Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Rob Peter – Pay Paul.

In the world of politics this has turned into the method of making a budget – at least in the state of New Jersey. Some other things which, while not typical of only NJ, is typical of the way that politics is practiced. You have three powerful figures, from the same party who sit down and discuss the “DEAL”. Now regardless of who the figures are, or what the “DEAL” is – you walk away with that dirty feeling from sitting on the subway for several hours in the darkest times of night. Granted you have the feeling of surviving the night, but it doesn't really alleviate the feeling of dirtiness that pervades you.


Now, I am one of those subway riders – I feel the filth collecting around me, not because I actually road the subway, but because the elected legislature – or should I say the Governor, the Heads of the Assembly and State Senate sat down and 'cut a DEAL'. Not really bothersome in itself except for that this is typical politics.


Here's the scenario. The democratic leadership has been winning and winning state wide for decades, but the problem is they are still getting hammered and do not control – all the vote – in the more rural areas. The Democratic machine has been able to blind the urban areas into taking and needing the dole of the government buck. Consequently, they are the proverbial fish on the line – the hook is so stuck into them that it would gut the urban areas if the state binstitutions and money were pulled from these urban areas. So, the state hook easily explains how much better life is now that the government is fixing things and taking care of them – and treating the citizen as if a nanny was taking care of them – thus the name: Nanny State.


So the government has the people in those areas so convinced that the public dole is better than standing on your two feet that they have managed to corner the vote by controlling the city areas of the state – which they have done quite well – with the help of poor republican candidates who had little or no chance of capturing the statewide position – nor of having coattails large enough to bring any conservative colleagues along to sit in the state legislature.


So the problem with the NJ State GOP is two fold. First they have to overcome numerical superiority and second they have to actually have a candidate who is worthy of the conservative title and the GOP name. Well, first off the first problem is really a misnomer. I stated that the republicans were out numbered – but not by democrats, instead they are outnumbered by INDEPENDENTS! Yes, the state of NJ is mostly INDEPENDENT!. There maybe pockets in which they do NOT dominate, but these are few and far in between. This unaffiliated independents are the swing vote that often decides an election.


So how do you get the conservatives back in power – and more importantly keep them there? Well, this is an easy answer. The answer sits with the the ancient strategist – SUN-TZU. He called for you to prey on your opponents most weakest points – and exploit their greatest weakness. In this case the greatest weakness of the democratic party is NOT corruption. This has been sold to often as a bi-partisan problem that it will not effectively sell as a good point for republican – in fact it can hurt if the democrat running points out the number of republicans who have had problems.


The achillies heel of the Democratic Party is their policies. For example:

The Democrats have to make a choice every election cycle – WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT THE FAILING SCHOOLS OF NJ? The Teachers Union pushes for more money and better working conditions for teachers – which is hogwash. It's no more the answer then is me walking about in a bikini bathing suit.


The answer is charter schools and voucher schools. Not to get too deep in to this – it's important that you understand that both of these – charter and voucher schools are schools of choice. Parents can choose to send their child there or keep them in their regular school. The Democrats don't support Charter Schools or the Voucher program because it would crush their largest constituents – the TEACHERS UNION. The Teachers Union is one of the largest lobby groups in NJ. They lobby \everywhere to get more control of money and funding into the Abbott school districts. So, it didn't stop the Democrats from increasing the amount of money that goes to school – while decreasing the amount of money that goes to the towns.


Where does this leave us – back to why the budget “DEAL” has made me feel filthy. Simply put – the reason why the Dems cut the funding for the Towns is simple. They are trying to force the towns to consolidate and turn those hard working – efficient and versatile small towns into larger unresponsive and troublesome towns that have high crime and difficult lifestyles for the individuals – forcing many middle income, middle class individuals out the door.


Come back for some more.....