Can New York avoid catching Washington’s cold?

The summer months tend to make all of us very lazy. Our minds wander, avoiding any kind of deep thinking. We focus on the hot weather, planned vacations, cookouts, sports and dozens of other mindless things. But whether we like it or not, the world around us continues to change, and we can’t ignore those changes.

Let’s start with Washington, D.C. After months of trauma and unnecessary hits to the economy, Congress finally managed to agree on compromise legislation that would avoid a government default. Over the past 50 years, raising the debt limit was never a big deal. With the exception of the 1995 shutdown of the government, a vote to raise the debt limit was almost automatic.

Once upon a time, if you were the speaker of the House of Representatives, you were the boss in your house. Today that’s no longer the case. Speaker John Boehner rules at the whim of a minority of his members, and they are not reluctant to rebuke him. The current speaker represents two-thirds of his members, and the majority leader, Eric Cantor, represents the dissenting third.

The chaos over extending the debt limit has a lot to do with the state of the nation. There are a lot of angry people out there who are willing to vote for candidates who have no government experience and are willing to take down the ship with all of the crew on board. Today’s so-called Tea Party Congress members are reminiscent of the Japanese kamikaze pilots of World War II who willingly crashed their planes into ships.

In 2010, unhappy voters flocked to the polls and gave their votes to whichever candidates appeared to be the angriest. The Tea Party took advantage of distressed voters and was able to unite under their banner with the support of big corporate donors. If the moderate elements of the country don’t get their act together in 2012, this year’s Congress will look like pacifists compared to the next Congress.

There can’t be much happiness in the White House, where things couldn’t be worse. President Obama inherited two wars and a poor economy, and he can’t move his agenda forward without a strong Congress behind him. With a shaky Democratic Senate and Republican leaders anxious to destroy him, governing isn’t any fun these days.

What should be scary to the average voter is the field of presidential candidates that has emerged in the Republican Party. While Mitt Romney could be a good challenger to Obama, the right wing of the party leans toward people like Michele Bachmann and still listens attentively to Sarah Palin’s occasional outbursts. To win the next election for the White House, Republicans need a smart, trustworthy and competent candidate, and at this moment there’s no one on the horizon.

Back here in New York state, things look a little better, but not much. The debt limit compromise requires deep cuts in programs and government spending, and those cuts won’t take place on Mars or Neptune. They will hit especially hard in New York, which relies on the federal government for at least 10 percent of its annual spending. Former Gov. David Paterson survived in office using all available federal dollars. There will be none for Governor Cuomo.

Somehow, whether you live in Buffalo or Levittown, you rarely connect the doings in Washington with life back here in New York. But the chaos in the nation’s capital and the shifting political tides can’t be ignored. You can go back to talking about your vacation plans or your golf score, but there’s no way to avoid that old adage that when Washington sneezes, New York catches a very bad cold.

Jerry Kremer was a state assemblyman for 23 years, and chaired the Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee for 12 years. He now heads Empire Government Strategies, a business development and legislative strategy firm. Comments about this column? JKremer@liherald.com.