Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, left, with his son and now Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The GOP can learn a lot of lessons from former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, who died at 82 on January 1, 2015.
There was a time when it seemed like he was the last liberal in the nation. Cuomo had his heyday during the Reagan revolution and took a lot of heat for it. He came out right after the 84 landslide and said, “I’m a liberal and proud of it.”
This is at a time when calling yourself a liberal was political suicide. Mario Cuomo was a liberal when it was heresy to be one.
Instead of hiding behind curtains, retiring or worse — coming to the center as many in the GOP have during the Obama administration — he stood by his ideas and defended them.
He was shunned by most of the Democrat Party as a result who moved right.
In the fullness of time, there were a few that stood by him and fought the good fight, never wavering on their ideal in spite of the onslaught of GOP victories and GOP successes. Cuomo and those people were rewarded for it. He never wavered from his principles or his ideology. He never listened to the pollsters and moderated his message.
For his trouble, he was elected three times to a tenuous position as the governor of New York during the heyday of Reagan conservatism. He was finally defeated by Republican George Pataki in the face of economic distress in 1994.
However, it should be noted he was defeated only after seeing a resurgence of liberalism and the rise of Bill Clinton, despite the DNC’s desire to see him run instead.
No longer a pariah in the nation, he retired to see many of the reforms he wanted become law.
Should this sound like a liberal love story, it’s not. It’s a message to the GOP that leaders like Cuomo are rare today — men of principle and ideology before all else. It’s not something politicians like to mention today, but strict ideologists often make the best governors and presidents because of their strength of character, not their willingness to appeal to the masses or compromise in the face of an angry mob.
If only more Republicans would stand by conservatism, the same thing would happen.
It’s not like it hasn’t happened before — and hopefully another Reagan revolution will happen again and soon.
Thomas Purcell is nationally syndicated columnist, author of the book “Shotgun Republic” and is host of the Liberty Never Sleeps podcast. More of his work can be found at LibertyNeverSleeps.com.
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Nellie / January 3, 2015
It’s no surprise that Cuomo is being idolized by the media. But the reality is that he was a hard core liberal politician who was wrong on so many levels. I recall Cuomo attacking Reagan and his policies back in 1984. That decade would go on to be one of the best America has ever seen.
Like most liberals, Cuomo believed that welfare, unemployment and other government handouts are a life style. Most reasonable people know that these programs are safety nets and should be a bridge from a tough, short term situation to a better life and prosperity. What a shame!
This has now attracted many more illegals, who are ready for the free education, free health care and other handouts.
Everything democrats touch becomes unaffordable. My health insurance is $450/month, my taxes are closing in on 50% (in NYC), and even my subway pass is now over $100/month (in NYC). Stuff that is still private enterprise is super cheap. Car insurance ($25/month from Insurance Panda), cell phone ($22/month from T Mobile), and gym ($15/month from Planet Fitness).
The Democratic Party = lying, cover-up scheming, socialists. It does not matter who you vote for as long as it is not a Democrat. All Democrats need to lose their jobs and positions. They are ruining America.
With that being said, Mario Cuomo was a pretty clean guy in a very dirty business. Although I didn’t agree with your policies you seemed like a pretty good guy. Rest in peace.
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