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Mario Cuomo on Principles & Values
Former Democratic Governor of New York
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Endorsed by Rudy Giuliani across party lines
On October 24, 1994, Mayor Giuliani stunned and infuriated his fellow Republicans by endorsing the incumbent governor of New York, Mario Cuomo, a
Democrat, who was seeking an unprecedented fourth term, instead of his own party's candidate, a relatively unknown but highly competent Westchester County state senator name George Pataki.
Source: Giuliani: Flawed or Flawless, by D. & G. Strober, p.162
, Jan 16, 2007
Laissez-faire replaced by pooled common resources
The soul of America has developed in two phases: the first, 150 years during which our staunch individualism was reflected in our laissez-faire government, and the second, the last six decades during which we created a modern America by learning to use
our common resources more intelligently. With what seems a sudden spasm, America has been shoved onto a new political course that heads us backward toward our nation’s first century. In the 1990s, we’ve watched a new syndrome develop: an economy that
is very good for investors but punishing to our workers with moderate or low skills.In our second century as a nation, we began to pool our resources, through government, to cushion ourselves against the unavoidable perils of the free market.
We improved our living standards and working conditions, provided services that benefit and strengthen us, and protected and nurtured our most vulnerable members. In doing so, we amplified our potential for greatness.
Source: Reason to Believe, by Mario Cuomo, p. 7-8 & 17
, Jul 2, 1995
GOP Contract With America philosophizes a “New Harshness”
The Contract With America espouses a new political philosophy that ignores many of the nation’s real needs and real potential, makes negativism an operating principle, and celebrates punishment as the instrument for restoring civility. This New Harshness
is a philosophy that takes pleasure in “tough-minded” phrases like “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”-and can even justify a certain hard-nosed pride in proposing no lunch at all for some people.Republicans claim that the social safety net
woven during the New Deal and the Great Society has become a “hammock”-fostering the image of lazy poor folk lolling about while the rest of America sweats.
[My main criticism] of the Contract is: it demands no more of our political leaders than that
they set sail in whatever direction the political winds seem to be blowing. The Contract essentially abdicates any responsibility for genuine political foresight, offering us instead the top ten popular complaints and top ten appealing home remedies.
Source: Reason to Believe, by Mario Cuomo, p. 9-10 & 39
, Jul 2, 1995
Underlying principle: We’re all in this together
To deal effectively with our problems we must understand, accept, and apply one fundamental, indispensable proposition. It is the ancient truth that drove primitive people together to ward off their enemies and wild beasts, to find food and shelter,
to raise their children in safety, and eventually to raise up a civilization. Now, in this ever more complex world, we need to accept and apply this basic truth: that we’re all in this together, like a family, interconnected and interdependent, and that
we cannot afford to revert to a world of “us against them.” It is the one great idea that is indispensable to realizing our full potential as a people. It is also the ancient wisdom. The Hebrew sages told the Jews that their role in life is to repair
the entire universe: tikkun olam. Christians are taught that their task is to complete God’s work in the world, that we are all, no matter how small, “collaborators in creation.”
Source: Reason to Believe, by Mario Cuomo, p. 11-12 & 81
, Jul 2, 1995
Page last updated: Apr 27, 2013
