Thursday, March 28, 2024
Miles from the Mainstream
D. R. ZUKERMAN, proprietor

Attention G.O.P. CEO Bill Harris

MAY 7, 2004 --

That was an exciting announcement in Manhattan, May 5th, near the spot where right turns on green are illegal- that G.O.P. convention delegates will go to Broadway shows, August 29. There was no mention of protests planned that day opposing the president and the Republicans. You mentioned that delegates will be getting discounts at a number of establishments during their New York stay. If United for Peace and Justice adds this bit of delegate favoritism to its poster protests, you might find its numbers interesting.

There was no mention if discounts will be offered at Yankee Stadium, where Cleveland will be the visiting team the last three days of the Convention, September 1 and 2.

A twenty percent discount will, however, be extended at Mickey Mantle's, the restaurant on Central Park South -- but not to plain New Yorkers.

On the other hand, imagine the support for the G.O.P. if you told the man in charge of Fine City, Finemeister Bloomberg, that savings that go to delegates should not be denied the people who live and work in the five boroughs, and get bullied by the bureaucracy just about every day.

Also, it is fair to wonder if you have been promised waivers from the parking and traffic fines that crush motorists every day, hereabouts. (It is assumed that some delegates will drive to New York City for the Republican National Convention.) If not, some delegates are likely to take home sour memories.

Here are some suggestions for delegates intended to make their visit a pleasant one, and to be free of taxes pretending to be fines.

1) Be very careful about making right turns on green. This is suggested by the right turn ban on 46th and Broadway. Who knows? This might just reflect liberal loathing for any moves to the right.

2) Never take a policeman's word that you can park in midtown. LPR did when attending the Broadway Show announcement on May 5, and received a ticket in the amount of $115 issued by an agent of the Parking Ticket-Meister Bureau.

3) If you put coins in the meter and it does not register payment, you will get a ticket if you park in this spot.

4) If a delegate goes to Central Park with a dog, do not drop the leash or you will be required to return to Manhattan for a hearing to determine how much you are to pay the city.

Be advised that this writer speaks from experience on the aforesaid matters.

G.O.P. CEO Harris, there is not the slightest doubt in this writer's mind, were President Bush to declare, accepting the nomination: "Finemeister Bloomberg, tear down those parking fine schedules," his re-election would be assured. Stay silent and we will understand that the G.O.P. has not argument with officials who send out "swarms of officials to harass the people and eat out our substance," to cite from our Declaration of Independence.

If Republican party officials do not act on advice unless received from a high-paid consultant, LPR will cheerfully accept big bucks, which, anyway, will be taken by New York City by way of all manner of creative fines. Anticipating, then, a hefty consulting payment, LPR urges the G.O.P. to act on the counsel of Federalist 57 to work for "the common good of the society" and to hold "communion of interests and sympathy of sentiments" with the people, "without which every government degenerates into tyranny." (This counsel is flouted at present by Finemeister of NYC.)

On May 5, speaking with the media near the intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenues in Manhattan, you expressed confidence in the city's security plans for the Republican National Convention. If such plans lead to an updated version of Chicago 1968, the G.O.P.'s campaign

Bill Harris.


The Boy from Oz is not one of the eight shows G.O.P. convention delegates will see August 29. LPR recommends that delegates see this terrific show on their own time.


Broadway.


Broadway Show League.


Diagrams replace words.


Some kind of protest?


plans may go awry. Security policy that aims to crack heads and intrude on citizen's lives runs counter to the sage advice in Federalist 57 and the democratic spirit that it represents. The advice of Federalist 57 offers all the guidelines the country requires for political reform. If the G.O.P. supports the counsel of Federalist 57, why not come right out and say so-- and the days from August 30 to September 2-- during the 2004 Republican National Convention -- are just the time to reaffirm confidence in the democratic spirit of Federalist 57 and, indeed, in the wisdom, generally, of the founding fathers of our government-- a government that is intended to serve the people, not lord over them.