It is better to look good, than to do good

What is it with the politicians we elect here in New Jersey that feel it is better to propose feel good legislation to suck up to the population then to actually do good and make people face the results of their decisions? Do they really think we are that stupid? Actually, that is a stupid question since we're the ones who elected these mental midgets in the first place. Two cases in point from this past week: one involves raising revenue in lieu forcing some to face their actions and the other involves looking for complicated ways to make it harder for businesspersons to sell their wares.

First the revenue. Earlier this year, NJ's Governor announced to small, rural towns that use the State Police for their police needs as they don't have their own police departments that they will have to either hire their own police department, like many towns in this state have already done, pay for the State Police to continue their patrols or, since they have little crime anyway, forgo police protection. As expected the rural towns, 89 of about 500 or so state wide, freaked out over the idea they may have to pay for a service they currently get for free. As expected a politician figured out a way to get others to pay for their police service, in a sort of Abbot School district policy for the rich. Instead of making those rural taxpayers pay for their police services like the rest of the state, or to consolidate with other towns for economical efficiency, this mental midget wants to let the rest of the state, anybody else who happens to get a ticket for their car, pay for their waste through a ticket surcharge for such dastardly deeds as speeding or, maybe, failing to pay attention to conditions when your car skids on black ice this winter. Yeah!! Raise taxes, because that is what this is, in lieu of reducing spending for a selected few! Woo hoo!!!!

Umm, sorry, no! If these folks want to live in small rural towns then let them pay for the joy of doing so. No welfare for you. If you want certain services you can pay for it. We all have to budget and decide what luxuries are unimportant when expenses exceed income. Many of us pay a lot in municipal taxes to fund a police department in our towns. There is no reason the rural communities can't do the same, on a smaller scale.

If they want to live independent they are going to have to realize that independence comes at a cost due to lack of efficiency. If we can pay taxes to fund our towns' police departments they can do it. If they find they can't afford the police then I suggest they look elsewhere to see what services they can cut. Raise taxes, opt out or merge with other towns and get the money that way. If they decide if they can't afford it, then it is time to start merging these little towns into bigger towns. Of course, that would mean some people would lose power, as you can't have two mayors etc, which is what I suspect is really behind this idea.But, of course, it is much easier to pick on the speeder, who after all is breaking the law, then it is to force the 89 rural municipallities to do what the rest of the state is doing an paying for their own police protection.

The next feel good, do nothing idea comes from the town of Red Bank, which is the latest to jump on the ban plastic bags because they cause litter and use oil. Sigh. Another "feel good" but really accomplishing nothing proposal. I won't deny the use of oil to make plastic bags, but the town needs to look at the big picture. Plastic bags cost less to produce and transport. They also pollute less, through lower transportation costs. Additionally, they can be reused or recycled. Of the bags I get from the supermarket and various stores each week, roughly 60 - 70% are brought back to my supermarket for recycling. The market has been doing this for years, long before the idea of recycling plastic bags became popular so I assume they do this for their own purposes. The rest of my bags are reused several times before falling apart or are given away.

On the other hand, while paper bags come from a renewable resource, my town hasn't recycled paper bags for over 5 years as the recycling company found it uneconomical so this bags end up in the garbage, taking up even more space in whatever garbage dump my trash ends up in. For those who say use reusable bags, those don't last forever and don't do much for spur of the moment purchases. Of course you can leave the reusable bags in your car, but that isn't feasible for those living in urban areas, such as Red Bank, where they are walking to stores a great distance from wherever their cars may be (assuming they have one).

As to the litter plastic bags make, enforce the littering laws. People throw trash all over the place. A litterer is a litterer. No need to pick on one subject, plastic bags,when you can pick on all. But no, like picking on the speeder, it is much easier to pick on the plastic bag in lieu of doing something easier like, oh I don't know, encourage people to recycle their plastic bags.