It’s well known that democracy is “Winner Take All”. The corollary of which is “Loser Gets Nothing”. Unfortunately in California, Conservatives are the losers. Hence your feeling of being left out. Oddly this doesn’t mean that minorities don’t wield power. Even a 1% or 2% minority can wield significant power if it is seen as the tie breaker between winning or losing. You just have to play your cards to the best of their advantage.
Apparently our Huckster in Chief and Mayor Koch of New York City were like the mongoose and the cobra. I know nothing of NYC. Trump describes this in his book Trump The Art of the Deal, 1987. So for a little lesson in politics, I present a few quotes.
But first the usual disclaimers: We are all the heroes of our own story. Our opinions and attitudes rationalize our self-interest. Emotions allow humans to vigorously promote their self-interest, often with anger and violence. Speech isn't used to communicate truth, it is used to wage politics. It is inherently deceptive when it hides self interest and pretends to be objective. There is the message and the meta- message. "Do you consider this part acceptable work (holds up obviously damaged part)? The message is the stated question, the meta-message is that you are a failure and deserving of contempt. For all anyone knows, it may have been the only bad part in ten thousand. So that said on to the wisdom of Donald Trump.
“Maybe the problem [is that] Koch & Co. are embarrassed that they’ve squandered $12 million on Wollman (roller skating rink).” Donald Trump, Trump the Art of the Deal, p. 305
“Trump is offering to take over the Wollman project, to rebuild the rink, and to have it open by November at no cost to the city,” wrote the New York Post. “After the whole 13-year multimillion-dollar debacle, you would think that they’d be jumping for joy. Not so. City officials seem more interested in thinking up reasons not to go forward than in making a deal. The city should give Donald Trump a speedy hearing - the Wollman farce has been running long enough.” p. 305
“Much of the explanation was that city government itself had become almost completely paralyzed, under the mayoral administration of Ed Koch.” p. 343
“Koch has achieved something quite miraculous. He’s presided over an administration that is both pervasively corrupt and totally incompetent. Richard Daley, the former mayor of Chicago, managed to survive corruption scandals because at least he seemed able to operate his city efficiently. Under Koch, the problem of the homeless has grown far worse, the vast majority of the city remains unwired for cable, highways have gone unrepaired, subway tunnels have been left unfinished, companies have continued to flee to other cities and city services have deteriorated inexorably. Meanwhile, no fewer than a dozen Koch appointees and cohorts have been indicted on charges of bribery, perjury, and accepting kickbacks, or have been forced to resign in disgrace after admitting various ethical transgressions.” p. 343
”Instead, they came up with a counterproposal. I'd still put up the $3 million, as a way of getting around the competitive-bidding issue, but on the day I finished, the city would reimburse me in full.” p. 307
Trump’s team finished the rink on time and under budget.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from dealing with politicians over the years, it’s that the only thing guaranteed to force them into action is the press - or, more specifically, fear of the press. You can apply all kinds of pressure, make all sorts of pleas and threats, contribute large sums of money to their campaigns, and generally it gets you nothing. But raise the possibility of bad press, even in an obscure pub1ication, and most politicians will jump. Bad press translates into potential lost votes, and. if a politician loses enough votes, he won't get reelected. If that happens, he might have to go out and take a 9 to 5 job. That’s the last thing most politicians want to do. p. 306
Remember the power of social organization. Have at it!
