York politics can only be understood byngrasping its powerful ethno-religious dimension.nWhen centrist Irish CatholicnPat Moynihan first ran for U.S. Senate,nhe only defeated the popular and pugnaciousnleft-wing Jewish CongresswomannBella Abzug by a tiny margin in thenDemocratic primary. Bella, however,nwould have been smashed by the farnmore conservative WSP, Irish, and Italiannvoters in the general election. Butnonce having squeaked through the primary,nthe election became an inevitablenromp for Moynihan. And, since then,nthe advantage of incumbency has meantnthat Moynihan has become invincible,nfacing no primary opposition and virtuallynno opposition from the Republicansnin general elections.nThis year’s senatorial race is harder tonfigure. Senator Al D’Amato has the requisitenabrasive style, but various ethicalnpeccadilloes have made him vulnerable.nOriginally, four candidates were battlingnit out for the Democratic spot. One,nunknown in the city but commandingncentrist support “upstate” (anywherenoutside of New York City), was Long IslandnRepresentative Bob Mrazek. Itnturned out, however, that Mrazek wasnone of the worst check-bouncing offendersnin the House (he was immediatelyndubbed “The Bouncing Czech” innthe tabloids), and he was obliged to dropnout of the race and even out of any racenfor his old House seat. This left threenideologically indistinguishable left-liberals:nAttorney General Bob Abrams,nCity Controller Liz Holtzman, and thenlegendary Ceraldine Ferraro, trying for ancomeback. The powerful feminist vote,ntorn at first between the two ladies, atnlast reacted agaiiist the tough, gloweringn(dare I say “mannish”?) style of ex-nCongresswoman Holtzman, and in favornof the warm, feminine style ofnFerraro, a choice the feminists rationalizednas honoring the pioneer femalenvice-presidential candidate. At this writing,nit looks like either Abrams or Ferraronin the primary, with the Novembernelection too close to call.nSo, because of Brown’s gaffe. NewnYork did not succeed in putting awaynSlick Willie, but it did manage to crushnBrown, and perhaps to wound Clintonnpermanently for November. The totalnDemocratic primary vote was down by anfull 38 percent from four years ago, anclear indication that Clinton’s nominationnmay not be worth much more thannMondale’s or Dukakis’s come Novem­n42/CHRONICLESnber. All in all, a pretty fair piece of worknfor two weeks in the Big Apple.nMurray N. Rothbard is a professor ofneconomics at the University of Nevada,nLas Vegas, and vice-president fornacademic affairs at the Ludwig vonnMises Institute.nLetter From thenLower Rightnby John Shelton ReednThe Texas Wild CardnOne evening last winter my buddy Eugenenand I were shooting the breezenwhile we sort of half-watched the new,ncitified Hee Haw (it’s not the sort ofnshow you want to watch alone, and mynwife, a nose-breather, won’t watch itnwith me). Eugene had just finishedntelling the one about the difference betweennFidel Castro and a jockstrap (younreally don’t want to know) when he volunteerednthat if he lived in Michigan ornsomeplace he might vote for DavidnDuke. I asked him what Michigan hadnto do with it. (I don’t always follow hisnthought processes.)n”I wouldn’t want to make North Carolinanlook bad.”nThat made sense, in a way. But Eugenenis a patriot who hasn’t forgottennWorld War II, so I asked him why he’dneven consider voting for the boy Nazi—neven if he lived in a state he wouldn’tnmind embarrassing.n”Well, I probably wouldn’t do it. Butnwho do you have to vote for to put a stopnto this stuff?”nOf course, I knew what “stuff” henmeant. The President we voted fornraised our taxes, after saying he wouldn’t.nHe signed something that can be distinguishednfrom a quota bill only by theneye of Faith. His Justice Departmentnhas been trying to reinstate Plessy v. Fergusonnin Alabama higher education, andnit’s using what Eugene calls the “VotenRight Act” (as in, vote right or we’llnchange the rules) to create Bantustanncongressional districts in North Carolina.nOur sickly industries face more regulationnnow than Jimmy Carter everndreamed of, and now we’re looking at annnme-too health-care proposal that threatensnto combine National Health efficiencynand fee-for-service prices. Evennin foreign affairs, where the President isnsupposed to know what he’s doing, hensucked up to the dictator of CommunistnRussia a lot longer than he had to,nand he arranged the demise of a fewnhundred thousand Iraqis, none of themnnamed Saddam Hussein. Now he’s putna smarmy junk bond king on his campaignnfinance committee, which confirmsneveryone’s worst suspicions aboutnRepublicans.nThat’s just for starters, and withoutneven going into what he hasn’t done.nSo, yeah, I knew what Eugene meant.nYou could say that George Bush hasnbeen a disappointment. “But give himncredit,” I said. “It looks like we’re finallyngoing to get an Elvis postage stamp.”nEugene nodded. “There is that.” “Besides,”nI asked, “who else are you goingnto vote for? Bill Clinton? The guynwhose wife dissed Tammy Wynette?”n”Naw,” said Eugene, “he ain’t nothingnbut Jim Hunt with a sex drive.” (I guessnyou have to know our former governor,nbut maybe you can work backwards.)nWe were sitting there feeling prettynblue about all this, when some oldnweepy country song came on the TV tonremind us that there are worse things innlife than politics gone bad.nHow small of all that humannhearts endurenThat part that kings or laws canncause or cure.nSam Johnson’s words, but a pure countrynmusic sentiment.nStill, I wasn’t surprised when I ran intonEugene a few months later and foundnhim sporting a Ross Perot button.n”What do you know about Perot,” Inasked him. “Not a damn thing,” he said.n”That’s the beauty part of it.”nWell, that appeal won’t last. By thentime you read this we should all know anlot more about Mr. Perot. He couldnhave decided not to run after all, or hencould be becalmed in the single digitsnwhere most independent candidatesnwind up; as I write, though, the pollsnshow this political cipher, basically an”none of the above” candidate, givingnClinton a run for second place nationally,nand leading both Clinton and Bushnin Texas. This could be even more entertainingnthan Hee Haw.nOne thing that’s already fun is watch-n