It's an important day here in New Jersey as voters are set to cast their votes for New Jersey's next Governor. I hope you don't treat the gubernatorial election like you do with public comments to the ASMFC for striped bass. While your public comments may haven't done anything to steer the management boards vote, pulling the lever for one of the two above candidates surely will matter.
Your choices are Republican Jack Ciattarelli and Democrat Mikie Sherrill. You'll also be voting for the Lieutenant Governor spots on the under ticket James Gannon and Dale Caldwell respectfully. And depending on what county you reside in there's county, schools, and fire commissioners questions on the ballot as well. I dislike politics, and politicians, well at least what things have turned into. Years ago you voted for your guy or girl, and then supported the winner, albeit reluctantly at times.
Not these days. Not in the take my ball and go home spoiled children we have become. My favorite was my old neighbor's bumper sticker he proudly displayed when we lived in Red Bank. "Not My President" it read. Really? If you are a citizen of the United States then the person who holds the top spot IS your President. That's for Bush, Obama, Biden, or Trump. While I didn't vote for all of the above, I supported them and hoped God guided them in doing the best for the USA. At least respect the office. That's what we used to say in the fire department, respect the rank, if not the guy or girl.
The vitriol in today's politics, and just about everything, turns off many voters. And that distain for the process leads people to take a ho-hum approach to voting. That leaves many with a, "He f'in won?!, gut punch as the results roll in. That is followed up by pouty and disparaging comments made to the winner, even though no vote was cast by the person themselves.
New Jersey has historically been a blue (Democrat) state. As far as Presidential elections the Garden State voters haven't voted red since the 1980's. New Jersey's democratic voters are fortified by the many urban area's which generally vote democratic. Most of those larger cities are led my Democratic Mayors and leaders. Race and sex also play a big part in the elections as well. Blacks and Hispanic's tend to lean liberal, along with women, and Whites and males lean towards the conservative side. That's not steadfast, it's just historically how's things have gone.
It's funny to look at at how New Jerseyans have voted since 1993. In the late 1990's it was Republican Christie Todd- Whitman, then a field of field of red players in DiFransisco, Farmer, and Bennet, McGreevey and Codey, before Codey took the reigns before passing the baton to Jon Corzine through 2010, then Chris Christie for 8 years, and then Phil Murphy for the last eight. Basically it's a two and done and then switch to the other side.
So we'll see what happens today at the polls. Will New Jersey flip, as it has done, from a "blue state" to a "red state"? And what will that all really mean. Is anything going to really change? It doesn't matter what side of the aisle you are on we can probably agree on a few things. The cost of living in New Jersey, especially for seniors, is dam near unaffordable. Young adults can't get going, on their own, and get their own trains out of the station. The big pushes now are these new "Town Centers", or jazzed up apartment complexes where they charge $3,000 a month for rent. That'll get you a parking spot, a 20 x 30 pool, a small workout room,
and a community center. But they'll never be able to save to get out of the rental market. Couple that with a car payment, or even just train and or bus tickets, and a dinner out or just Door Dash a couple times a week and they're done.
The traffic in the Garden State, it doesn't matter where you live or at what season you're driving in, it's nuts. We're overdeveloped and living on top of each other. Take Red Bank where I used to live. Forget it. Along the Jersey Shore, even mid-week outside of the summer tourist season, bumper to bumper. All of those people not only cause vehicular traffic but traffic with long waits at the necessities, like healthcare, food stores, DMV, and even for emergency services like police, fire, and EMS.
And then the costs of just about everything. That's not a Jersey thing but across the country. Blame the supply chain, blame the tariffs, blame the way consumers shop, it's just a fortune for everything these days. Two going to a diner for breakfast for dinner, easy $50, gas $3 a gallon, which is still a lot, the tolls, like $15.35 during the day with EZ-Pass, plus the Turnpike tolls, electric and oil, forget it, hundreds per month, and then the fun stuff, like cable, internet,
and phones. Still have your 30 year-old on your plan, "Because it's cheaper", what would your grandparents say, want to switch to Roku, like we did, well you'll have to spend $100 a month for You Tube TV to see anything current or a sports game. We've been binge watching Law & Order from the 80's and 90's as we refuse to pay "cable" prices again. I haven't been able to watch an NFL game from start to finish in over a year. Well Amazon Prime's Thursday Night Football I can watch, but I can never stay awake that late.
And then you have to look at the big picture stuff. How your vote could affect things like national security, immigration, government spending, social security, and human rights. I'm not up on all of those things but they are important and I can't bitch about the state of things if I don't do my civil duty and vote.
So I hope you go. I hope your guy or girl wins. And remember we're all in this together. At the end of the day we have to co-exist and look out for each other. We've become too polarized in everything these days and the misery and the attitudes we encounter everyday in public, at work, and even during things fun like fishing and events is nauseating. All you have to do is, or not, just follow your social media feeds to see how we're not acting like adults, good New Jerseyeans, and good Americans.
So go vote, or shut up.