The American Spectator

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The Good, the Bad, and the Not So Pretty

11.9.07 @ 12:01AM

THANKFULNESS ABOUNDS
Re: Jeff Emanuel's The Longest Morning:

As a near-college graduate who has continuously studied military history and current engagements, and as a girl preparing to enter the military, this article was probably the most moving account I have read yet about the current Iraq conflict. The determination and professionalism with which these brave men reacted to each new adversary they faced was absolutely brilliant and truly telling of the sheer competence of our armed forces. I'm thankful that your publication took the time, and the pages to tell the entire story -- as the "traditional" media loves skimming over true undaunted heroism, only highlighting the harsh realities of war. My heart goes out to the fallen soldiers, and their families, as well as the surviving men. God bless these guys for doing what so many will not, and God bless you for telling their amazing story.
-- Jessie Freeman

STRANGER THINGS HAVE HAPPENED
Re: Jacob Laksin's Weird New Jersey:

Two points, if I might. First the Dems have had a very long run as the de facto power in New Jersey. Even when there has been a GOP Governor, it has been someone like Christie Todd Whitman, who is virtually indistinguishable from the standard New England elite Democrat. That is who country club, Rockefeller Republicans from New England are.

The voters themselves have brought this fiscal mess on themselves. They are the ones who have elected these big government, big spending Dems and Repubs. The mass of the electorate wanted a nanny to take care of them, to feed them, and bathe them, give them their allowance, and change their nappy for them. Well that is what they got, and now they are shocked, shocked I say, to find that the state wishes to continue with the very same profligate ways that got then elected in the first place.

Sorry, but to me, the New Jersey voters are demonstrating the same degree of understanding and logic as your average two year old, and for the same reason -- gimme, gimme, gimme. They have gotten the kind of government that they have wanted, demanded, and deserve, just like I said about Pennsylvania in my last letter to you folks.

The second point is that it is rarely a good thing to have one party rule in government. It has not proven to be a good thing the few times that the GOP has had it, and it certainly has not been a good thing in spades when the Dems have had it. It invariably leads to government by and for the elite.

One need only look to the virtual explosion of spending and ear marking that occurred during the period when Bush was in the Oval Office, and the GOP controlled both the House and Senate, and not a single veto of a spending bill (or any other bill) occurred until just before the 2006 elections. Of course the two prime examples of the evils of one party rule are still probably the periods when FDR and LBJ were in the Oval Office. Although I find that I must say that FDR was the best war President since at least Lincoln. I surely wish that Bush showed the same understanding, determination, and effectiveness in our current conflict. FDR did not allow the kind of what we now call PC attitudes to creep into the waging of the war.

But back to the point, one party rule has been shown to be impossible to have without the creeping corruption, waste, and fraud that we always see as time goes on. Over time, it has brought down every system of governance going back into antiquity. The citizenry decides that they want to be given everything, instead of earning it, so they elect the party's candidates that promise them the most. That party keeps promising the most out of their own self-interest, and they keep getting re-elected, and keep controlling the levers of power. It has ever been thus, and probably ever will be, despite a hard core kernel of agents of change such as those of us that loyally read The American Spectator. We keep crying "fire," but the mass of the electorate refuses to interrupt their ongoing party.
-- Ken Shreve

Two minor quibbles with Mr. Laksin's article. First, voters rejected two, not three budget-related ballot questions. As usual, my fellow Garden Staters said OK to the annual "open space" bond issue, ensuring that municipal poobahs will have enough lucre for the next twelve months to preserve our natural environment by building tennis courts and the parking lots and lights to support them. No matter that these 'open spaces' produce no revenue to pay the debt back; we merrily vote ourselves a future tax burden every year because environmentalists cry wolf (or, more to the point, that sprawl is driving the wolf to distraction).

Also, though it pains me to say it, the blame for our fiscal calamity cannot be laid solely at the feet of our current Democratic legislature. We were set on the road to perdition by former Governor Christine Todd Whitman (nominally an R, but just a heartbeat away from donkeydom) and her compliant fellow travelers in the Legislature.
-- Peter J. Lyden, III
Rumson, New Jersey

The voters of states like New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois and Maryland who have surrendered their fates to incompetent and egocentric Democrat Governors and/or legislatures are getting exactly what they deserve. I shed no tears for them, but only pray they will stay where they are and limit the damage.

Unfortunately, these mindless automatons know how to drive and are infesting other states. Northern Virginia is now a safe haven for the hateful carpetbagger and anti-Semite Congressman Jim Moran. Had it not been for these ignoramuses the racist misogynist Jim Webb would be the lone personnel failure of the Reagan administration and George Allen would be a Senator and serious contender for the White House.

Hopefully, conservatives after two years of the corrupt and incompetent Reid/Pelosi Congress will realize that New Jersey is a harbinger of the country's future if Democrats are allowed to consolidate their hold on Congress and seize the White House in 2008. Winning in 2008 is critical not only for the GWOT, but the future of our republic.
-- Michael Tomlinson
Jacksonville, North Carolina

"According to another school of thought, the state Republican Party, battered so many times in recent years, has grown too timid."

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