In New Hampshire, the slogan is “Live Free or Die.”
In Bill de Blasio’s New York, it’s “Look what you put in your toilet!”
What happens when the two meet? We’ll find out this weekend when Mayor de Blasio brings his big-city liberalism–and potential 2020 POTUS plans — to the Granite State. The NYC mayor is slated to visit Manchester and Claremont, N.H.
Mayor de Blasio represents the sort of unapologetic Democratic Socialism that has inspired so many supporters of his fellow New Yorker, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and worries so many members of the Democratic establishment concerned that the party is pushing too far Left. Not only does De Blasio embrace the “war on the rich” economic populism of Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, but he also advocates the lifestyle regulation of his predecessor, liberal mayor — and notorious Nanny Stater –Michael Bloomberg.
For example, on Tuesday de Blasio’s office tweeted out bathroom guidance for residents of the Big Apple. From the NYPost:
“Mayor Bill de Blasio has taken the concept of a Nanny State to a whole new level — instructing New Yorkers about what they can and cannot flush down their toilets.”
The day before, De Blasio announced that all New York City public schools will have “Meatless Mondays” beginning next year as part of the city’s fight against climate change. He’s a big supporter of banning Big Gulps (large, sugary drinks) and also wants a total ban on plastic straws as well.
So how do “Live Free or Die” Democrats feel about a “My Way or the Highway” progressive like de Blasio? There’s no polling available, but Democrats in the Granite State legislature are already proposing de Blasio-style regulations. They have already proposed bans on straws and plastic shopping bags, and last year Democrats pushed a ban on sodas in kids’ meals at restaurants.
Local Democrats are joining in the Nanny State efforts. Several towns, for example, have raised the legal smoking age to 21, and at least two communities have replaced the un-p.c. Columbus Day holiday with Indigenous People’s Day— another progressive caused state Democrats have pushed in the state legislature. Interestingly, de Blasio has yet to go that far perhaps because there are more Americans of Italian descent in a single borough of New York City than the entire state of New Hampshire.
The conventional wisdom this week out of Washington, DC is that Democrats are embracing the “quiet middle.” Bill de Blasio hasn’t gotten that memo. Neither have Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren or Kamala Harris.
