Op-Ed: So, What Are You Going to Do About It?

The rules only matter if you're not wealthy or well-connected. Then, they're strictly enforced to create anger and resentment with people different than you.

I'm having a little trouble right now. You see, many people in Southern Orange County want accountability from their elected officials and other government employees. But they only want accountability for the ones they don't like. So, for example, I think it's near-unanimous that every Town of Blooming Grove resident (including its villages) wants Joel Stern to be held accountable for his repeated criminal actions. However, some don't want that same accountability for the President of the United States, Donald Trump.

The thing is, there's little difference between Joel Stern and Donald Trump. It's just a matter of scale. Otherwise? They're guilty of doing the same thing. Specifically, they're both guilty of using the government to enrich themselves and their friends at your expense.

So, and I can only speak for myself here, I have a tough time taking seriously anyone demanding accountability from people like Joel Stern, Tony Cardone, Kathryn Luciani, and Steve Neuhaus while also giving Trump a pass. You have no ground to stand on. Either you want to solve this problem, or you don't. And if you don't, that's fine, but if you don't, it's time for you to shut up and step aside. The people who want to take their government back from the Plutocrats need to get to work. And you're standing in our way.

If you doubt this or think there is a difference between Joel Stern and Donald Trump, I'll remind you of the presence of multiple tech company CEOs on stage at Trump's inauguration this week. Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Google's Sundar Pichai, TikTok's Shou Zi Chew, Apple's Tim Cook, and Tesla’s Elon Musk. I'll also remind you that "Big Tech" — remember how Conservatives were all cranked up about "Big Tech"? — Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Uber, Intuit, and Meta — among others all donated millions to Trump's inauguration fund. And if that's not enough, here's something that'll remind you specifically of South Blooming Grove: Elon Musk, Trump's largest donor, is currently setting up his DOGE office inside the White House. This is similar to how Village of South Blooming Grove Planner Tom Shepstone was photographed working out of Mr. Stern's United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove headquarters. Do you mean to tell me these two situations are that different?

This is reality. Not Mark Zuckerberg, Vladimir Putin, and Elon Musk's social media fantasy world. You can try to both sides that — many have — and you’re right. The Democrats do suck. Yes. They do. But two wrongs don't make a right either. If you want Mr. Joel Stern to be held accountable for his actions, then you want all elected officials and government employees held accountable for their actions too. You also, just while we're talking about holding our elected officials accountable, don't want to vote for any more convicted felons — just like Trump — to office. This includes Tim Mitts, who is running to be the next Town of Monroe Supervisor. Or Town Board member. It’s hard to tell what Mr. Mitts wants within his poorly thought-out grammatical holocausts. This also includes people who could be convicted felons if not for the intervention of soft-on-crime district attorneys like David M. Hoovler. (That would be Mr. Brandon Calore, who wants to be your next Village of Woodbury Mayor. Take a look at his human resources file from the Town of Cornwall and then tell me that man is qualified to be mayor, let alone a Town Board member in Woodbury.)

It's rare to encounter something so black and white in life, but this is one of those times: Every elected official and government employee must be held to the same rules. The second you start carving out exceptions and loopholes, you get the world we inhabit right now—a plutocracy where the wealthy make all of the decisions while everything around them burns.

How's that world been working out for you? Have we fixed grocery and gas prices yet? No? Well, I can tell you one thing Trump did this week: He made your healthcare more expensive. That’ll show those Democrats and their good economic policies they did an awful job of explaining. Right? We sure showed them.

The only noticeable difference between Mr. Trump and Mr. Stern is that Joel Stern is a member of the Satmar religious community. So I guess more than a few people let their near-half-century-old prejudices allow them to demand accountability for Stern but not Trump. So, let's talk about my Haredi brothers and sisters for a moment because I am always getting messages from people who complain about them. "They don't follow the rules." "They're all on Welfare." On and on and on. And I get this complaint to a minor extent. You're right. The game is rigged. But it's rigged to a greater dimension than what the Haredi do or don't do. What trans kids do or don't do. What people here "illegally" do or don't do. All tiny fragments of the American population by the way.

America isn't a meritocracy where you work hard and get rewarded. It's not a country where everyone plays by the same rules. The rules only matter if you're not wealthy or well-connected. Then, they're strictly enforced in such a way as to create anger and resentment with people different than you.

As Dr. Martin Luther King said, "This country has socialism for the rich, and rugged individualism for the poor." That's what you're really complaining about. Like George Carlin once said, and I've been echoing this since 2012: America is a big club, and you and I aren't in it. And if you're mad at the Haredi, I have one question: What you're complaining about in Southern Orange County and Rockland County dates back to the early 1970s. They date back to the 1950s in Brooklyn. You mean to tell me, in all that time, you haven't organized and formed a regional political counterweight that can get out the vote just as well as our Hardei brothers and sisters can? Because if you did, I promise you, things would change around here so fast your head would spin. Mr. Stern's Clovewood project? If such a group existed, it wouldn't have stood a chance in hell with the DEC. That is on all of us.

So it's not the Haredi you should be angry with. That's a distraction. One that's worked out very well for empowering the members of the Big Club. It's New York State you should be angry with. It's New York State Democrats like James G. Skoufis. It's the New York State Republicans like Steve Neuhaus. It's Joe Biden. It's Donald Trump. It's the elected officials and government employees facing no accountability at all.

We can have Medicare for All. Or Medicare for All who Want it. Whatever way you want to do that program is fine. Either way, there's plenty of money to pay for such a program. But we let the wealthy and the corporations hide their money in Panama instead. (You'll note that President Trump has said nothing about repatriating all that money in tax shelters down there. But he sure has much to say about a canal we haven’t owned in decades.)

So what do we get instead? We get stuck in this abusive, cruel, and unfair system that exists today. And instead of getting together and saying, "Hey. Let's have Medicare for All", you have people pissing and moaning about special treatment for the Haredi. Because if you're too busy fighting with each other, you're not paying any attention to the people who are screwing you. You might also be so busy fighting with each other, that you'll easily swallow the heaping dose of bullshit you get fed every day on social media.

These are all solvable problems. But my trouble is, you have to want to solve them. Over the last few weeks, I’ve gotten the impression that many people don't.

This is all to say: We can fix this. We can burn this entire system to the ground and build a more fair, just, and equitable one that works for everyone. But that process starts by not electing any more convicts like Tim Mitts. That process starts by not electing any more gaslighting narcissists like Tony Cardone, Kathryn Luciani, and Steve Neuhaus. And that process starts by agreeing to hold everyone to the same rules, even if that elected official is someone you like.