The Post-Journal

Two Guys From Queens

Jun 21, 2025

Rolland Kidder 

There must be something in the water in Queens for it seems that, as to politicians, that Borough of New York City produces a certain breed of them.

Two that come to mind are Andrew Cuomo and Donald Trump. Though neither now live in Queens, this is the place where they “cut their eye teeth” when it came to business and politics.

Having spent a few years in Albany (now many years ago,) I had a “bird’s eye view” of politicians from across the state. Queens was known then as a scrappy place where people grew up battling, in one form or another, for everything from political turf to business advantage.

Life there seemed to be right out of Darwin, where competition was rampant and only the strong survived. And… survive they have!

Donald Trump won the Presidency and then lost it, and then regained it again, despite some sexual improprieties that in court judgments have cost him a lot of money. Andrew Cuomo won the Governorship of New York only to lose it in a sexual harassment scandal (which he has never admitted to,) and now seems poised to re-enter politics as Mayor of the City of New York as front-runner in the primary election being held there next week.

I guess that you could describe the political style of these two men as “in your face politics.” Always be on the offensive, keep changing the narrative, keep your name in the headlines, never admit guilt or wrongdoing, and you will ultimately be rewarded with success.

What they also seem to have in common is a “top down” approach to governing. They both act as though they are smarter than everyone else in the room, and they will tell you how things are going to go down. They are also known for making promises that are hollow and unfulfilled.

When running for Governor, Andrew Cuomo promised to appoint a special Task Force on Natural Gas Drilling in the Southern Tier and abide by their recommendation. Once elected, he called his then brother-in-law, Bobby Kennedy Jr., about the issue. Kennedy was anti-fracking and anti-natural gas–so Cuomo ignored his promise and his commission’s recommendation and shut down natural gas drilling in the state. That moratorium is still in effect though millions in the state depend upon natural gas to heat their homes.

Similarly, Donald Trump promised that he could solve the Ukraine/Russian War in 24 hours if elected President. He made a similar promise that he would solve Israel’s war with Gaza. Both promises are still unfulfilled.

Promises are made not to be kept, but to win elections. That all comes from the hard-scrabble lessons learned in Queens.

It is interesting how politics seems to have been “turned on its head” now as one former Governor of New York from Queens is poised to be elected Mayor of the City of New York, primarily because it is expected that he will be the strongest and toughest in challenging another man from Queens who sits again in the Oval Office.

Yet, it could be that these two guys will get along. Their style of governing is the same, and they have a common bond with Bobby Kennedy Jr. who is now in the cabinet.

However, it works out between Cuomo and Trump…the Borough of Queens should be a winner.

                                             The Post-Journal

Are We A Government Of One?

                                                            May 31, 2025

 

Rolland Kidder 

To be honest, I have been dismayed recently by the actions of both political parties in what I would call a surrendering of our country to a “government of one.”

Starting first with the Democrats, it is clear that in deference to the desires of a former President–they deferred into looking more closely at the ability of Joe Biden to run again for that office.

It is now clear that there were many warning signs prior to Biden’s failed debate performance last June, and that he should not have been the presumptive Democratic nominee for President. Because of the power of the Presidency, Democrats in high places essentially “rolled over,” hoped for the best, and didn’t act until it was too late.

They erred in so doing, and more viable candidates for the highest office in the land were thus thwarted in seeking that office. To put it bluntly, one of our major political parties failed the country. The power of the Presidency, the power of one — overpowered the traditional political process of the Democratic Party.

Now, we are compounding the problem by what seems to be the virtual abandonment of the Republican Party in opposing in any way the current President. Members of Congress, when President Trump says “Jump!”–they respond, “How high?!”

There appears to be little or no backbone in the Republican Congress when it comes to proposals from the White House. It can be 145% tariffs today, and 30% tariffs tomorrow. It can be taking a gift of half a billion dollars from a sheikh in Arabia so that our President can have a plush airplane with a gilded interior, or have him telling American Universities that they must parrot the messaging of the federal government or be shut down.

Whatever comes out of the White House now is apparently infallible, and the law of the land is to be set by executive decree.

However you look at it, I see in all of this a demeaning of our constitutional government. The Constitution was written to give the congress, the executive and the courts equal jurisdiction over our affairs as a nation. If any branch of the government was to have a leading role, it was to have been the congress through the power of the purse strings.

Now we stand in awe, apparently as helpless as sheep, while in the dead of night the House of Representatives rubber stamps the White House by ripping down a great part of the government previously created by other Republican and Democratic administrations to pay for unneeded tax cuts accelerating the deficit. All put altogether in a “one big Beautiful Bill!”–whatever that means.

I doubt that many members of Congress even knew what was in it. It was too much for at least one Republican member of the House from Long Island who fell asleep that night somewhere in halls of Congress and didn’t wake up for this monumental vote.

It seems that maybe the whole country is asleep. When will this end? It has taken over 200 years, through fits and starts, successes and failures, but, for the most part, with good intentions, to build this country making it the leader of the free world.

Now we seem to be giving it all up to be ruled by a government of one. We shouldn’t be going down this road. This is not what made America great.

 

                                  The Post-Journal

Having The Last Word

                                      May 3, 2025

Local Commentaries

Rolland Kidder

Having recently reread James Madison’s Journal of the Federal Convention, (the last time being in college) reminded me of the old adage that “he who speaks last, speaks first.”

Ben Franklin did not speak much at the convention, but when he is recorded as having done so his remarks were usually general and positive in nature – this despite the fact that there was much disagreement and acrimony between the delegates.

While members were signing the final document, Franklin “looking toward the President’s (George Washington’s) chair” observed that an image of the sun had been carved into the back of it. He had not been sure whether it was a “rising” or “setting” sun but now, at the end of this contentious convention, he was sure that it was a “rising, and not a setting sun.”

Franklin was old at the time, and the seemingly endless proceedings took place over a hot summer in Philadelphia. For secrecy and privacy reasons, the windows in Independence Hall were kept closed. That he could sit there for four months through the heat, often boring debate and parliamentary squabbles, is quite a remarkable accomplishment in itself.

To read Madison’s Journal is a grind, as most of it is written in the way you would write up the minutes of any formal meeting – roll call votes, votes to refer to committees, reports from committees, arguments about quorums, etc.

And underlying the proceedings was an expressed disappointment in the status of the country at that time – a pessimism about its future. Many of the delegates had come from state legislatures and did not hold them in high regard. Many comments were made about the self-serving nature of politicians, “exotic corruption,” “office hunting,” and the “mischievous influence of demagogues.”

In response to these concerns, some had proposed limiting participation in the new federal government to “natives” only, to those born in the country. Others thought that requiring that elected officials have wealth and be property owners would help clean up corruption.

But, Ben Franklin reminded those gathered that many people not born in the country had helped win the American Revolution and that “some of the greatest rogues he was ever acquainted with were the richest rogues.”

And, so it went, back-and-forth, over four hot summer months in 1787, through various proposals, votes and revotes until consensus was finally reached. (Not all would sign it.) The issue of slavery in the country was also hotly debated, and a three-fifths compromise was made to the southern states so that slaves would be counted as 3/5ths of a person for representation purposes.

The proposed Constitution was not a perfect document, but it was the best they could do at the time to build a better and stronger nation.

The last entry in James Madison’s Journal came from the “old salt” in the room, Ben Franklin – the sun was rising and not setting. The proposal would go to conventions in the 13 states for their approval, asking the people to support it in order to create a stronger union. It was approved, and here we are, after many Amendments and a Civil War to settle the slavery question, still going some 238 years later.

 

                        The Post-Journal

 

                     Can The U.S. Go It Alone?

                                                                                    Apr 12, 2025

Rolland Kidder

 

There has always been an isolationist streak in American politics. Among others, our first President, George Washington, in his farewell address, cautioned the new nation about becoming entangled in the affairs of other nations.

But, the history of our country and the world changed. Whether we liked it or not, we were thrust into world affairs in the twentieth century by both World War I and World War II. America became the leader of the free world. In that capacity, we forged international agreements and alliances to keep the peace.

We also encouraged international trade and commerce as a necessary part of keeping nations engaged with each other, instead of making war on each other. There was at least one good outcome to the terrible toll of human life in World War II–we helped rebuild the two enemies we had destroyed, Germany and Japan. They became bulwarks of freedom and democracy and have become strong allies in Europe and the Pacific.

Now, with the Trump tariffs, we are marching backwards. We are trying to go it alone, to dictate to other countries the terms of trade and commerce. We are building a wall around ourselves. Our message to other nations is clear: “You need us, we don’t need you!” Where will it end?

When the President announced his new tariffs, he referenced a list of many countries and their tariff rates on U.S. goods. One was Bangladesh…one of the poorest countries in the world which he said had a tariff rate of about 80%. Now, the United States, I expect, will impose that same rate on them…a “reciprocal” tariff.

What does this mean? It obviously doesn’t mean that we will sell more cars or much of anything else to Bangladesh. However, it does mean that the United States will now put an 80% tax on consumer goods like clothing, T-shirts, etc. that come from Bangladesh. Who gets hurt? Not Bangladesh…but Americans who wear T-shirts and other clothes manufactured there.

Brilliant – talk about shooting yourself in the foot. It is primarily Americans who are going to foot the bill for Trump’s tariffs.

But, what to me is more worrisome, is the attitude of arrogance being displayed by our country. “It is our way or the highway. Get out of the way if you don’t like it!” What a way to win friends and influence people around the world.

Perhaps, the most egregious treatment that has been dished out by this administration is upon Canada and Canadians…next door neighbors and longstanding friends of ours. They too are supposed to get in line and follow us over the cliff we have created. If they continue to object by banning American whiskey from their shelves, good for them. Maybe it will wake up some people in Washington… or at least those who represent Kentucky.

Going it alone is not the American way. We are on a bad path right now.

                    The Post-Journal   

The World Through A Windshield

                                                                                    Apr 5, 2025

Rolland Kidder

 

There is a country song about a trucker on the road who is “looking at the world through a windshield.”

It has made me think, over the years, that in actuality…we all see life through a windshield. The way we were brought up, what we were taught, where we were born–all of it is a “windshield” through which we see and understand the world.

I think it is this “windshield” which makes it so hard to comply with the golden rule… “love thy neighbor as thyself.” Trying to see the world through someone else’s eyes is not easy.

Just think about the war-torn areas of the world today. Your “windshield” is a lot different if you suffered through this past winter in Gaza versus living in Israel, or if you are in the trenches of Ukraine or trying to attack those trenches as a soldier for Russia. It is hard to apply the golden rule in such situations.

In thinking back to my own childhood, my view of life was pretty much shaped by the experiences of growing up on a dairy farm in Chautauqua County. The “city kids” that I knew and palled around with lived in the City of Jamestown. That was what “city” meant to me. It wasn’t until I got to Chicago, after college, that I really found out what urban living was all about.

Probably the biggest eye-opener for me as to seeing “life through a windshield” came with the years that I was in the Navy. It was here that I came in contact with men from all over the country. When you work on a daily basis with people coming from such diverse places as New York City to rural Texas…you soon become aware that your own “windshield” is a fairly small prism.

The fact that we no longer have a military draft has, in my opinion, accelerated the sense of division and separateness that now characterizes the country. We are no longer thrown into the melting pot of military service where we are exposed to people and views from across the land.

I also remember the false hope that somehow the availability of the internet would bring about a sense that we lived in a global village of some kind. Instead, the internet and television have made it easier to get into our “caves” or “cocoons” where we get our news or can communicate in echo chambers with only like-minded people.

Humanity, of course, is always going to have differences based on race, ethnicity, country of origin and political opinion dependent on the structures of government we have known. We cannot overlook these differences.

But, it is important that we realize and understand that those differences create a “windshield” through which we see the world.

The truck driver rolling down the road realizes that not only is he seeing the world through a windshield…so is everyone else on the road.

With that realization comes humility. We are not the “only pebble on the beach.” There are billions of other human beings out there seeing the world through their own “windshields.” Understanding that, I think, may be the beginning of wisdom.

 

                                                 The Post-Journal

 

In Defense of Chuck Schumer

Local Commentaries

Mar 29, 2025

Rolland Kidder

 

Our U.S. Senator, Chuck Schumer, has come under some fairly heavy criticism in the past couple of weeks over his decision to not let the government default.

The criticisms were framed primarily by those in his own party who believed that the decision would further enable the President in his efforts at dismantling the federal government. This impression was magnified when the President, himself, thanked Schumer for lending support to the Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government running through September.

I am not entirely a disinterested observer in all of this, since many years ago I served with Senator Schumer when he was an Assemblyman in the New York State Assembly. While there, and in his subsequent roles in the Congress of the United States, I have found him to be honest and pragmatic in his approach to government. He also, despite having had big responsibilities in Washington, has paid attention to his Upstate New York constituents and visits each county of the state every year.

But, to get back to Senator Schumer’s decision to support the CR, I thought it made both substantive and political sense. Substantively, a government shutdown on top of all of the chaos associated with the dismantling of government and layoffs that have been going on under the leadership of the President and Elon Musk would have been devastating for the country.

On the political side of things, though more liberal members of his party wanted him to stand up to Trump and shut down the government, Schumer made the pragmatic decision that to do that would just heap political criticism on the Democrats. A shutdown would have given Republicans, who now control the levers of power in Washington, an easy scapegoat to blame Democrats for the additional chaos which would have followed with even more negative consequences.

Schumer saw through that and did his party and his country a favor by supporting passage of a bill in the Senate to keep the government running – though I am sure there was lot in it that he didn’t like

In my view, it took political courage for Schumer to do this. He is taking some short-term political flack for his position, but, in the long-run, it was the right and smart thing to do both politically and for the country.

Chuck Schumer, unlike the President, has a long history in and knowledge of how government works. In truth, government has an important role to play in our society. Sometimes it can overreach and become bloated, but what it does is address needs that the private sector does not or cannot do – like public safety, public infrastructure, a court system, public schools, food and meat inspection, environmental standards, healthcare support, running a National Park Service, maintaining roads and bridges, funding social security and the military and all of the other myriad of things that we take for granted in this great country of ours.

So, Senator Schumer, thanks for standing up and doing the right thing. You may be getting criticism from some quarters, but, for what it’s worth, your stock is still strong up here, in that part of the state north and west of the Tappan Zee Bridge – that demarcation line south of which lies the great majority of this state’s residents and voters.

 

                           The Post-Journal 

Bullying In The White House

                                                                                    Mar 8, 2025

Rolland Kidder

 

I thought I had seen it all with Donald Trump, but his atrocious behavior in bullying the President of Ukraine in the White House went beyond the pale.

Can you imagine George Washington or Abe Lincoln, or any other President we have had, ever doing anything like this? If it were done in school, the teacher would send the student involved to the principal’s office.

Actually, it was more than bullying. President Zelensky was bushwhacked between the two hammering voices of President Trump and Vice-President Vance. This was no spontaneous, unplanned event. They were out to surprise and crush the Ukrainian President in a coordinated way.

As an American, I was ashamed and embarrassed.

To Trump though, it was a victory. “This is going to be great television,” he said. An observation that fits with his general “modus operandi.”

When Tony Schwarz ghost-wrote in 1987 the book “Art of the Deal” for Trump, the publisher showed Mr. Trump a copy of what the proposed book would look like. Trump liked it, did not comment on its content, but said: “Please make my name much bigger.” That was done on the cover, and the book became a bestseller.

The same Donald Trump, our current President, now in his first chaotic days of a second term, seems to be consistent, at least on that point. Even if the news is not good, as long as the Trump name gets top billing, it is a success.

As Schwarz said in a follow-up interview after the book was published, Trump “seemed driven entirely by a need for public attention.” After spending decades as a tabloid titan, “the only thing left was running for President. If he could run for emperor of the world, he would.”

As to that ambition, unfortunately, the President may be in for a surprise. The world is not ready for an emperor, even an American emperor. We have to hope that others in the world will arise to remind us of our democratic roots and help steer us back in the direction of responsible, representative government.

The Roman philosopher, Seneca, once wrote: “Caesar and the state are one and the same.” It was opposition to that kind of thinking that brought America into being. We didn’t want Caesar or the King of England running this country.

When asked what kind of government the Constitutional Convention had proposed, Ben Franklin is purported to have said: “A Republic if you can keep it.” Now is a time when we need to be focused on “keeping it.”

Bullying a beleaguered leader of a country that was invaded and is fighting for its life as a democracy is not the American way.

Rolland Kidder is a Stow resident and a former New York state Assemblyman.

                                                            The Post-Journal

           What Happened To The Grand Old Party?           

                                                                     February 22, 2025

Rolland Kidder

 It wasn’t that long ago that the Grand Old Party (GOP) was advocating for free trade and the elimination of tariffs and trade restrictions. The party also advocated for a bi-partisan foreign policy encouraging strong relationships with our allies through alliances like NATO in order to contain Russian aggression.

Now all that seems to be gone. “We are the great United States, we are bigger and smarter than any other nation, and we will tell the world what to do. International leaders and members of military alliances which we helped create need to understand that we are now the boss.”

And, as to free trade, especially here in North America: “Forget about free trade agreements. The United States is going to slap a 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico, unless they do exactly what we tell them to do.”

Teddy Roosevelt, who, I believe, everyone would concede was a strong and outspoken President–exercised American power by “speaking softly but carrying a big stick.” Now, we speak loudly, brandish the big stick, and tell other countries that we will act for our own benefit regardless of what they think.

All of this is sad to me. This is not the America I grew up with. This is not making America great again. It is the way of banana republics and autocrats.

And, the idea that a clown like Elon Musk, can come into the government with a “meat axe” approach and actually know what he is cutting…is a joke. Apparently, it doesn’t matter that the United States Agency for International Development was created and supported by both Republican and Democratic parties in the past. Now, in the name of government efficiency, it is to be abolished by fiat from Elon Musk and the White House.

What about the program instituted by President George W. Bush to combat the epidemic of AIDS throughout the world? What about food programs when there are famines? Are not American farmers still the “bread-basket” of the world? Does America not care anymore?

Eliminating some programs because they are wasteful or inefficient could be understood, but eliminating an entire agency created by the Congress to address such issues… is just plain wrong.

The GOP now seems to have only one mantra…and that is “follow the leader.” Whatever he says goes. Wherever he leads us, we will follow. It reminds me of the Pied Piper leading a mesmerized crowd over the cliff.

Much of this new approach to government seems to be driven by inflaming fear and discord. Fear has always been an easy sell. Yet, driving wedges between people and nations has not been the American way.

Where it will all end, we don’t know.

One bright spot came last week, when a federal prosecutor with strong Republican credentials, quit her job in the Southern District of New York rather than follow orders from Washington to stop criminal charges against the Mayor of the City of New York. She viewed such orders as blatantly illegal and a violation of legal and judicial ethics.

This is what it will take to turn things around. People, like her, will have to stand up to officials in high places when they are leading us in the wrong direction.

 

                  The Post-Journal

Jimmy Carter: A Life Well-Lived

Local Commentaries

Jan 4, 2025

Rolland Kidder 

 

America lost an icon this past week…Jimmy Carter. In many ways, he was an anomaly in our national politics–a peanut farmer who came from nowhere to win the Presidency.

When I say “nowhere,” I do not mean to disrespect the people of Plains, Georgia. But, even people from Plains would never have predicted it. To bring it close to home, it would be like someone from around here predicting that Robert Jackson from Frewsburg, N.Y. would become a U.S. Attorney General, Supreme Court Justice and Chief American Prosecutor at Nuremberg.

These things just don’t happen very often.

What drew me to Carter, I expect, is just that fact–he came from the kind of rural background that I grew up in. He was what, in New York, we would call an “upstate Democrat,” and both he and his wife, Rosalynn, came and campaigned here in Western New York.

In the process, in 1980, I became a Carter delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Though his prospects for re-election didn’t look good at the time, I believed that he personified the kind of human being that we should want to have in the White House. The fact that he lost that election, has never changed my mind as to the genuine humility, kindness and goodness of this man.

A lot of things can cost people elections, but character was not one of them as far as Jimmy Carter was concerned. He was smart, strong, and, sometimes, could be a stubborn man. He was also a person of faith. He not only taught Sunday School, but he believed that the principles he was teaching there should be carried out in real life.

After the Presidency, these attributes magnified themselves. His involvement in the early days of Habitat for Humanity is a case in point. One commentator called it “the theology of the hammer.” It wasn’t good enough just be a Christian in church. You had an obligation to serve others and to work for their benefit in the wider world.

Recent comments on his passing may well remain true–that he may be the only President whose high office was a stepping-stone to something perhaps more significant. Carter could have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize just for his work as President in forging peace in the Middle East between Egypt and Israel. But, the Nobel award was also based on his post-Presidency efforts through the Carter Center in advancing health, peace and democratic initiatives throughout the world.

During the time I was involved in Washington with the World War II Memorial, I became good friends with one of Carter’s former staff leaders in the White House, Frank Moore.

After serving in the White House, Frank and his colleague, Jody Powell, stayed in the Washington area and purchased some property on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake. For 25 or 30 years, the former President would come there late in the fall for duck hunting. Carter, the country boy from Georgia, loved the out-of-doors and was a sportsman at heart. Yet, it was also the camaraderie of the hunt, and the personal friendships that surrounded it that really made it special.

Frank and the former President became good friends during those times. In 2002, Frank and Nancy Moore were invited by the Carter’s to accompany them to Oslo where Carter would receive the Nobel Prize.

Frank told me that in the week or two preceding his death, the former President remained cognizant and responsive. Rosalynn Carter died last year. She and Jimmy had been married for 77 years. As the end drew near, Jimmy Carter told those caring for him that he was ready to die and “wanted to be with Rosalynn.”

His prayer was granted. He is at peace now.

Jimmy Carter…a life well-lived.