Dear Editor:
Recently Steve Nicolai, in a letter to this page titled “nothing is really ‘free,’” dismissed my idea to improve the quality of life of Hoboken residents with free ferry service as an example of the “utter naivete of the socialist, nanny-state.” Though Mr. Nicolai’s letter was laced with ad-hominem attacks questioning my sanity—the kind of sneering, Rush Limbaugh-esqe sarcasm that has poisoned America’s democratic discourse for too long—in my response here I’ll try my best to elevate the tone of the dialogue.
My first point: According to Steve’s logic, Staten Island must be a socialist country. That’s right. Staten Island has those big, beautiful orange boats—which hold lots more people than the tiny, over-priced New York Waterway fleet—and that are, amazingly after all these years, still free to ride. Once, when they tried to impose something like a minimal 50 cent fare, those radical New York “socialists” rose up in protest to defeat the measure resoundingly.
But let’s back up first and examine this phrase “nanny state,” which has become a semantic bulls-eye for Right-wing extremist rage, and explain how wrongheaded and unethical this is. What nanny state really means is a society that has the courage and compassion to provide for its most vulnerable members: in other words old, sick, young, and poor people. Hence the word nanny (which Hoboken has lots of), women who do the heroic and difficult work of caring for the tiny tots of other people. Semantically, the phrase “nanny state,” when deployed as a distorted Right-wing attack on a society with the courage to be caring—i.e., Canada, most of Europe—is designed to demean the nurturing work of mothering, in addition to its veiled racist implications, considering the high percentage of nannies who happen to be women of color.
Remember Ronald Reagan, the great cowboy enemy of the nanny state? He campaigned against Medicaid by equating it to socialism, then rode into the White House on a patently racist “southern strategy”: denouncing “caddilac riding welfare queens.” Reagan’s goal was to dismantle the Great Nanny State erected, and maintained, by every American president from FDR to Nixon.
Now, back to free ferries for Hoboken. I’m still waiting to hear from Steven’s Tech, who I challenged on this page to lead the nation by creating technology to produce a fleet of green, sustainable ferries that utilize solar and wind power. The savings on fuel, and positive environmental impact, would more than justify a govt. subsidy for free or, at the very least, very low cost ferries for Hoboken. But where will the money come from? Steve asks, in his letter attacking my plan. A tiny percent of the trillions just spent to bail out the banks would’ve done the trick.
To dialogue about these and other cultural and political topics, all are welcome (Steve too) to my Public Voice Salon, which is now a brand new TV show on Public Access cable. I can be reached at jfbredin@hotmail.com.
John Bredin