History and politics: key concepts and relationships

History / Politics

There are a number of salient issues to consider when discerning a mayoral candidate for a city as large and as prominent as New York City. Many of these issues are discussed within this week's readings, the introduction to Bruce Berg's New York City Politics: Governing Gotham, and "The Tiger" from Luc Sante's Low Life. The principle point of commonality dealt with between these two works is social issues pertaining to the results of economic prowess (or the lack thereof). There are many poor people in disadvantaged social positions in New York (Sante 258). Viewed from this lens, I whole heartedly advocate Bill de Blasio as the next mayor of New York.

De Blasio, who is a Democrat, is the antithesis of the Republican candidate, Joe Lhota. Lhota and his vision of the city and its governance are widely in accordance with that of incumbent Michael Bloomberg, who himself merely continued much of the business friendly, tax-breaks-for-the-rich practices that have helped New York to regain economic prosperity pioneered by his predecessor, Rudolf Giuliani. Although there is no denying that one of the chief responsibilities of the stewardship of a city is financial needs and concerns for revenue -- as well as helping to position the city within the wider lens of the federal government (Berg 1) -- it largely appears as though De Blasio's priorities are more aligned with those of the vast majority of city residents.

Those priorities include racial and ethnic equality in the form of a cessation of stop and frisk policies. More importantly, they include an economic division of the city's wealth to bridge the divide between the haves and the have-nots. This latter aspect is largely identified by the media as De Blasio's vision of the city, one which is not the tale of two cities he widely disparages the municipality for in his campaign slogan, but one in which the economic divide -- which is largely evinced within racial and economic grounds -- is closed.