The Balkanization of New Jersey

For years, the eastern districts on New Jersey’s electoral map snaked around in a ridiculous configuration, with sections completely divorced from the main body of the snake.  The districts east of the New Jersey Turnpike and north of the Raritan River are basically Democrat.  So why all the crazy contortions?  How many Democrats does a state need?

If you’re the Democrat Party, as many as you can pencil in, artificially or otherwise.  The more districts the Democrats can claim, the merrier for them.  While the Republicans have a fairly good hold of vast swaths of the northwest and southern sections of the state, the masses of Democrat voters live – with the exception of Trenton and Camden, in the northeastern cities.  Divide and conquer.

Still, the most recent redistricting has put my town in the much safer hands of Rodney Frelinghuysen.  The 8^th District has been reshaped, pitting Steven Rothman and Bill Pascrell against one another, with no visible Republican choice candidate in sight.  Gee, where is GOP Strong in that district?  Where’s their candidate?

Frelinghuysen is up for election in the 11th District.  He’s been a Congressman for many years and it’s been my pleasure to know him, from my former photographer days, for many years.  His history with our family dates back to the Seventies when he was a member of the Board of Chosen Freeholders.  My mother drove the group on a tour of Morris County and when she was asked to introduce them, she transliterated their name to the Board of Frozen Cheese holders.  He met with our Tea Party and assured us he will work for what is right.

Another important race – indeed, a critical race, in addition to the presidential election – is the race for the Senate.  We only get this opportunity every six years and it’s time to retire Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg.  The House of Representatives deals with economic issues. The Senate is responsible for foreign policy and the confirmation of Supreme Court judges.

Our economy is a disaster, and this is a year when New Jersey not only chooses, along with the rest of the country, the next president of the United States, but its Senators and Congressional representatives as well.

My mother found herself confounded by the ballot.  For the sake of expediency, I told her to just push all the buttons for Row C, which on our district ballot is the generally accepted, mainstream Republican row.  Mom was confused because there are seven Republican rows.  There are three Democrat rows, by contrast, but two are completely empty, leaving only the Obama Row.

One thing the paper ballot shows that I don’t recall in previous years is for the delegates to the respective conventions.  The names are very tiny, but they’re there.  Maybe they were there in the past, and like other people, I hadn’t paid attention.  This time, I took a good look at the names, among who are Chris Christie and Tom Kean.

Because this is a primary, Republicans do still have a choice for presidential candidate.  If Mitt Romney isn’t your cup of tea, you still have the choice of Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum.  By contrast, Democrats only give their voters one choice – Obama.

Aren’t you glad you aren’t a Democrat?  If you don’t want to become a Democrat someday make sure you, your family, friends, and neighbors get out to vote tomorrow, and vote Conservative, or at least Republican.  Another four years of Obama may very well mean no more years of the United States of America.  Every year since the Roosevelt administration, pundits have warned that if we don’t vote Republican (i.e., Conservative), there won’t be a United States.

Dire predictions didn’t come true, at least not immediately.  But we’re running out of road and in hindsight, we see only too well how right those pundits were.  Progressives all along had a nefarious plan for transforming the country gradually, so their enemies wouldn’t notice.  Few Americans are left alive who remember America as she was, primarily the World War II generation.  However, since the advent of the Tea Parties, more younger Americans are educating themselves and, examining the record, realize just how far we’ve come and how little time we have left.

It may not be time to press the panic button.  But it is time to press the button for real Conservatism and real American values.