Several weeks ago I read the New York Times article “And Who
Speaks For Teddy?” In this article they
discussed New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to ban the horse and
carriages in Central Park. Paragraph after
paragraph painfully details the battle over animal cruelty, verses the
importance of these horse and carriages to the city and tourists alike.
De Blasio came into office as a true progressive, someone
who would finally get progressivism right in New York. His first order of
business was to “save the horses,” seemingly a noble cause for liberal PETA and
alike. There is a group in New York, NYCLASS
that focuses on just that: getting rid of the horse and carriage rides, citing
animal cruelty, which no one can seem to substantiate. Veterinarian after veterinarian has visited
the horses and their stables, and has substantiated they are healthy, happy,
and are treated well. No credentialed
professional has been able to confirm PETA’s claim that these animals are
abused in some way.
What would Teddy the horse say? If Teddy could speak, he
would say that de Blasio’s move is one of the most ironic in political history
for someone claiming to be progressive.
The irony of ironies is that by getting rid of the horses in Central
Park, he directly steps on the backs of the middle class workers to give
political payback and financial reward to the real estate developer, Steve
Nislick of Edison Properties. Nislick
supported de Blasio’s campaign, and ironically heads NYCLASS as reported by foxnews.com.
Is this what the new progressivism has come to? Hurt the middle class, ban their businesses,
and benefit the 1%, while using animal rights as a red cape to distract the
masses? Chuck Schumer (S-NY) lives in
Brooklyn according to his website, which claims he is fighting for the middle
class daily. Where is he on this
issue? Does he support all of these
middle class workers losing their livelihoods so that a wealthy developer can
get wealthier?
When something doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense, I always
“follow the money.” This issue isn’t
about the horses, or animal cruelty. It’s
about the valuable real estate the stables sit on, it’s about the rich getting
richer while putting the little guy out of business, and it’s about a political
payback de Blasio has to fulfill. It’s
about everything but the workers and protecting middle class jobs. It’s about politics, it’s about money, but it’s
certainly not about the horses.
For more information and to help the owners of the horse and
carriages please visit http://www.savenychorsecarriages.com.
You can also follow them on Twitter at @NYChorses
and did you see the arial photo of the so-called protest? there were literally a handful (2 handfuls) of people there to "save the horses!" what a joke. I think you are spot on!
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