations of what course of action the United States should take, and history has proven them wrong more often than not. I don't necessarily want this country to be liked by everone else in the world; I would rather be respected. Yes, the current Bush has made some mistakes in foreign policy, but I'm not sure whether the general policy is wrong.

 

Further, regarding Europe, when Americans think of the continent, we focus mainly on the Western portion. Ask Eastern Europeans, however, what their views are on US foreign policy, and you will often receive a vastly different perspective. It wasn't so long ago that these people could not express their opinions freely, and if we Americans want to get a truly global perspective of worldwide opinion of our country, then we should look a little more at their views. Save the Serbians, but then again they produced Kovacevic.

 

Just a different view of some of the ideas posted here.

[danefan]

I'd just like to point something out here:

 

There is a HUGE difference between a New York State Republican and the George W. Bush Republicans that have been running this country for the past 8 years.

 

I actually prefer the Republicans in NY to the NY Dems, but that is probably because I grew up upstate in a Republican stronghold and because the majority of the NYS Dem power is focused downstate. Albany is far from the Dem machine it once was.

 

Regardless, the issue with the SUNY budget isn't necessarily a partisan one. SUNY has been neglected as an institution since it was founded. The result is a system that could not have ended any further the institution it was intended to be. That is the fault of both Dems and Repubicans who have failed to see the forest through the trees.

 

There are a few pro-SUNY Letters today:

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...ategory=OPINION

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...ategory=OPINION

 

And especially this one, highlighting the $3 BILLION economic impact UAlbany has on the CAPITAL DISTRICT ALONE!

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...ategory=OPINION