Binghamton City Councils recent resolution affirming support of legal immigrants and refugees provides a teachable moment in understanding the culture of the politically correct, (PC) and how it serves to demand compliance while censoring dissent.

Caught up in the Trump era of addressing illegal aliens and not wanting to be shown up by the Ithaca City Council that recently adopted legislation affirming their status as a sanctuary city, a lone liberal Binghamton council member felt compelled to jump on the immigration bandwagon and drag Binghamton into that politically volatile bailiwick.

By putting a few dozen “fellow travelers” in the council gallery, making speeches about the history of immigration in the country, this lone, liberal voice managed to cow his fellow members into submission, for fear of violating the codes of conduct towards the PC, that being that the sentiment, the emotion, and the intent are core components of legislative resolutions, at the expense of logic, reason, and accurately measuring outcomes while holding people accountable.

Affirming that Binghamton supports legal immigrants and refugees is simply restating the obvious.  Who after all, does not support legal immigrants; it is clearly the illegal aliens that are the focus of the problem, not those here lawfully.  This is a case of hearing other voices in the wilderness and being unable to resist the temptation to say something, anything, so as not to feel left out, and just to hear the sound of their own voice.

Clearly, Binghamton leadership has much more pressing business when it comes to the actual tangible aspects of managing a city.  This senseless resolution, a total reaction to the world around us, offers a solution in search of a non-existent problem.

Unfortunately, once the proposed resolution gained traction with the media, the other six city council members, for fear of being labeled as racists, lent their support and endorsement of this silly statement when they should have counseled their junior colleague about the proper role of governance.  Isn’t crushing debt, the expense of debt service, high taxes, blighted properties, a dwindling population and the over burdened police department bigger and grander priorities than some senseless statement that affirms the obvious?

True statesmen would have had the backbone to not align themselves with this trite work of self-aggrandizement.  Furthermore, a real leader would have successfully counseled his fellow legislators towards greater goals, higher priorities and more noble endeavors that properly support those voters who elected them.

Manage a city that has little or no debt, crime under control, a bustling and thriving business climate, affordable taxes and a well-maintained infrastructure and then perhaps the more frivolous and erudite niceties like rose-colored resolutions proving to the world how enlightened city council members are might be a tolerable endeavor.