Don't run Christie

I have a selfish reason for not wanting to see Chris Christie, the governor of my state of NJ, run for President. His work isn't done here yet.

I lived in NYC in the 1980s and 90s. In 1989 I voted for David Dinkins (D) and his wonderful mosaic over Rudy Guiliani (R) to replace Ed Koch (a closet Republican) as mayor of New York. And while the mosaic was a laudable goal and the mayor a nice human being, I wised up enough by 1993 to realize the city needed some tough love and voted for Guiliani. This wasn't a vote against President Clinton, it was a vote against Mayor Dinkins and a vote for NYC's future. And while I didn't always agree with him, felt his tough talk and willingness to tackle the status quo were a big help in finally reforming NYC. I'm not sure what would have happened if he had left for higher office a few years later, when his star was already rising due to an improving NYC.

Fast forward to the last few years. Now I'm older, larger (side note: I have to admit that Governor Christie has inspired me to head to to the gym and drop 50 pounds this last year or so) and live in NJ. While I generally lean left, I voted for Chris Christie in 2009, despite my wife being a state worker, because I felt the state needed a new direction, even though this is proving to not have been in my family's best interests as our health care costs, among other things, are soon to rise as the state workforce gets what is essentially a salary reduction (I generally support this, the benefits were fun while they lasted). This wasn't a vote against President Obama (D), it was a vote against Governor Corzine (D) and a vote for NJ's future. And while I don't agree with all the Governor has done (aside from the teachers, I think he's been too tough on the average worker, not tough enough on the political bosses and their legal corruption and is probably more conservative than I like), I feel the state is moving in the right direction, away from its pay to play past. But we're not there yet and I worry the state will fall back into the mess it was without his bully pulpit (and it already seems whatever reform he was starting to accomplish has fallen by the wayside as he makes more speeches around the country).

That said, if you substitute Obama for Dinkins, I find myself looking at the 2012 presidential election the same way I looked at the 1993 mayoral election. The difference being I don't see one candidate who looks electable and that I would prefer over Obama (who is practically a closet Rockefeller Republican anyway). The current crop seem to be .22 caliber minds in a .357 Magnum world. And it is this that cause's me to worry -- not so much for the future of the country (unless one of the current candidates actually manages to defeat President Obama), but the future of my state.

It takes a long time to pull all the weeds from the garden and to make sure they don't come back. Just as I basically underwent a lifestyle change in diet and exercise to lose (and still losing) my weight and improve my health, it won't keep unless I stay with it. Letting things slide back to the way they were after just a few years won't be good for my health and, if the Governor were to be elected President, for my state's health.

Is Christie the answer for the GOP and for the country? Maybe. He seems more into what is bothering the average voter (it's the economy stupid, not whether you were nice to illegal immigrants once or are a gay soldier). But, fortunately for NJ (let me finish liberals), the country doesn't tend to vote for politicians like him (loud, fairly honest etc) to be President. Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman come to mind, but they got their first terms by being the VP when the President died. And then I have to wonder if running for President would show Christie to be more Koch brothers puff like Texas Gov. Rick Perry over substance like ... well almost any other Republican not currently running for President.

But, back to my initial point, NJ is still fragile. We've only had a few years of a leader telling us what we need to hear. We need a few more. As Governor Andrew Cuomo of NY, son of one of NY's most liberal governors, Mario Cuomo, has shown, this tough talk doesn't have to come from the right. Unfortunately NJ doesn't have anybody else, right or left, like Christie who will tell us what we need to hear (and I know he pulls some punches to suit his political needs). Hopefully the Governor realizes that what plays well in NJ, where our politics is somewhat descended from the NJ docks, plus Philadelphia and New York, may not play well across the nation.

PS - though some may read this post as my blasting Christie with some comments about his conservative friends, it should really be read as my blasting other NJ politicians.

The forgotten middle class

While the GOP concentrates on protecting the overburdened millionaires who create jobs in other countries and the Democrats concentrate on protecting the poor it seems that the middle class, who most of us are, are forgotten, aside from a demand they pay more taxes on our declining incomes so those on the top can continue to sip their drinks on their yachts in peace. So basically it is going be a decision between the lesser of two evils for the middle class come Election Day in 2012. Hmmm ... since the GOP seems more determined to push the middle class down to the the poor, guess I better vote Democratic.

Seriously, both parties are going to find out what class warfare really looks like if the educated and mature middle class gets pushed too far down and arranges for a less friendly and orderly method of income redistribution compared to the potential violent redistribution of income (and other possessions) that could occur. Push the middle class down with the lower classes and prove that there is no way out from the lower castes and there will be heck to pay for whoever is in charge at that time. Bribes work.

By bribe I don't mean welfare payments. I mean an economic system where those who work can afford to put a roof over their head, feed their family, afford some luxuries, educate their children and be secure in the knowledge that they can retire and not worry about going to the poorhouse -- aka the middle class. I'm also talking about an economic system where we invest in ourselves, through research and development and maintaining our infrastructure to allow the masses to go where ever their talents and skills can take them. A system where we stop pretending that the savings one earns by polluting the air and water is not a tax on the people down river. I think that is a position that most Americans, whether they are conservative or liberal, democrat or republican, minority or majority, NRA member or gun control advocate, etc. can get behind when all the political nonsense is stripped away (or at least I want to think we are mature enough to look after our best interests).

I'm talking a few extra bread crumbs from the pie, not a slice. You do that and most people won't care what Congress and Wall Street are up to. Let's face it, most of us, especially as we get older, just want a simple humdrum secure life. You don't want to piss off the majority.

Fire! Where is my fiddle?

Republicans are demanding that the Obama administration officials explain why they gave taxpayer dollars to a United States solar company even after the firm warned it was near collapse. Yes, heaven forbid we invest in ourselves. We should just let the free market export all these jobs overseas.

Enough with this partisan garbage. These are jobs going overseas and we're busy arguing over which individual is to blame when it was a very obvious bi-partisan team effort?? We have let a brand new industry slip away to allow other countries to take the lead in this field. What are we going to do about it? We can't keep this up. We're burning all our capital on stupid internal fights while our more nimble and organized competitors swoop in and take these companies and the jobs they create for themselves.

For decades the United States business community led in new innovations. This is no longer the case. Tax spending on research and development remains under attack in this age of austerity, while the expansion of old energy sources such as natural gas and coal are promoted, despite the unaccounted passed down costs these industries may do to the environment and our health. Our competitors have no problem investing tax dollars to subsidize companies to bring wealth to their nations. Yet, if one party even proposes to invest a few dollars on improving just infrastructure, there is screaming and yelling from the party out of power. So, aside from the loans in question, we basically chose not to help solar power companies on our shores and instead have decided to let China take the lead so they can export solar panels back to us.

These weren't just simple manufacturing jobs of interchangeable goods that could be done anywhere and, arguably, make sense to be done elsewhere due to vastly lower costs. These are skilled positions producing complicated materials that we are losing. How does not investing or producing anything help our workforce? Nothing is a sure bet, and perhaps the Obama administration chose poorly in supporting California solar panel manufacturer Solyndra, but at least they tried. For the good of the nation we can't just stand back and allow other nations who have no qualms in taking risks to help their own industries to surpass us while we fiddle.

This isn't the 19th century anymore. There is no Henry Ford building the next major game changer in his garage. And this isn't one state taking jobs from another state for "job growth." These are nations, our competitors, taking more wealth out of our pockets. We can help ourselves by investing in ourselves, yet our "leaders" continue this partisan nonsense while ignoring real external challenges to this nation (I'm not even going to get into the unconscionable debt we are requiring our children to accumulate just so they can get enough of a higher education, that taxpayers used to be happy to subsidize as a wise investment in tomorrow, to try to get these disappearing jobs). Some would call this treason.

So instead of wasting time and energy asking whether investing in local solar companies was the right move, how about asking ourselves why we are letting our country fall apart while we chose to ignore our external competition? Our competitors have their priorities straight. They know what to do when they see a fire. And while a fire can lead to renewal and rebirth, it can also lead to total destruction and annihilation. Why do we seem to want the later?

Oy vey! Why do people believe individuals can't think for themselves?

Oy vey. I just read an article by a "brilliant" writer lamenting that Jews are too liberal for their own good and vote liberal because they have to. Ha ha ha! The assumption about Jews falling in line and voting liberal because they are supposed to are as asinine as the comments people make about conservative African Americans. If you want to see a real debate don't watch the GOP on TV, come to a Oneg after services.

Some people can not ever realize that there are many people who don't just drink Kool Aid and can think for themselves. In my temple there are liberals and conservatives. In many congregations, we don't just blindly follow our rabbis. I can agree or disagree with mine as I feel is necessary. I can learn from him over Torah story and he can ask me to help him write the next Purimspiel with my own sarcastic bits (that came about after a recent board meeting where we were discussing the GOP field and, after I made a less than flattering mark about Perry praying for rain, I suggested that God was the ultimate prankster in sending fire to Texas while sending the rain to the Northeast).

Jews tend to be more liberal probably because we are big on education and generally, especially among the young, the more educated you are the more liberal you are. As far back as I can remember the question among my Jewish peers wasn't whether you were going to college but what college we wanted to go to (and this was in elementary school). Knowledge is power, even if that leads you to question what you were taught in religious school. Close mindedness and ignorance has led to disaster far too often.

I vote in what is best for my self interests and what I feel is my community, state or nation's self interest. Sometimes that means I vote Democratic, as I did in 2008 for Obama and then vote Republican as I did in 2009 for Gov. Christie (NJ). And while the increasing hostility to Jews (aka Israel) from the left is forcing me to take my own self interests into account, none of the potential GOP candidates for president who seem likely to get the nomination (Perry, Bachman and other Tea Party candidates), instill me with any confidence for a variety of reasons.

The "Kool Aid" writer would have done well in her lament that too many Jews are liberal, in her opinion, to note the anti-semtism from the left that is rampant on campuses. To me, it is frightening and will probably cause our children to vote for the GOP. Hopefully this liberalism from our children will free the GOP from those who cling to their guns (or whatever Obama said) and make the party once again a party that welcomes liberal minded people who just happen to also believe in a progressive small government that lives within its means while investing in the country's future.

Finally just because I am liberal on some things doesn't mean I don't have more traditional family and fiscal values in my home. As our children can attest, it may be 2011 outside, but it is 1971 in our home (though with internet and video games).

The middle class is for liberal pansy pinheads

Proctor and Gamble has decided it is too much of a gamble to continue creating and marketing goods to America's disappearing middle class.

You want to look for someone to blame for the disappearing middle class America? Look in the mirror America. No one forced you to vote against your own best interests for the conservatives that have spent the last 40 years convincing the American worker that unions, which gave us the 35 hour week, health benefits, vacations, work safety rules etc are bad for the average worker so corporations can make more money and create jobs overseas. You let your bigotry, hate of education and love of ignorance, praying that a possibly non existent deity would take care of you over a "liberal" government that actually would provide health, education, social security and clean air to destroy what was good for you. Congratulations. Your "brilliance" will be one for the history books.

And before you get too smug upper class, you might want to remember that many of the liberal income redistribution programs through taxation came about to prevent a more violent and immediate income redistribution program by the greatly larger lower and middle classes.