Liberation rolls on as New York — the great Empire State — legalizes same-sex marriage.

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Howard Martell

June 27, 2011 | Author: Jeffrey Lant | Posted in Dr. Jeffrey Lant’s Article Archive

By Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Author’s program note. For this story, so long in the making, many tunes would have been good… Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop” (recorded in 1977) is not merely good; it’s note and word perfect. It’s a tune that means the human machine is moving again. That we’re marching ahead! Moving, despite all inhibitions and blocks, towards the Promised Land. You’ll find this number in any search engine. Listen to it a time or two before digging into this article. And be sure to save the link; you’ll want to be reminded that humanity doesn’t move inexorably ahead; it does so by fits and starts… even so, we move!
Saratoga all over again.
Back in late 1777, the fortunes of George Washington, his troops, and the entire Revolution were at rock bottom. All that was needed was one more British victory and the British would have the honor of catching Traitor George and his nefarious crew… then indeed would the revolutionaries who had not succeeded in hanging together would hang separately. Victory was close… temptingly close. It all hinged on a man called General “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne (1722-1792) an officer who loved the pomp and circumstance of war… and knew his comfort and fortune, his place in history, were secure if he won that victory. Unfortunately Burgoyne was better at striking martial poses (Sir Joshua Reynolds painted him grandiloquently in one) than winning victories…
At Saratoga, in New York, Burgoyne, so very arrogant, so very confident of crushing victory, lost the battle. And while there were difficult days ahead for the revolutionaries when Gentleman Johnny surrendered, thereby bringing the French and Spanish support to their cause, the momentum shifted once and for all; the fate of British North America was glaringly apparent. All because of one event in New York, October, 1777.
And now New York has determined the fate of another revolution… same-sex marriage. There’s no stopping it now.
The man who did it… and turned himself into a likely future president.
I have long thought that the problem with the same-sex marriage matter (which is not the most important problem on the nation’s agenda), was that its advocates were flat-footed amateurs at the great American game of using our history, culture and values to get something you want, something others may not want to yield. Such situations scream for a fresh look… and a fresh, keen, credible leader… a person who knows the game and plays it joyously con brio, with the verve and style displayed in Reynolds’ great masterpiece.
Andrew Cuomo is that person and every one of the approximately 45,000 same-sex couples in New York should be required by love (if not by law) to toast this consummate political animal at their weddings, which can begin to take place July 24, 2011.
The 56th governor of New York, a sure-fire Democratic heavyweight.
The way Andrew Cuomo, who only assumed his high office January 1, 2011, handled the bug-a-boo of same-sex marriage displays political wisdom and skill of the first magnitude, because gay marriage is and always has been a political problem; a political matter masquerading as morality… when it was always about who gets what, just the way most American moral matters are.
Let’s set the stage…
Two years ago, the New York legislature defeated same-sex marriage. One major reason for this humiliating set-back was the lack of leadership. Gay advocates were mostly gay people whose special pleading often sounded whiney with non-existent organizational skills and no “go -to” leader in sight. It all made for an inevitable result: defeat. Gay leaders got a pie in the face and learned a harsh lesson about politics the New York way… a brand-new approach was called for.
Andrew Cuomo’s election at governor in November, 2010, to the office once held by his father, started the ball rolling. He told gay leaders he was the go-to guy… and that he’d call the shots and give them victory. (He glossed over all the goodies he’d accrue… including the lifetime right to dip into the huge financial resources of gay Americans in pursuit of La Casa Blanca.)
I don’t know precisely what was in Cuomo’s mind at that point but I can guess. He knew — or had to know — that same-sex marriage opponents had no case; or, rather that their case was based on denying their fellow citizens the very right they themselves had: the right to select the person you want to marry and spend your life with. The entire opposition stood for everything we abhor: getting told by others what we can and cannot do, what is right and what is wrong, and being grateful for an inherently unequal second-class citizenship.
Oh yes, don’t forget to bow your head , tug your forelock and say “merci, m. le marquis”, while eating his dust while he throws you a couple of doubloons for which you are supposed to be eternally grateful. Can anyone say “Bastille”?
Cuomo, smart, smart, smart, cast the debate in terms of personal freedom, the “Don’t treat on me” message of the revolutionary flag. Having forged the message, Cuomo — audace, audace, toujours l’audace — shopped it, to broaden support for the measure. The people he approached were not the people you’d think; they were the people he needed to secure his argument and get the votes… and they were called… Republicans. Yeah, the supposed enemy.
He convened a meeting with Republicans who were squeamish about the discriminatory position the Roman Catholic hierarchy and other unenlightened folk were forcing on them, the policy of “I’ve got my main squeeze, I’ll make sure you can’t have yours”. This wasn’t a case; it was adolescent one-upsmanship pure and simple… and it made some influential GOP types squirm with dismay and embarrassment. Cuomo made them a offer…
Admit it, he said. You feel uncomfortable supporting people who want to deny some of their fellow countrymen the very rights they have themselves. The guests admitted that was so; they felt like heels. Cuomo says, exactly. So, here’s what we can do: you support same-sex marriage in the legislature, cough up some bucks to finance the effort, and I’ll cover you back in your districts. A straight political deal of the kind practiced by their excellencies the governors of New York since Johnny Burgoyne handed them, on his silver platter, the state house… that famous launching pad for so many to the White House.
Just who was at that pivotal meeting and later discussions is not entirely known (the name of billionaire Paul Singer is mentioned and he has an openly gay son)… nor does it matter much. The point is Cuomo had a goal; Cuomo had a message; Cumo had a strategy…and in due course, a triumphant Governor Andrew Cuomo had a victory. The New York state senate, 33-29 joined its House of Representatives to pass the bill that will get, in a suitably grand and significant ceremony, the governor’s John Hancock. Signed, sealed and delivered, as promised.
New York’s action is critical; it gives the cause major momentum, unstoppable now. And so is Cuomo. The most significant aspect of this victory may not be the thousands of couples it will benefit. It may be an oath that begins, ” I, Andrew Cuomo, do solemnly swear….” He’s humming “Don’t Stop” under his breath right now; it’s his favorite tune.
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About the Author:
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc.,  providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author’s permission by Howard Martell http://HomeProfitCoach.com. Check out Traffic Blog Empire ->  http://www.HomeProfitCoach.com/?rd=nh4VYABW

The first woman politician of prominence – she paved the way: Geraldine Ferraro

Geraldine Ferraro was my Representative in the House back when I lived in Queens, New York.   It did seem out of place back then but I remember Bella Abzug as a representative around the same time. I recall thinking back then that these were “men’s” jobs. she had been a teacher. That was a woman’s job. And …there was nothing wrong with thinking that way.
Geraldine Ferraro may you rest in peace.
‘If we can do this, we can do anything.’ An appreciation for the life of Geraldine Ferraro,  ex-vice presidential candidate.
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
In 1984 a streaked-blond, peanut-butter-and-jelly-making mom made history… before she became an object lesson in unwittingly hurting the candidate and political party she was there to help.
Her name was Geraldine A. Ferraro, and now she is dead at 75, March 26, 2011 of complications from multiple myeloma, a blood cancer she had doggedly battled for 12 years.
Her day of days, July 11, 1984.
Arguably the most important day in at least her public life occurred July 11, 1984 when Walter “Fritz” Mondale made history by selecting U.S. Representative Geraldine Ferraro as his vice presidential running mate. At a stroke, she became the first major-ticket VP candidate… and the first national Italian-American candidate, two facts which proved to be critical in her startling ascent and the muddle, distractions, and stumblings which followed.
A presidential candidate’s first important act is the selection of a vice presidential nominee.
Americans look to their presidential candidates to demonstrate executive problem-solving skills and leadership. But such a candidate, unless he is president himself (when he and his record automatically become the focus of the campaign) have a big problem which must be handled early and without error.
While they might have the skills to be  president and even an impressive list of important accomplishments and decisions should they, say, have been governor of a major state (like Reagan and California), voters are still being asked to gamble that a person who has never made presidential- level decisions can, in fact, make them,  not surprise the nation (as has happened often enough) with ineptitude; (like Jimmy Carter, the master of Oval Office missteps and pratfalls.)
The only person immune from this aspect of any given campaign is an incumbent. If there is such an incumbent, he automatically becomes the virtual sole focus of the campaign, pro or con. (Obama take note).  But that problem, in 1984, was Reagan’s.
Mondale’s problem was the usual one of an out-of-power party… showing America it would be better off with a new president it didn’t know much about, instead of retaining  the incumbent they already knew, but who now stood before them no longer fresh, battle-scarred, and, of course, (whatever his achievements) with the usual legion of second-guessing detractors.
For the challengers the selection of the right VP candidate is crucial, couldn’t be more important. Yet candidates often (quick, can you say Senator John McCain?) muff this business… and help derail their own campaigns, by turning what should have been a plus into an unexpected minus. America always notes this with alarm, incredulity, disdain, and usually dismissal.
“Fritz” Mondale… the nicest guy in the world… except for Ronald Reagan.
Mondale, Jimmy Carter’s vice president, was by common repute a deeply honorable, good natured, well balanced man. He was the boy next door about, so the Democrats hoped, to get the prize ordinarily kept from the nice guys famously finishing last.
But he had a problem. “(Most) everybody loves Ronald” Ray-Gun. He needed a way to lay a finger on the guy and help America wise up. Because the Democrats thought Reagan unsympathetic to women’s issues… they needed a candidate who could help galvanize women. Abigail Adams, wife of the second president, had written him “don’t forget the ladies.” Democrats didn’t intend to. But how?
There she is… Mrs. America… Geraldine Ferraro.
She was pert, lively, credible, a real-life mom with real-life mom joys and dilemmas. She was also  a former Queens, New York prosecutor. There she battled the intractable problems of a great city which had them to spare; her daily diet rape, crimes against the elderly, child and wife abuse, so draining she later rote they caused her to develop an ulcer. And the liberal principles which, at her best, defined her.
At the urging of Mario M. Cuomo, then lieutenant governor of New York and another “Italo” wanting friends for his  own ambitions, suggested she run for Congress. She did, ultimately winning 3 terms, learning fast the tribal rituals of the House of Representatives and, most of all, learning to work with its chiefs. This included House Speaker Thomas O’Neill. He liked her and helped her advance within the establishment to chairwoman of the Democratic Platform Committee, a plum assignment for understanding the party and its players nationwide. In due course, it was O’Neill who urged Mondale to select her as his running mate. It goes without saying that all Democratic congresswomen (they called themselves the A Team)  were in her corner, saying that Geraldine was what they needed to wow the women, and the nation.
“Fritz” bit… and made the calculated decision to put a woman on the ticket. Whether she was the best available woman, or not, will always be argued. She was a gal, she was a great, tireless campaigner with a feisty, upbeat style people liked… all to the good. But… and these were big buts… she knew nothing of the world beyond Queens (a problem most of its denizens have); she had no executive experience at all… and absolutely no foreign policy experience or expertise.
But Mondale selected her anyway. This turned his dull nominating convention into a thrilling celebration of women in America, their inexorable, soul-stirring progress to the heights of the nation. As Ferraro said “If we can do this, we can do anything.” Millions felt uplifted, glasses raised, tears shed. It was a signature American event…
… And it began to fall apart within just hours as questions began to be raised about her husband’s financial and tax records. There were nasty innuendos, too, about organized crime, god fathers, the paraphernalia of ethnic hate. Mondale learned the hard way that behind every successful woman candidate is a husband… the man he didn’t select, but who could cause  an entire campaign to stumble. So it was with Ferraro and the man she loved. Thus, Ferraro and her connections became part of Mondale’s problem… instead of the solution she had once appeared to be.
In the end, of course, she probably wasn’t the ultimate cause for Mondale’s demise. Ronald Reagan was. America loved Reagan (despite lapses and errors). And he was becoming, right before their eyes not merely a president but a statesman, a man they liked, trusted and revered. Fritz never had a chance, and of course Ferraro went down with him.
Now the mom from Queens is gone, a footnote in history, not a chapter. But I prefer to remember the best moment of her busy life: “If we can do this, we can do anything.” She was absolutely right about that.
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About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books.