Posted on 11/07/2002 4:19:30 PM PST by Coleus
The real lemmings are here in Jersey
Tuesday, November 12, 2002
In 1958, a Disney documentary titled "White Wilderness" showed dozens of furry little rodents called lemmings jumping off a cliff. Ever since, the term "lemming" has been used to portray a mindless person who follows a leader into oblivion.
But do lemmings in the wild really commit mass suicide?
More on that later. For the moment, let's discuss another species that tends to follow its leader off a cliff, the New Jersey Republican.
Across the country, Republicans are in the ascendancy. Here in New Jersey, they're on the endangered species list. This is entirely due to the bad leadership that began with the Whitman era and continues to this day.
A decade ago, Republicans seemed to be on their way to becoming the permanent majority in New Jersey. The reason was simple: New Jersey is the most suburban state in the nation, and suburbanites tend to vote Republican.
Writer David Brooks of the Weekly Standard has studied this phenomenon in great detail. In a post-election wrap-up Sunday, Brooks credited last week's national GOP victory to the party's success in wooing suburban voters. In Georgia, for example, popular Democratic incumbent Max Cleland was ousted from the Senate by a Republican who piled up victory margins of 64 and 77 percent in the fast-growing suburban counties outside Atlanta.
In New Jersey, Republican Doug Forrester polled a mere 52 percent in suburban Ocean County. He got just 51 percent in Monmouth County. He was creamed in Bergen County, a traditional GOP stronghold that went 55 percent for the Democrats and 43 percent for the Republicans.
That was bad enough. Worse, the GOP lost control of county government in Bergen. In Ocean, the GOP lost control of the county seat, sprawling Dover Township. If last Tuesday's trend continues, New Jersey Republicans might as well just switch parties en masse.
All of this was avoidable. What Republicans needed to do to pile up huge margins among suburban voters was simple: Give them what they want. What do suburbanites want? "More highways, less growth," is how Brooks sums it up. They also want to "spend more time with their families as well as less on their mortgages," he writes.
That's a concise list of all the things New Jersey Republicans denied suburbanites under Christie Whitman, Don DiFrancesco and now John Bennett, the clueless co- president of the state Senate. The problem Whitman faced on taking office in 1994 was an activist state Supreme Court that had in effect made it unconstitutional to be a Republican. The game was rigged. Democrats could pour money into their districts for education, but if Republicans tried to do so, the court would rule it unconstitutional.
Instead of reversing this trend, Whitman packed the court with judges who were even more activist. That, of course, led directly to the loss of a Senate seat when the Whitman court approved the last- ditch switch that got Frank Lautenberg into the race. But even greater damage was done on the level of local politics. Whitman and her court shifted billions more in spending from the suburbs to urban schools and even added free preschools.
This won the GOP zero new voters. Forrester got a mere 27 percent of the vote in Essex County. He got just 25 percent in Hudson.
It's obvious why Democrats would want to give money to Democrats. But why did Republicans want to? State Sen. Leonard Lance of Hunterdon County notes that the reason property taxes in the suburbs are so high is that 53 percent of state school aid goes to the urban "Abbott" districts, which have a mere 21 percent of the students.
"I don't believe the people of New Jersey understand fully that the Abbott districts are funded at the highest level in the nation and that we give the city of Newark almost $600 million a year -- and that Newark now wishes to build an arena," Lance said.
The obvious question: If Newark can't support its own schools, how can it afford $200 million for an arena? And why do urban parents get free preschool paid for by suburban taxpayers?
"The Democrats love to talk about abortion, guns and even cell phones, but the budget should be the heart of our priorities," said Lance.
With the entire Legislature up for re-election next year, the GOP strategy to win suburban votes should be simple: Vote for us and we will give you what you want. Money for schools. Reversal of the Mt. Laurel affordable housing quotas. You name it. That's old-fashioned politics, but old-fashioned politics is now unconstitutional in New Jersey -- for Republicans anyway. They followed their leaders off a cliff.
Which brings me back to the question of lemmings and of how those filmmakers got pictures of them leaping to their deaths. It turns out the furry little critters didn't jump off that cliff; the filmmakers threw them.
Lemmings don't follow their leaders off cliffs. Only New Jersey Republicans do that.
Paul Mulshine is a Star-Ledger columnist. He may be reached at Paul Mulshine
The real lemmings are here in Jersey,Tuesday, November 12, 2002
Hey Doug -- next time at least load your pea-shooter...
see the following thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/my/comments
Those who have nothing to offer......except Scorched Earth Promo's
Who is Doug Forrester a Psycho Path or Social Path??
He is one of 7 republicans running for governor in the Primary election this June in NJ
Unfortunately, I do not think it was his views. If only. NJ is a Dem state. A true conservative will have a hard time. A Rudy like mod with charisma can win. That's about all right now IMHO having lived there most of my life.
Slain NJ Teacher's Tape Reveals More Evidence, Too Bad She Did Not Have a GUN!!
Moderates, RINOS, less then social conservative Republicans in red states should not be accepted and targeted for defeat (ie Lindsey Graham here in SC). Republicans as described above have to be accepted in blue states because the alternative is a Rat. A Forrester Senate victory in NJ would be a huge victory, in SC it would be a huge loss. Can we please see the difference.
It should be our goal to elect the most conservative nominee that can be elected in the general in each particular state. Politics is the art of the possible. Look at the state, then the candidate. Let's win!
Lack of charisma = Forrester lost
SoCar....It is NOT a lack of charisma....it is Doug Forrester is a self consumed despicable ulgy maniacal being.....
Those who have nothing to offer......except Scorched Earth Promo's
Who is Doug Forrester a Psycho Path or Social Path??\
******
I am from NYC and the ads that DF runs are so hateful and ugly he makes me despised him.....
For over a month he been tearing Bret Shindler to piece with Scorched Earth Promo's.....if DF has something to offer than show us what DF achieved and his solution it would be better that Scorched Earth Promo's.......
DF us a Yucky being.......
I am NYer so who dislikes him can't imagine how NJ's folks feel about his hatefulness.......there are 6 others Republicans running hope they get in and send DF to DEMS!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.