Editorial: Holding a grudge

Issue of July 17, 2009 / 25 Tammuz 5769

Some of the most deeply unpleasant people in the world are the ones who bear grudges. You know the type — she still badmouths you because you spilled soda on her shirt in 1982 or he still give you the eye because you stepped on his foot in 1988. They can't let anything go. (If you're one of them you'll probably never forgive us for this, but we digress). To recap: Holding a grudge? Not nice. Still, there are some situations where holding a grudge is not only useful, but quite desirable. More on that in a moment.

Have you ever heard it said that voters have short memories? It's true, they do. And voters have another fault, as well. No matter how lousy they know everyone else's elected official to be, when it comes to their own person … well, he's not so bad, she's not so bad.

Here's where the holding-the-grudge thing come in.

(We're writing this very slowly so everyone can follow along).

Next Election Day, and the one after that, and so on: Throw. The. Bums. Out.

It's all but certainly a pipe dream, we know, but after the fiasco in Albany that locked up the State Senate for more than a month, the perfect, just outcome would be for there to be an entirely new Senate sworn in over the next few years. As each of the current clowns comes up for re-election, Hold. A. Grudge. And toss them out on their fannies, free to seek other employment as ex-state senators.

The likes of the recent spectacle — a pair of lawmakers of highly questionable character tying Nassau County, New York City and the rest of the state into knots while they carried out a naked grab for power — should never be seen again.

And the way to lock that in is to institute the power of recall. Not only should New Yorkers elect a whole new group of senators but it would be nice to see someone with the money to make it happen start the ball rolling on the legal niceties of ensuring that voters have the right to rid themselves of an elected official who so blatantly shows his or her election to have been a mistake. As have all — really, all — our current senators.

Remember: in this one instance, Hold. A. Grudge. And Throw. The. Bums. Out.

Pretend they stepped on your foot.