Democracy in NY
From Mr Guy Stair Saintv Sir: While there is much truth in Mark Steyn's passionate endorsement of American democracy ('Sweet land of liberty', 18 May), its extent may be limited by the different state constitutions. Mr Steyn lives in New Hampshire, small in both area and in its population, which is relatively homogenous. I live in New York, with 18 million inhabitants spread over a vast area and huge differences in the ethnic background, wealth and educational achievements of its citizens.
The US Federal Constitution is without equal in preserving stability and guaranteeing liberty. Nonetheless, only 50 per cent of the national electorate bothers to vote, with
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much lower numbers at local elections. A survey of state constitutions demonstrates that it is protections against entrenched political interests that are most important in ensuring that minority interests are not trampled upon.
New York's constitution is very different from that of New Hampshire. The latter directly encourages the participation of a non-political class in the state legislature, while that of New York is dominated by party machines and powerful interest groups. NY State Assembly and Senate districts are manipulated to ensure that the Republicans always have a majority in the Senate, and that Democrats have an even more disproportionate majority in the Assembly. Manhattan Republicans, in particular, are under-represented in the Assembly. The Democratic leader (speaker) of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, almost completely controls the agenda, although, thanks to voter apathy. he is elected by a mere 8,000 voters from lower Manhattan (an upstate Assembly representative might get as many as 30,000 votes with 20,000 against). Voter empowerment is not entirely absent in New York State — notably in the many smalland medium-sized towns across the state — but New York's size would make a legislature on the New Hampshire model impossible.
New York democracy works strangely in other ways: it was just six years ago that New York state legislators compelled schools to teach that the Irish potato famine was an act of British-governmentinspired genocide against the Irish people. There are many other ways that powerful interests (such as animal-rights groups in the UK) are capable of manipulating the state government, with little regard to the interests of the majority of voters.
Having once had absolute faith in the ability of the British constitution to protect the people from their government. New Labour's exercise of power has convinced me of the superior merits of the written constitution. But to ensure that the liberties of the people are not overridden by powerful interest groups depends as much on the small details as on the larger principles.
Guy Stair Sainty
New York From Mr Garry Sutherland
Sir: Mark Steyn's article on the pursuit of liberty in Europe is thought-provoking and ties in with my own views. I am a Scot and I have lived and worked in central Europe for about 20 years, and have to say that I love the differing cultures of Europe. However, I see much of that being swept away by this horrendous thing called the European Union. It is probably the most undemocratic machine ever to be devised by so-called democracies; I liken it to communism under Gorbachev.
Take Germany, that well-known cradle of democratic freedom, where people are controlled from cradle to grave. Move house and you have to de-register and re-register your house, car (if you move to another town), children — in fact, just about everything. Plus, every citizen must have an ID card. They even print their addresses in their passports. And what does all this control get them? Not much, just a very expensive state machine, taxes at 50 per cent, and probably the most unfriendly, stressed-out people on the face of the planet. And these are the major movers of the European Union. God help us all!
Garry Sutherland
Frankfurt
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