There was a time when both major political parties had a substantial number of liberals and conservatives.

But over the course of the lifetime of everyone reading this column today, liberals have shifted to the Democrats, while conservatives have shifted to the Republicans.

That has led–within the GOP–to a philosophical shift that has been, on balance, good for the GOP and good for the country.

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The shift within the GOP isn’t the only shift.

Yet the shift within the Democrat party has been, on balance, bad for the party and the country.

How many Democrat candidates of however long ago would have been for, say, open borders or letting people play on sports teams–not to mention use locker rooms–of the opposite sex? How many would have advocated today’s soft-on-crime policies?

No party with candidates advocating such foolishness–much less having the utter disdain for America that some evince–should be surprised that support for the party’s candidates among no-nonsense, salt-of-the-earth Americans dwindles.

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Democrats’ leftward shift will be particularly bad for New York City and, by extension, all of New York.

Backers of the 2025 New York City mayoral candidates on the Republican and independent lines would have done well to unite behind a candidate who could have defeated the socialist on the Democrat line. If such an effort had been successful, it would have spared New York City from the coming socialist catastrophe.

Interviewed on the Fox News Channel on Oct. 31, the independent candidate for New York City mayor–former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo–said he’s “a moderate Democrat.”

One can agree or disagree with Cuomo on various issues, yet he’s not “a moderate Democrat.” He’s just not. He and many–if not most–people watching the interview are smart enough to know that.

They’re also smart enough to know this: It’s not that such socialism is fundamentally different from liberalism among Democrats generally. Rather, such socialism is a more intense version of such liberalism. Such socialism is ueber-liberalism. In other words, the difference between liberalism and socialism is a difference in degree, not a difference in kind.

To turn liberalism into such socialism, just add, for example, even higher taxes and even more “free” stuff to the open borders, the open sports teams, the open locker rooms, the soft-on-crime policies, and so on.

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Downstate New York realtors–both north and east of New York City–report that New York City residents are seeking to move away from the five boroughs.

No wonder.

Yet such moves aren’t just within New York. Many are planning to leave the state altogether and head for more sensible climes.

When they do, they’ll take their resources with them. That means New York’s tax base will shrink, or at best not grow as it otherwise would. That, in turn, will leave fewer, or at least not as many, people to feed the state’s voracious appetite for taxes.

Which will make matters even worse.

Which will lead to even more people leaving New York.

And please consider this: Aren’t those leaving New York disproportionately people sensible enough to vote against those who perpetrate the foolishness?

With those people gone, it will be harder to defeat at the ballot box those who continue to perpetrate the foolishness.

Down the spiral New York continues to go.

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In short, New York–from Ripley to Plattsburg and from Niagara Falls to the Hamptons–is in a hole.

Over the course of the lifetime of everyone reading this column today, liberalism from both major political parties–albeit one more than the other–has dug New York into this hole.

By electing a socialist–an ueber-liberal–as mayor, New York City residents have dug the hole even deeper than it already was.

New York residents from all across the state would do well to recall the old admonition: “When you’re in a hole, quit digging.”

It’s way, way past time for New York to quit digging.

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Randy Elf looks forward to the day when New York quits digging.

COPYRIGHT © 2025 BY RANDY ELF