No Country for Old Men

We have an opportunity for a new path, one with a brighter future, but first we must be done with what has failed us

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Last night, New York ended a political dynasty and put their trust in Zohran Mandami to be the Mayor of the greatest city in the world. As delicious as this outcome was, it left me with some thoughts to ponder. Specifically, it led me to wonder, when does one know when “enough is enough”? Is there a moment when, in the heat of battle, you take a step forward, and as sure as those steps have always been for as long as you have been doing it, you have a moment of hesitation? Do you witness being left behind? If so, how does it feel to be giving everything you have, or at least what you believe is worth sharing, and still find yourself sorely lacking? How do you contend with the fact that at one time you were considered untouchable, and you had the battle scars to prove it, yet despite all of that history, you are soundly defeated by someone you barely saw as an Equal?

Losing never feels good, but it is especially jarring when the last one to know that you have lost is you, and in this case, not only have you been defeated, but your ideas and lore have been ejected completely. The ramifications of such things have been on my mind as I watched Andrew Cuomo flail, fight, offend, attack, and gaslight his way through the general election. An old man, with a checkered and toxic history, so desperate to keep any semblance of political relevance that he inserted himself into a mayor’s race that didn’t need him, and campaigned for a position he didn’t want. But instead of stepping aside for new ideas, he chose division, hatred, and toxicity all the way to the end.

There was an opportunity for him to ride into the sunset, despite all he had done to others for the sake of power, and the damage he had caused, when Cuomo was soundly defeated in the Primary election this summer. He could have congratulated Zohran Mandami and ridden off into the sunset. In that version of events, the stories of Cuomo and his team bullying reporters, staffers, and other elected officials likely wouldn’t receive such attention. His 13 sexual harassment cases don’t stay in the news so long, his attempts to block a Black woman from becoming majority leader of the New York State senate aren’t brought up, and instead, his “friends,” admirers, and enemies could have told a kinder story to his final chapter.

But Cuomo has never been one to take a step back, and now, after a marathon election that should have ended in June. We awake, and the man who once dominated New York State politics has had his ass handed to him in two straight elections. Defeated by a 34-year-old Man with a funny name and politics grounded in ideas the establishment fears. I want so badly for Zohran Mandami’s vision of the world to represent the future of New York politics. And that Cuomo’s brand, like his career, will hopefully fade into oblivion, where it belongs, with respect to what he has accomplished as Governor and public servant. Much of Cuomo’s career has been focused on what would benefit him the most. His political ideology is centered on power and expediency; if something is to get done, he must see a clear benefit for himself in it.

This doesn’t make him an anomaly; in fact, it’s how a lot of politicians function. Sure, many run for office because they have a sincere desire to represent their communities and advocate for issues they care about. However, for far too long, those with the most power and ability to effect significant change have not led in that way. Their goal has been to hold power, to control the gears of our system, to be treated like royalty, and to be praised for their contributions. Even if what they have given has done more harm than good.

These types of politicians are easy to spot if you pay close enough attention. They strive for positions of power for the sake of having it, and more often than not, they don’t actually stand for anything. They excel at pointing out problems, but rarely offer solutions, and when they do, it’s only to make changes at the edges, leaving swaths of people struggling and disillusioned.

For example, look at outgoing Mayor Eric Adams. After running for Mayor while projecting himself as a champion of working-class people with a focus on making our city safer and more affordable, he spent much of his time in office fear-mongering and evading accountability for his own failures. He didn’t engage the city in a plan to address our core challenges; instead, he embarked on a public crusade, during which he claimed for months that crime was skyrocketing and blamed a law that was passed to prevent people from having to sit in jail because they couldn’t afford bail. When the press and the public latched onto his fear-mongering, he accused the media of “manufacturing a crisis.”

Cuomo, in his bid for Mayor, tried something similar to Adams. Spending weeks, if not months, campaigning on the idea that New York had become a “Lawless city” while seemingly ignoring the fact that he had closed several hospitals while governor. Many of those facilities provided beds and services to people struggling with their mental health. With no opportunity for housing and limited resources, they have ended up living on the streets. And the man who played a role in helping them get there tried to pitch himself as the solution to a problem he had helped to create.

When that didn’t work, he accused Zohran of being an anti-semite and tried to play off the rightful fears of our Jewish sisters and brothers to get them to vote against their own and the rest of the city’s interests. When that seemed to be a losing approach, he attempted to court the favor of a president who has made it his mission to attack our most vulnerable, while peppering Islamophobic attacks at a man he never bothered to understand. I would say that I’m disappointed in the way he behaved, but that would mean I expected better from him. I did not.

But this isn’t specifically a Cuomo issue; it is the way things have been done, and for a long time, Cuomo was just the best at it. And while he and others continued to win elections, they also gaslighted voters with empty platitudes while refusing to do the hard work that would bring about real change. As a result, people grew tired, and not only did they become exhausted, but many began to crumble under the current system. One that finds almost any opportunity to help those with the most, and creates multiple barriers of entry for those with little to nothing. The number of people feeling that pressure reached record levels last year, and that’s a big part of why many people voted for Trump. The Cuomo style of politics, one that gives crumbs to the poor and feasts to the rich, had worn them out.

But like Cuomo, Adams, and many other politicians, Trump is no leader; he is only interested in himself, and after running a campaign where he blamed our problems on Black people, women, trans people, and our undocumented sisters and brothers, he has governed with an agenda that focuses on holding his power, while stripping it from others.

And that’s why Zohran the candidate, and this victory is so important. Cuomo, Eric Adams, and much of the democratic establishment represent one side of a broken style of politics. What Zohran is offering isn’t a pipe dream; it’s a path to a different New York, and if we’re lucky, this is a path that others will soon choose. One where the people elected to office fight like hell for their constituents, where entire groups are not demonized for their religion, sexual preference, race, gender identity, or financial circumstances.

One where we stop lionizing the very wealthy while millions of people across the country struggle to make ends meet, while trying to avert our eyes from those who have already fallen through our broken political system. We have an opportunity to create a new world that can build a new reality designed to address the most pressing issues. There is a lot of work to be done, but last night’s result is a spark of hope that we sorely needed, and it could only happen if we were willing to let go of outdated ideas held up by relics of the past. Cuomo lost because he wasn’t only stuck in the past; it was the only reality he was willing to see. We are in new times, and in this era, there is hopefully no space for old men to prosper.