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The people of upstate New York have had enough of New York City setting their policies for them. The farmers and small business owners of the Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley, Adirondacks, Western New York, the Capital District, the North Country, and the Southern Tier have little to nothing in common with their fellow citizens in New York City and its suburbs. The vast voter population of New York City negates any access to self-determination by New Yorkers outside the city limits. For years the New York State Senate, controlled by Republicans, has been a buttress against the worst inclinations of the NYC Democrats, but no. At The American Conservative Gerard T. Mundy explains how the recent election has changed all that, and upstate New Yorkers’ way of life is now at risk. He writes (abridged):
With New York State increasingly divided between its dominant urban progressives and everyone else, is it time for it to split in two?
Following the results of November’s elections in New York, the Empire State will be run in its totality by Democratic elected officials. Voters made this so by rejecting enough Republicans and GOP-aligned Democrats to flip the New York State Senate, which has been controlled by Republicans for every year since World War II except three. In the new senate, Democrats will hold their largest majority since 1912.
Up until now, the senate has served as a bastion of resistance to the state’s elected Democrats, who are increasingly dominated by far-left progressives from New York City.
New York City mayor and proud progressive Bill de Blasio said of the state senate’s turn: “It’s a whole new ballgame.
Come January, with a New York City-dominated Democratic Party in control of all statewide offices (governor, assembly, senate, attorney general, and comptroller), the needs of the state’s other voters, particularly those from rural areas, as well as political moderates and conservatives, may be forgotten.
Also telling, the significantly far-left Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which has held status as more of a fringe-type group rather than a seriously influential one, has even gained considerable influence in New York City this year.
The representation issue is not likely to improve, as far upstate communities continue to lose residents while New York City, and some of its most immediate suburban counties, gain residents.
All of these issues show that the minority population of the state will increasingly be tyrannized politically by the majority population.
What is a long-term solution to the divides?
As a result of the practical legal difficulties, the topic of the secession of a state’s territory and the creation of a new state is so often seen as being too difficult to be a practical option. Secession of territory from one state in order to form a new state is, indeed, not simple.
On the federal level, article IV, section 3 of the Constitution requires the consent of the concerned legislatures as well as of Congress.
At this critical juncture in American political history, the creation of new states in the current territory of New York demands a serious discussion.
Read more here.
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