To New Jersey Democrats Who Plan to Vote for Christie on Tuesday

The person you vote for is your prerogative. People who always vote strictly on party lines are probably not really thinking things through. Heck, I’m a Democratic committeeperson but have occasionally opted for a Republican either because I really felt that candidate was better than his or her opponent or I wanted to strengthen the two-party system by voting for a sane Republican. Unfortunately, they are a dying breed.

My guess is that you’re voting for Christie for one of two reasons.

Let’s get the first reason out of the way first, because it’s insidious but probably not that pervasive unless you are a Democratic officeholder. You’ve either negotiated a quid pro quo with the Christie campaign or you’re allowing yourself to be bullied so that your municipality doesn’t suffer from the Wrath of Christie. You’re the anti-Buono – not because you don’t like the Democratic candidate, but unlike Buono, you are sacrificing your principles for political gain. To that I say, “shame on you.”

The more likely reason that you’re voting for Christie is that you have fallen for his propaganda – the mythical persona created by his campaign and his staffers, and abetted by the media. In his 1968 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, George Romney said that he was “brainwashed” by the generals on the status of the Viet Nam war. It doomed his campaign, but in 20/20 hindsight, we know that Romney was right.

Today, many Democrats and Independents are being brainwashed by a taxpayer-funded propaganda machine that would make the KGB drool. YouTube videos show Christie triumphantly standing on a reconstructed boardwalk, while blocks away Sandy-damaged homes are littering the shore landscape and their owners are still displaced. Christie campaign material touts a balanced budget, even though every governor in recent history has met that constitutional mandate. What’s not mentioned is that Christie’s accomplishment was done on the backs of public workers, the middle class, and the poor using one-shot gimmicks. You’re being fooled into believing that Christie is a moderate Republican because he’s not as crazy as Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, but you’re ignoring the fact that Christie is in the pocket of the same Koch Brothers who granted Steve Lonegan his 15 minutes of fame. Repeatedly.

So, my fellow Democrats – take the easy path and don’t do your homework. Vote for Christie because you buy into his myths and that’s the easy thing to do. Let New Jersey slip further back into an economic morass while your taxes are used to provide breaks for the wealthy. And a year from now, enjoy your voter’s remorse as you pass my car on the Turnpike with my bumper sticker that reads, “Don’t blame me – I voted for Buono.”