The New York Assembly recently reconvened to begin the 2021 legislative session. While the halls of the Capitol were dramatically different due to COVID restrictions, we begin our work with a sense of optimism and purpose. After a great deal of tumult in 2020, here in New York we must set an example for the rest of the nation by coming together and working cooperatively to address our many obstacles. There is much work to be done.

 As the state continues to grapple with the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Assembly Minority Conference has a number of priorities we hope to see addressed in the coming months. We are calling for immediate action to protect taxpayers, stimulate recovery, and assist small-business owners who are facing extreme challenges related to the inability to conduct business normally due to state-imposed restrictions.

New Yorkers are facing ongoing difficulties as a surge in COVID threatens additional lockdowns, and financial uncertainty continues to plague the state and nation. Now, more than ever, we must ensure each dollar spent is allocated efficiently and, in a manner consistent with the massive economic recovery we are facing. Taxpayers are under mounting financial pressures, and we cannot afford to pass our budgetary shortfalls onto them. With a years-long recovery in store, we must do everything in our power to ensure residents and business owners are provided with the support they need now and in the future.

Other legislative priorities on our agenda include returning the legislature to a co-equal branch of government; cleaning up wasteful spending in Albany; strengthening the state’s fiscal resilience ahead of future crises; and addressing ancillary problems exacerbated by the pandemic, like the spike in violent crimes we have seen in communities across the state, as well as New York’s worsening affordability and out-migration crisis.

While the toll of the coronavirus has been substantial, the ripple effect it has created has also proved extremely challenging. We entered 2021 with a broad, complex set of problems, and it’s going to take a lot of planning, work, and collaboration to deal with these many issues. I am certain our conference is up to the task, and I am eager to overcome these issues alongside them and all my colleagues in the legislature.        

William (Will) A. Barclay, Republican, is the New York Assembly Minority Leader and represents the 120th New York Assembly District, which encompasses most of Oswego County, including the cities of Oswego and Fulton, as well as the town of Lysander in Onondaga County and town of Ellisburg in Jefferson County. Contact Barclay at barclaw@assembly.state.ny.us. 

President-elect Joe Biden will take office vowing to bridge partisan differences and unite Americans. It will not be easy. 

Biden will have to work with a Congress that is deeply divided, reflecting divisions among the American people that have grown stronger and more intense. 

Beginning in the 1990s, we entered a period of protracted polarization. Political groups became more active, more aggressive in their public dialogue, and more insistent in their policy preferences. Republicans are more consistently conservative; Democrats are more consistently liberal. Republicans accuse Democrats of being socialists and unpatriotic. Democrats accuse Republicans of being bigoted and chauvinistic. 

Increasingly, each side tends to be suspicious of the other. They view their political adversaries as not just wrong, but as a threat to democracy or national security. They have sharply opposing views on the economy, climate change, racial justice, law enforcement, and even whether the COVID-19 pandemic is real and serious. 

Sometimes I think that Democrats and Republicans live in different worlds. They gravitate toward separate houses of worship, schools, neighborhoods, bars and restaurants, and vacation destinations. They consume different news media and watch different movies and television shows. They even purchase different food at the supermarket. They are less likely to have friends from the opposite party. I run across Democrats who do not want their children to marry a Republican, and vice versa. 

Republicans are more likely to live in rural areas than Democrats. We find that Democrats are geographically more mobile and more likely to live in cities and suburbs. Republicans embrace traditional values and tend to identify their political views with Christianity. Democrats are often more socially liberal and less tied to traditional social values and religion. 

These trends were noticeable during the presidency of Barack Obama, when the country seemed to move left on issues like abortion, same-sex marriage, and addressing inequality. Donald Trump’s election reflected a reaction: Republicans became more conservative in some ways but also more willing to use government power to implement their policy preferences — a change from the past. 

All of this, of course, makes the life of a politician challenging. The greater the polarization, the tougher it is to build consensus to solve problems. 

However, the public clearly wants politicians to work together, to move beyond polarization, to cooperate and get things done. Surveys find that most voters want government to address the needs of all Americans, not just people like themselves. When officials say they are taking a bipartisan approach, the claim typically meets with approval.

Biden campaigned with a promise to “restore the soul of America.” He identifies himself as a moderate and seeks to govern from what he defines as the political center. For the most part, his cabinet choices tend to represent the moderate strain of the Democratic Party. 

He has spent a lifetime in government, and he believes he can work across the aisle and advance bipartisanship and cooperation. He has some advantages in following Trump, who did not try to win over public opinion but catered to his political base. 

Biden, of course, will not be able to do this on his own. He will need cooperation, from Republicans and from Democrats. Many people wish him well, but others will oppose his every move and try to defeat his program. That is the way it is in our politics, a system that presents its challenges, but over the years has served us reasonably well. 

The big challenge is, always, to make it all work.        

Lee Hamilton, 89, is a senior advisor for the Indiana University (IU) Center on Representative Government, distinguished scholar at IU Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, and professor of practice at the IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Hamilton, a Democrat, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years (1965-1999), representing a district in south central Indiana.