When the history of the Christie
reign is written, Bridgegate will be an interesting, but unmemorable chapter.
That's not to say that this
scandal is unimportant today, but the long-term effect of the ersatz
"traffic study" will pale in comparison to many of Christie's other
blunders.
What will be the overall effect
of Bridgegate?
Maybe a 91 year-old woman died
because of the delay in emergency response services due to Christie's traffic
jams, but that's uncertain. But how many anonymous people have died and will
die due to Christie's callous disregard of the availability of health care to
poor and middle-class New Jerseyans?
Thousands of kids were late for
school because their busses couldn't navigate through the unnecessary traffic.
But millions of school kids will suffer due to Christie's negligence of public
education, his vilification of schoolteachers, and his promotion of education
profiteers.
Air quality in Fort Lee and
surrounding areas suffered because cars and trucks were sitting idly, spewing
out carbon monoxide and other toxic gasses. But that pales in comparison to the
destructive impact of Christie's unilateral pull out from the Regional
Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
Christie will not be impeached,
nor will he resign over this matter - even if it is proven that he had prior
knowledge (of which I have no doubt.) Maybe Bridgegate will scuttle his
presidential ambitions, but his party wouldn't have nominated him anyway. He's
just too sane and rational to rise to the top of the pile of cacophonous clowns
that have hijacked the Party of Lincoln. The more important (and scary) fact is
that New Jersey is stuck with his out-of-touch agenda for the next four years.
So let the investigation
continue. It is important that the public know all of the facts. More of
Christie's underlings will be punished, as they should be. But the man at the
top will escape with, at worst, a slap on the wrist. Getting rid of Wildstein
and Kelly needed to happen, but there are more than enough Christie cronies out
there to fill those positions.
Hopefully when this is over,
when Christie's luster is tarnished, the mainstream media will focus on the
real harm that Christie's actions have done to our state, and on the problems
he will exacerbate in the next four years.
Oh, and finally, a message to those Democratic mayors who
supported Christie’s re-election. Good luck in collecting what was promised to
you.
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