Bill de Blasio, the self-proclaimed progressive with a very radical past, won yesterday’s New York City mayoral election in a landslide for the ages. With 97% of the precincts reporting, de Blasio held a commanding lead of 74% to 24% over the Republican candidate, Joe Lhota — the largest margin of victory by a non-incumbent in NYC history.
On radio this morning, Pat and Stu took bets on how long Glenn would be able to listen to de Blasio’s victory speech before having his head explode. Surprising, Glenn made it through a good deal of the speech, but his warning for New York, where half of his staff still resides, was direct.
“I don’t think you understand. I am totally fine. I knew New York was going down this road. We're not in New York. We left there for a reason… I just listened to Bill de Blasio's speech and I know what this means. What this is going to mean for everybody in New York State. You are now going to pay for all of New York [City’s] problems. You are going to pay for this… This is a city that has gone insane, and you are going to be held responsible for it,” Glenn said. “If I were in New York State right now, I would be filing for a motion to secede from New York City. And I know the state doesn't usually do that – usually it goes the other way around. But I think you should say, New York, you can be your own state because [the City is] going to bleed you dry.”
Watch a portion of de Blasio’s remarks below:
“And when it comes to de Blasio, the guy is a communist. That was out. Everybody knew. In New York, you have no excuse. This guy is going to make your life a living hell,” Glenn said. “For anybody who is working in New York and is too young to have lived through New York in the 1970s, do yourself a favor, go ahead and do some research on what it was like to live in New York before Rudy Guiliani… You won't even be able to travel to that city soon. He will destroy it. New York will become the next Detroit, if they don't stop it at some point.”
Despite the obvious danger de Blasio’s policies present New York City, Glenn was able to articulate why New Yorkers were drawn to the guy.
“New York wants somebody who is going to take the bull by the horns. That's what New Yorkers like – somebody taking the bull by the horns,” Glenn explained. “And, to my point, he says the defining question of our time is inequality and who is going to make it fair for everybody. I don't think that's the defining argument of our time. I really don't. I think the defining argument of our time is… Can [I as an individual] chart my own course, or do we slip back further than where we were?”
While the progressive promises of de Blasio may have wooed New York voters, Glenn argued that progressivism faces an uphill battle because it revolves around control. And in the technologically advanced society we live in today, control is harder and harder to come by.
“What is progressivism? Progressivism… was a new idea. Remember, freedom is the oldest idea: Man's born free. Everybody knows it! The progressive idea is a 110-year-old, 120-year-old idea where people get together and say: How can we control man… They used to be able to do it because, well, if we just regulate and you know, we've got to manage all this, because people don't have access,” Glenn explained. “They do now… I have access people all around the world. So do you. I'm not the only one with a microphone. You have one now as well. All you have to do is figure out how to put it up on You Tube. You Tube videos can change the world. The Internet can change your business. It's a different world.”
“So are you going to grab the future of freedom? Or are you going to have somebody else take it away from those who do because you don't want to,” Glenn asked. “That's the question of our age. Do we free more people to dream and do? Or do we enslave people?”
Front page image courtesy of the AP
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