Thinking Deep with Nate McMurray

Nate McMurray has packed up his grievance and delusions and decided to run against one of the most competent technocratic politicians we have enjoyed in countywide government in WNY. Mark Poloncarz is an easy target for the anti-mask, anti-vaxx ignorance brigade, but now he is facing a challenge from young Master Nate from the nominal “left.”

Unsatisfied with having lost elections against an indictee and an insurrectionist, McMurray is going after a guy who actually managed to defeat Chris Collins.

In the coming weeks, we will parse and Fisk Nate’s online ramblings and pronouncements because it is amusing.

Here’s one to start:

This post scratches two of Nate’s itches at once – that the Bills stadium should be in downtown Buffalo, and that we need some sort of enhanced rail service to Canada. Witness,

More to the point, in order for there to be the sort of economic integration that McMurray envisions, you cannot rely simply on free trade but also on free movement of people. You would need a North American Schengen with customs and passport controls harmonized between Canadian and American authorities. (Where have I heard this before?) You would need buy-in from political leaders to assent to what would amount to a dramatic shift in what we understand to be national sovereignty, and the ability of people in Canada and the United States to live and/or work in either country without precondition, emigration, or visa.

The likelihood of this happening is zero.

So, instead, one would reckon that Canadian rail would focus on the introduction of high-speed rail along the Windsor – Quebec City corridor, to incorporate the most populated region in that country. The fact that our more European neighbor has yet to introduce such service is significant. On our side of the border, one would suppose that we might someday see a regional high speed rail system that connects to Acela at Boston and New York, using Albany as a hub. It could extend north to Montreal and west through Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, and Niagara Falls. There, one might someday connect to a Canadian high-speed rail system.

But none of this is within the purview of an Erie County Executive.

Finally, our young propagandist queries,

What I can say about Erie County since Poloncarz has been its County Executive is that the population grew for the first time in some 40 years according to the 2020 census. The job market has palpably and objectively improved, and we have a 3.2% unemployment rate, which is not at all bad, historically speaking. Roads have absolutely improved, and ECMC has definitely been improved since the times of Giambra and Collins. Ask the culturals whether their lot has improved since Giambra and Collins.

In the last several years, the housing situation has improved and childhood poverty is down. I don’t know what “we got to lose” but what we stand to lose is a competent, compassionate, and professional executive.