It wasn’t Ted Cruz who said, “Who needs Manhattan when we can get the electoral votes of eleven Southern states?”; Kevin Phillips a Richard Nixon’s campaign strategist said it. Ted Cruz is just the latest politician to complain about New York values not being his. They are right, New York values of hard work (working multiple jobs even), tolerance, and sense of community; are not the values of the political elite.

The political/ruling class is all about getting in power, keeping power, using power in order to allow themselves and their friends have a false sense of being important and meaningful. It is about dividing people so that those not in power will not work together to threaten the ruling class. Whereas New York, or at least the Bronx values that I see everyday all around me, are all about hard work for a better life for their families and community.

My experience in the Bronx is that I see people working multiple jobs to support their extended families. Plenty of people work at building community support through NGOs and churches. People of many cultures and religions live together, they buy and sell to each other. For instance BOLD (Bronx Oncology Living Daily) helps get former patients and other volunteers to give support and assistance to cancer patients. Another example, New York Cares which supports many volunteer programs from elderly to environmental, all over New York. Of course these values aren’t limited to New York, they are everyday American values.

The real New York, indeed American, values can best be summed up with:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

So thank you Ted Cruz for reminding us that the political elite do not share our values. Let we the people seek out the rare politician who really does share our New York values.