There’s a term that originated in the 19th century to describe the practice of imperialist countries using their vastly superior naval power to intimidate or threaten a less powerful rival country to accept the stronger aggressor’s terms.

It’s called ‘gunboat diplomacy.’

If you substitute New York state for the imperial aggressor and local governments for the less powerful rival, and if you replace the threat of cannon fire with the threat of crippling a local government’s financial security, you have the standoff recently faced by the city of Schenectady over a disagreement with the state over the adequacy of its........

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