With growing turmoil in the Nassau County Legislature, and the widening divide between legislators and the constituents they are elected to serve, readers of The Community Alliance blogspot ask, "Why not a puppet government in Nassau County?""Okay, so the red-faced, loud-mouthed, school yard bully is now Presiding Officer of the Nassau County Legislature. Big deal. We've gone to great lengths, and sacrificed many lives, to bring to power puppet governments around the globe. Isn't it time we had a puppet government of our own in Nassau County?"
- - Dori Pearl, East Rockaway, NY
Right you are, Dori. A puppet government of our own, right here in Nassau County, and not a single shot fired. [Unless, of course, you count that bullet right through the heart of the will of the electorate!]
From Wikipedia: A puppet government is a government that, though notionally of the same culture as the governed people, owes its existence (or other major debt) to being installed, supported or controlled by a more powerful entity, typically a foreign power. Such a government is also known as a puppet régime.
The term is partisan and prone to semantic disputes, used almost exclusively by detractors of such governments, whether or not the majority of citizens affected acknowledge the characterization, or object to that kind of government. Often a proclaimed puppet government faces a rival government which uses the puppet government term to weaken the legitimacy of that government. Also usually implied is the government's lack of legitimacy, in the view of those using the term.
For example, each of the two Korean governments has throughout its history often used the rhetoric that it is in fact the only true ruler of the peninsula, and that the other government is merely a "puppet" of the US/Soviets.
A vassal state may be instituted as the result of a military defeat when the winner does not have enough military power to fully control the defeated or enough population to colonize the new acquisitions. The tribute is a compromise for both the victor and the defeated state.
Governments which take power after foreign military intervention, or the threat thereof, are often accused by their opponents of being puppet governments, for example the government of Hamid Karzai in post-Taliban Afghanistan or the Diem government of South Vietnam, supported by the United States. Indeed, such accusations are commonly used to destabilize governments, encouraging and justifying coup d'états. Click here to read more. . .
Okay, so Peter Schmitt is a puppet of Joe Mondello, as his fellow Republican Legislators are puppets of the GOP Machine. Like wind-up soldiers, each walks lock-step behind the other, of one mind, one voice, one agenda (and it's not yours). Now, as if an updated, 3-D version of Toy Story, the puppets themselves pull the strings, moving the lips of Roger Corbin and manipulating the head of Lisanne Altmann. [And you thought they were only pulling your leg!]
So what if the budget gets short shrift when it comes to legislative review, and capital projects fall by the wayside? Will anyone really notice, particularly in Nassau County's forgotten South Shore?
So what if we return to the days when the Republicans controlled job appointments and borrowed with abandon? Are we not simply paving the way for Madam Murray to ascend to the thrown?
So, what's wrong with a puppet government, anyway? It worked for The Muppets, it can work for Nassau County!
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ON AGAIN OFF AGAIN! Click HERE for Newsday story, Control Up In Air.
Read Newsday's Joye Brown, In Nassau, No Work, All Pay
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Money Comes To Money
Our friends at Exxon-Mobil posted a 4th Quarter PROFIT of $10.7 billion in 2005. That's nearly ELEVEN BILLION DOLLARS. The highest quarterly earnings of any U.S. company in American history.
In 2005, Exxon-Mobil had record profits of $36 BILLION DOLLARS. Exxon-Mobil grows plump, while you pay more at the pump!
Can you still think of an excuse not to JOIN THE BOYCOTT OF EXXON-MOBIL?
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