[An Old Marine]

THe author has a point that NY is increasingly Democrat. It is. That's because Republicans are sick of the highest taxes in the nation and a persistant anti-business climate. Democrats will win NY but increasingly marginalize themsleves nationally.

It'll be interesting to see who will pay for New York's bloated welfare state once Spitzer completes his drive to run the financial industry out of New York City.

[pnh102]

It'll be interesting to see who will pay for New York's bloated welfare state once Spitzer completes his drive to run the financial industry out of New York City.

I can see the headline now... BUSH TO NY: DROP DEAD!

[Alberta's Child]

For all of his bluster about New York's role in national politics, Mr. Dionne might consider this . . .

There hasn't been a candidate from New York on a winning national ticket since FDR was re-elected for the last time in 1944 even as he was damn near dead and buried. Since that time, we have had candidates from the following states serve as president and/or vice president:

Arkansas (Clinton)
California (Reagan, Nixon)
Georgia (Carter)
Indiana (Quayle)
Kentucky (Barkley)
Maryland (Agnew)
Massachusetts (Kennedy)
Minnesota (Humphrey, Mondale)
Missouri (Truman)
Tennessee (Gore)
Texas (Eisenhower, Johnson, Bush 41, Bush 43)
Wyoming (Cheney)

[Alberta's Child]

It's also worth noting that New York is the only place in the U.S. where people like Nelson Rockefeller, George Pataki, Rudy Giuliani, etc. would ever be considered Republicans.

The truth is, New York has been a Democratic state for years. Sometimes it elects Democrats who are honest about their party affiliation, and sometimes it elects Democrats who insist on hiding behind the Republican Party label.

[NYFriend]

The article is suggesting that the trends that have turned NY from having a big Republican following outside of NYC are being played out nationally as well.

Taxes are a big part of if. Spending drives taxes. Our federal government is also spending more money than ever before. Someone's going to have to pay for that spending. Since it's been deficit spending lately, that means I'm going to be paying for in ten or twenty years, but someone's got to pay. Plus, since you can't cut spending once every citizen has some stake in government spending, you're paying the inflated current cost of government, in addition to servicing the debt left from the deficit spending you had at the beginning. New York State may not have invented this model, but it happened hear earlier than on the national scene.

The second part of the equation is the social stuff. Do Republican's want people to decide how to live their life (like John Stuart Mill wrote) or do they want to force people to live according to a conservative belief structure? Texas banned gay sex. The Supreme Court over turned it. Where do Republicans stand. You can be conservative and say, "that's not me, I don't even think anyone should being doing it, but I'm not going to let the government into anyone's bedroom". Nationally, there's a split, and that's the kind of thing that's turned off some moderate Republicans in NY who are personally comfortable with gay rights, abortions, and other "liberal"issues. It also turns off "classical liberals" who don't want the government interfering in their private affairs. Those are the people who see bans on things(including smoking and trans-fat), or see the nonsense at the airports, background screenings when you open a bank account, and national security wiretaps on US citizens and say, "I don't want a government that can get that involved in my life".

Finally, people in a lot of Republican strongholds in New York have become soft. Their parents worked real hard to build a good life for them. They've know physical and financial security their whole life, and don't understand that those things have to be paid for with money, effort, or both. They think someone can promise them safety, security, and comfort for free. That's what the Democrats offer them, and they buy it. Does anyone not think that's happening nationally?

This is what happened to