Flame away-but it is one of the few times I've seen government work.
No flames here. As Newt Gingrich said: "You need either a strong common culture, or a strong central government." A mutilcultural city like New York needs a certain authoritarian streak in policing policy to remain livable, and for all the "fascist" attacks on Giuliani, he understood that. When you choose to live in a place like New York, you have to accept certain restrictions on your behavior - like not barbecuing pigs and shooting SKS rifles in Central Park. ;)
But one of the great divides in American politics comes about when liberal city dwellers try to export that authoritarianism to suburban and rural areas (as in gun control legislation - which may be Giuliani's Achilles Heel) where it is wholly inappropriate. In West Texas, if people want to barbecue pigs and shoot SKS rifles, so what? No Federal law should have anything to say on the subject. So the big open question about Giuliani is: does he understand the difference, as a conservative would? Or is he like most Northeastern liberals in thinking that what works in his city is good for the whole country?