Superbly expressed. It's likewise in the West, a region once characterized by rugged independence and frontier spirit. Like the religious worldview that it is, liberalism ineluctably draws its adherents back to the Mecca of dependency.
Many New Yorkers view the Upper West (Jewish) and East (WASP) sides as "the problem" - to put it mildly.
“...upper West and East Sides as the problem...”
Very interesting!!! My daughter (24) just got a studio in the 80’s (East Side) and she is Irish Catholic - however I see your point.
She has a work ethic!! Why do the socialists reward slackers? Not too long ago the Irish were told not to apply for work and instead of whining as victims for generations, they worked instead, anyway.
I’ve always thought that Upper West Siders, many of whom are the successful second, third or fourth generation of Lower East Side immigrants from Eastern Europe, had a sort of romantic fondness for socialism because of all of their grandparents who had come out of European Jewish Socialist movements, sat around reading the Forward, etc. This didn’t prevent either the immigrants or their descendants from advancing rapidly up the rungs of capitalism, but it did leave them with a romantic dream of Socialism as a tribute to their romanticized past. Even Zionism was originally a very left-wing movement that came out of that past.
Of course, since the educational and union establishments in NYC also came out of that milieu as the children of the immigrants moved into teaching and civil service positions, these ideas became enshrined in the bureaucracy they built, and with the right (or wrong!) encouragement, could take on a life of their own, as they have done now.
As for the Upper East Side, those people always make me think of the sort of Margaret Sanger, thin-lipped liberal Protestant reformer types who really saw “social reform” as a way of controlling the despicable hordes. Despite his family background, Bloomberg was more of an Upper East Sider in his thoughts, not so much a Socialist as a sort of a local one-man Ford Foundation with the power of the government behind him.
Unfortunately, the current situation represents a disastrous confluence between the UWS and the UES.