Swanning about.

Milton Himmelfarb, longtime sociographer with the American Jewish Committee, famously noted, "Jews earn like Episcopalians, and vote like Puerto Ricans." It has been perplexing for many of a right-wing political bent to understand why American Jews, who generally have strong family ties and a family history of knowing what tyranny is like, would vote against the party in favor of freedom and personal responsibility so steadily. But it's not just them, not by a long shot.

I live in the lower Hudson Valley, not on the wrong side of the tracks but on the wrong side of the river. The business people and inheritors who wanted to move out of the city went straight up the Harlem Line to Westchester; our side is chock full of the city workers, cops, firemen, and so on. This county tends to be conservative.

Bernard Gilman was our Republican representative from 1972 until 2002, when the district was gerrymandered to include more of Westchester. And now it is pretty solidly Democrat. (Our current representative doesn't bother to live in this district, keeping homes in D.C. and Manhattan -- the weasel doesn't even campaign on the west bank anymore.)

One of the enduring myths in America -- and it seems to be impenetrable -- is that the wealthy vote conservative so they can grind the faces of the poor into the dirt while they count their filthy lucre. This is just wacky. These days, the wealthy give a lot more to liberal politicians and causes, and the more money they have, the more liberal they are, and the more radical the causes. This is a demonstrable fact, but it never gets through to anyone.

The denizens of Westchester, often former Manhattanites, mostly vote blue, like so much of downstate. They haven't gone for the Republican for president since 1988. 

I coined a term yesterday -- swannabes, for people who swan about places like this thinking they are rebels against the system when they are the system. The average household income is $25,000 higher on the east bank of the river. They have celebrities and helipads and an old ex-president. We have farms known for their black dirt. 

As I've said many times, and will always believe, there is no better guard against tyranny than a thriving middle class -- too poor to call the shots, too rich to be bought off by crumbs. And we live here, on the west bank. The swannabes who supported the rioters who burned black neighborhoods and businesses and looted stores and invaded and attacked police precincts and federal courthouses live on the east bank. 

Yeah, swan on, you crazy rebels.