A Liberal With Sanity
When Ed Koch, former mayor of NYC, was asked how he would characterize himself, he replied “A liberal with sanity.” I would hesitate to label myself a modern liberal-leftist (many sincere, caring people mixed with a too rapidly growing number of PC, self-righteous tribalists), and my sanity is definitely up for debate. But I can definitely own “a liberal with sanity.”
Meanwhile, the Republican Party as we know it has vanished, replaced by the Magat Party, the biggest threat to American democracy in our lifetimes (You don’t have to agree; I will value your opinion below if you leave out the bile).
The way I grew up clearly shaped my outlook. As a working class kid in Brooklyn, I rode the subways for fun with my rowdy, and in retrospect, not too bright pals. We once climbed down onto the elevated train tracks as a train barreling down on us blew its whistle frantically, while we grinned like morons and took Polaroids of ourselves, then hopped back onto the platform just in the nick of time.
Thinking of that nine-year-old fills me with both shame at my stupidity and pride at my budding spirit of adventure and freedom.
In my early 20’s, I married, and taught 6th grade in Brooklyn’s East New York section, which included some wonderful kids and not so wonderful stitches from breaking up classroom brawls. For some reason, my college courses on how to teach public school didn’t include a single course on discipline, the absence of which makes trying to teach reading, writing and ‘rithmetic” a total waste of time for all involved.
As I approached 30, my mom died, which made me realize this isn’t a dress rehearsal. I got divorced, moved out, quit teaching and went into stand up comedy. I found I liked writing more than performing, and was soon creating original material for other comics, including Rodney Dangerfield.
Not long after, I was writing short skits, then plays, then satirical columns. When the Daily News printed one, I was on my way. Since then, I’ve written opinion columns for Newsday, The NY Daily News, The NY Post, The Palm Beach Post, Sun Sentinel, Miami Herald and elsewhere.
Along the way, I’ve been snarled at by leftists as a bigoted fascist, and by the right as a lefty-socialist-commie, so hopefully I’m doing something right__although in today’s tribal environment it’s tough to find many who’d second that emotion. Substack seems the last, best hope.
I’m looking for open-minded readers who realize that most items are not black or white, but gray—yet value solid, clear opinions. For example? I am a strong law and order guy who believes in sane gun laws. I am pro-choice, even though it haunts me to realize that if my mother had learned she was to give birth to a club footed child, she might have snuffed me out in the womb. Who would have spoken for me?
So if you’re seeking someone who parrots a party line, this space isn’t for you. If you appreciate my voice, you may find yourself cheering one column and hating on the next. Hey, what the hell—jump in!
As for Koch? He was a multi-term mayor not because he was such a brilliant politician, but because people identified with him: he gave it to them straight, with some bonus chuckles thrown in. I remember when the circus came to town (are you old enough to remember the days before circuses were thought of as abominations?), they set up a lion’s cage on the lawn of Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s living quarters.
As the lion tamer snapped his whip at the ferocious beast, a wiseass reporter called out “Mr. Mayor, why don’t you get in there and give it a shot? Or are you scared?”
Without missing a beat, Koch replied “You’re mayor is not a coward. You’re mayor is also not a schmuck.”
A liberal with sanity indeed.