Statement by Chairman Michael R. Long on Governor Cuomo’s shameful statement

Brooklyn, NY — Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has benefited from being born in America, unlike thousands who have emigrated to be part of our great nation, has succumbed to the depths of dark cynicism when he states that America was “never that great.”

What a shameful statement from a man who is running for his third term as Governor, while he eyes being president one day.

I, for one, prefer the vision that Ronald Reagan had of America –

“Somehow America has bred a kindliness into our people unmatched anywhere, as has been pointed out in that best-selling record by a Canadian journalist. We are not a sick society. A sick society could not produce the men that set foot on the moon, or who are now circling the earth above us in the Skylab. A sick society bereft of morality and courage did not produce the men who went through those year[s] of torture and captivity in Vietnam. Where did we find such men? They are typical of this land as the Founding Fathers were typical. We found them in our streets, in the offices, the shops and the working places of our country and on the farms.

We cannot escape our destiny, nor should we try to do so. The leadership of the free world was thrust upon us two centuries ago in that little hall of Philadelphia. In the days following World War II, when the economic strength and power of America was all that stood between the world and the return to the dark ages, Pope Pius XII said, ‘The American people have a great genius for splendid and unselfish actions. Into the hands of America God has placed the destinies of an afflicted mankind.’

We are indeed, and we are today, the last best hope of man on earth.”

America has raised the standard of living throughout the world, welcomed legal immigrants with open arms, seeks protection of the innocent among us and protects every citizens liberty.

America, made some mistakes, but unlike other nations, we acknowledge them and correct them thereby maintaining our status as the greatest nation in the world.

  america, Andrew Cuomo, michael long