Seth Grossman WPG Radio 1.24.26. Join the Democratic or Republican Club in Your Town. No Excuse for State To Run Atlantic City. Bad History in Good Movies. Federal “Beach Replenishment” Is Expensive, Useless, Corrupt, and Unconstitutional.
Above Featured Image: New Jersey State Law Recognizes Only Two Political Parties: Republicans and Democrats. The Website of the Atlantic County Republican Organization No Longer Informs Visitors of the Names and Contact Information for Its 23 Local Leaders, or the Meeting Days, Times and Places for Its 23 Local Clubs.
AI Summary: In January 24, 2026 interview, Seth Grossman of Liberty and Prosperity discusses the organization’s need for financial support, the importance of local Democratic and Republican Party political clubs, the NJ State takeover of Atlantic City, why good movies present fake “woke” history, and why federal “beach replenishment” is expensive, corrupt, ineffective, and unconstitutional.
1. Liberty and Prosperity: 2026 Goals
Grossman emphasizes that the organization’s survival depends on grassroots support and consistent funding.
Membership Dues: The organization requires several hundred members to pay their $30 annual dues for 2026 to maintain operations.
Annual Fundraiser: A key fundraising event is scheduled for February 15 at 2:00 PM. Tickets are $75, and the keynote speaker will be Republican State Senator Michael Testa.
Core Activities: Funds support a weekly email update sent to 4,200 subscribers, social media presence, and local historical events like the September 4th remembrance of Richard Somers and the Tripoli War against Islamic jihad.
2. Local Political Engagement & “Doing More Than Voting”
A major theme of the discussion is the importance of local political clubs, which Grossman argues are often ignored by the general public.
Club Influence: Grossman notes that every town has Republican and Democratic clubs that meet monthly, yet many members are there for “the wrong reasons,” such as seeking government jobs or contracts.
Lack of Transparency: He criticizes the Atlantic County Republican and Democratic organizations for failing to list local club officers or meeting information on their websites, suggesting they want to keep the process closed to “insiders.”
(UPDATE: Atlantic County Democrats Now List Contact Information and Meeting Details for their Local Leaders and Clubs.)
Above Image: “Get Involved” Page of Atlantic County Democratic Party Website. Sign Up — Atlantic County Democratic Committee Atlantic County Democrats Encourage New People to Be Its Candidates for Public Office. Atlantic County Republicans Choose Friends, Family and Established Insiders As Their Candidates.
Candidate Recruitment: Grossman points out that Democrats are often more effective at recruiting “ordinary people” through “casting calls,” whereas the GOP process is frequently seen as less inclusive.
3. Economic and Historical Critiques
Grossman offers a sharp critique of both past and current government policies:
Atlantic City State Takeover: He disputes the official narrative that the takeover was purely financial, blaming former Governor Chris Christie’s presidential ambitions for blocking necessary spending cuts and layoffs in 2010.
“Woke” History in Media: Using the film Across the Universe as an example, Grossman argues that Hollywood often presents a “fake history” of events like the Vietnam War, which he claims is funded by leftist organizations to promote a specific ideological agenda.
Two Civil Rights Movements: He distinguishes between the “first wave,” which sought basic equal rights, and a “second wave” that sought forced economic equality through expensive, ineffective, and corrupt socialism.
4. Opposing Federal Beach Replenishment
Despite his support for Congressman Jeff Van Drew, Grossman strongly disagrees with federal spending on “beach replenishment” projects:
Luxury vs. Necessity: He argues that living by the beach is a choice and a luxury; therefore, federal taxpayers (e.g., those in Idaho) should not fund sand movement for New Jersey homeowners.
Local Responsibility: Grossman believes local towns should pay for their own beach projects, noting that “pork barrel” spending like this has contributed to the $38 trillion national debt.
EXCERPTS FROM THIS WEEK’S INTERVIEW WITH SETH GROSSMAN:
SETH GROSSMAN:
We Need Your Financial Support: Liberty and prosperity can only function if several hundred people become supporting members and pay pay $30 dues every year. And for 2026, that $30 is due.
This Year’s Fundraiser is Sunday, February 15 at 2pm at Josie Kelly’s in Somers Point. Tickets are $75 and include lunch and dessert.
We raise two thirds of our money from our yearly fundraiser lunch in February. This year it is Sunday, February 15 at 2:00pm in the afternoon. It will be at Josie Kelly’s Pub in Somers Point. Tickets are $75 and include lunch. Republican State Senator Michael Testa of Cape May and Cumberland County will be our featured speaker.
We make very good use of that money.
It pays for weekly email updates that go to 4,200 subscribers. We maintain the libertyandprosperity.com website. We have Facebook. We have X. We have Instagram. Every September 4, we remember Richard Somers in Somers Point and the other heroes of the Tripoli War, to remind everybody that our war against the Islamic Jihad started when Thomas Jefferson was president. And few people know that–until we do that yearly, event. And, of course, we’re on the radio with you every week. Finally, we send postcards and mailings and sponsor special events on key issues throughout the year.
Besides raising money, we also invite a keynote speaker who gets us focused on the main issues for the the year ahead.
That‘s exactly what Senator Michael Testa, told us he wants to do. And here are the five topics he’ll be talking about. #1. How effective citizens can work with party leaders to recruit, prepare, and elect effective conservatives, to the State Senate, to county commissions, what used to be freeholder boards, to local offices, and most important of all, school boards. #2. How to rebuild, rebrand, and fix the New Jersey Republican Party. #3. What we Boomers, can do to somehow persuade our kids and grandkids to support conservatives. #4. How South Jersey can lead the rest of the state. And needless to say, the Republican party in the rest of the state needs, some leadership. And finally #5. Senator Testa wants to offer some specific solutions to specific problems.
So there are two important reasons to support that event. And when we have a successful fundraiser, we don’t have to be beg for money the rest of the year. We can focus on getting our message out. So, this February 15 Fundraiser is very important.
If you want to pay your $30 dues, make a contribution, or by a $75 ticket for this February 15 event, go to our libertyandprosperity.com website. We have a donate tab at the top of the Home Page. But if you’re old fashioned, you can just write a check to Liberty and Prosperity and send it to what used to be the Seth Grossman Law Office at 453 Shore Road in Somers Point.
JOHN DEMASI: And guess what? I already sent my donation in. And my dues.
SETH GROSSMAN: Thank you! We look forward to seeing you there!
Do More Than Vote! Learn more about your political party.
And let’s talk about changing things by getting to know your political party. When most people talk about Republicans or Democrats, they think they are good citizens if they vote every November and vote for either a Republican or the Democrat. But one of our slogans is “Do More Than Vote!” We have to understand how Republicans and Democrats pick their candidates and get involved in that process.
Suppose the candidate that Republicans pick supports the same things that Democrats do. What’s the point of voting? People get demoralized. So that’s why about two weeks ago, I said, well, pay attention to people who run the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. They are called the “County Committee”. These are people who get elected in June every four years to run these parties.
Both the Republican Party and Democrat Party are private clubs, they are private organizations just like Liberty and Prosperity. Their members select their officers and those officers run these clubs. However, every voter as the right to be a member. Every voter has the right to choose a political party and pick its officers. Or you can be one of those officers.
If you want to learn the details, come to one of our Saturday morning breakfasts, and we’ll explain how it works. Because very few people understand how this works.
All politics is local.
Almost every town has a Republican Party club. Almost every town has a Democratic Party club. And these clubs usually meet once a month in each town. And if you show up, you will meet the people who run them.
Many people are not in politics for the same reasons you are.
if you show up at one of these clubs, you will quickly learn that many, if not most of the people running these clubs, are not there for the same reasons you are. A lot of people are in a Republican Club or Dmocratic Club because they depend on politics to make a living. They may have a city job, a county club, or some contract. Or they need licenses or permits from some government agency.
Some people are there as a social thing. Well, my granddad was in the in the club, and our friends like to go to the spring dinner dance or summer barbecue. They like to go to these dinners and social events.
And if you go to these political clubs, you will find very few people who are active because they care about the same issues you do. Even fewer want to do anything about them. Because if they get in arguments with people over issues that matter, they may not get that government job or contract or permit.
I think a lot of your listeners would be shocked if they actually showed up at their local Democratic Party or Republican Party political club and saw who was there. And I think that many Republican and Democratic leaders don’t want ordinary people who care about the issues showing up at their local club meetings.
When I ran for congress in 2018, I wanted to get to know the active people in the Republican party. So each County Republican organization had a website, and that website listed the leaders of all the local Republican County in the county, and how to contact them, and where and when they met. And I showed up at all these local meetings, and I met the leaders and the members and so did all the other candidates.
But if you go to the website of the Atlantic County Republican Organization right now, you won’t see the name of a single local club officer. You won’t see any contact information. You won’t see where they meet or when they meet or how you get in touch with them. It’s almost as if the Atlanta County Republican Club doesn’t want anybody to get involved other than a handful of insiders.
Now the Democratic Party in Atlantic County also has a website. And they don’t list the contact information for their local leaders either. And they don’t list their local Democratic Party clubs or where and when they meet.
The Republican Party in Cape May County is the same way. However, the Democratic Party in Cape May County still tells you how to reach local club leaders and attend local club meetings.
However, there is one big difference between the Republicans and Democrats in Atlantic County. If you go to the website of the Democratic Party organization, it says that Democrats are actively looking for candidates. It says, “If you want to run for any public office, or a school board, let us know.” It says that if you are qualified, “We will quote “Get you up to speed on the issues. And, and we will get you the funding, and we will tell you how to run a winning campaign.” So the Democrats are actively looking for new people to be their candidates. Whereas Republicans, you know, they just announce, this is who we’re going to pick at the convention.
And that’s what the Republicans did last year. They said, “We’re going to pick June Byrnes of Linwood to be our county commissioner candidate this year”. We don’t want Janice Johnston of Somers Point. They just made that decision. Never gave, people the chance to know one candidate or another. So they got their June Byrnes elected as Atlantic County Commissioner. But was she as effective at getting votes for the Republican ticket that Janice Johnston would have been?
Do you think this had something to do with why Claire Swift, the Republican candidate for Assembly came up short and lost the election. Nobody in the Republican Party is talking about that. But you can’t fix a problem if nobody talks about it. You can’t find an answer if nobody asks any questions.
The Democratic Party is not much better. They don’t invite people to their local clubs. However, they do invite new people to be candidates. And that is how they came up with Maureen Rowan of Atlantic City, a complete unknown, to beat Claire Swift last November.
The Republicans are saying, who is this person? We never heard of her. How did she beat Claire Swift? Well, because the Democrats openly invited new people to be candidate, just like a movie director does a casting call to get an actor or actress for a new movie.
The Democrats say give us a call, and if we think you can win and if you do what we tell you to do, we’ll put you on the ticket. We’ll tell you how to tell the voters what to hear, we’ll dress you up and we’ll help put your campaign together. We’ll get you the money and the training to win. And that’s how Maureen Rowan, the unknown retired lawyer from Philadelphia who moved to a Boardwalk highrise in Atlantic City knocked out Claire Swift and got to be our Assembly woman for the next two years. So local political parties are very, very important.
JOHN DEMASI: So how do we find out if we wanted to find out. How do we find out about these different clubs and different chapters?
SETH GROSSMAN: Well that is a big problem, and you have to do some work. And it is very unfortunate that the Republican Party in Atlantic County is discouraging people from getting involved. Because obviously, there are local Republican leaders and clubs in each of the 23 towns in Atlantic County. Each of these clubs meets once a month somewhere. But if the county organization won’t put this information on its website, and make it easy to get this information. you have to do work. You have to call up the county chairman who is Don Purdy in Galloway Township and ask him. He certainly knows. Or you go to your local town, your elected Republican officials. They know because that’s how they got to be Republican officials.
But but the whole whole way that Republicans are making things so difficult for new people, while Democrats say, just send us an email, just give us a phone call. We’ll make you a candidate. We’ll train you. We’ll finance you. We’ll, tell you everything you need to know, and we’ll help you get elected.
Meanwhile, the Republicans won’t even tell you how to show up at your local club. So, we’ll be talking about this over breakfast on Saturday. We meet every Saturday morning from 9:30o 10:30 eat the Banquet Room at Sal’s Coal Fired Pizza in Somers Point, To me, this is a big, bigt issue, and nobody in the Republican Party is talking about this.
JOHN DEMASI: I agree with you.
There Was Never An Excuse for State to Run Atlantic City.
SETH GROSSMAN: Meanwhile, here are some other things that are going on. Governor Murphy and the Legislature just extended the state takeover of Atlantic City government. And every time you hear a news story, they tell you, “The State had to take over Atlantic City because of financial difficulties that happened, in in 2010.” But it’s important to remember that there was nothing wrong with Atlantic City finances. Atlantic City took in less money because there were hard economic times. All Atlantic City had to do was cut salaries, cut spending, and it would have been fine.
But New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was running for President, he would not allow any layoffs or cutbacks. For six years, Governor Chris Christie forced Atlantic City to spend $80 million dollars more than it took in for six years. He put the city into about $420 million to $460 million dollars of illegal debt. And the only reason the state took over was to keep Atlantic City from challenging that in court or from moving to use bankruptcy to wipe out that debt.
I have to repeat that because it bothers me when people say the state had to take over Atlantic City because Atlantic City was irresponsible. No. Atlantic City had been taken over by Governor Chris Christie, and he was running for president. State law required Atlantic City, like all cities, to have a balanced budget. It was illegal for Atlantic City to spend a dime more than it took in. But Governor Chris Christie didn’t want any layoffs, and he didn’t want any labor trouble because he was running for President. He bragged and said “I’m the Republican who walks across the aisle and gets along with the Democrats and labor unions.
JOHN DEMASI: Oh, I remember that well. You’re right.
Why Good Movies Teach Bad History.
SETH GROSSMAN: Anyway, last Saturday, I was annoyed with politics and watched an old movie to forget about politics. It was called “Across the Universe”. It was called Across the Universe. It was a delightful movie made in 2007. It was about life in the 1960’s when Boomers like you and me were getting out of high school.
But it aggravated me because a fake, leftist history of the War in Vietnam was imbedded into the plot. The true history of Vietnam is that the Communists used a lot of dirty tricks to undermine, invade and take over a country from people who did not want to live under Communism. And Americans were there to help the Vietnamese keep their freedom. It was just like we want to help the people in Iran and Venezuela keep their freedom today. And we were successful. And we defeated the Vietcong and we defeated the invading North Vietnames army. But then the left completely undermined our efforts, we abandoned our friends there and a lot of them got killed. Others suffered great hardship, and they are still run by a Communist dictatorship.
But according to the movie, of course, we Americans were the invaders the Vietnamese people did not want us there. And so all these characters in the movie were protesting the injustice of America.
So why do you see this fake, leftist, anti-American history in almost every movie you watch? And and I could name almost any movie like Yellowstone on TV that has fake woke history woven into the plot.
You Don’t Have to Look for Conspiracies. It’s All Out in the Open,
This is not a secret, hidden conspiracy. Rush Limbaugh talked about this on the radio years ago. Rush Limbaugh explained how George Soros and the leftist billionaires had created this company in Hollywood that does all the research and provides all the scripts and all the props and everything you need to present a left-wing version of history. Which means that if any director anywhere is making a movie about the 1960s or the 1890s or any period in history, he or she doesn’t have to spend money on historical research to make their films accurate. They can take this shortcut. They just go to this “woke” leftist company and say “I’m making a movie about the 1920s” or “I‘m making a movie about the nineteen sixties. Could you give me the technical help I need to make my movie historically accurate? And course, these George Soros funded leftist organization says, “Sure. We have great historians to do that research for you”. But of course, all of their so-called historians present a one-sided woke, hate America view of things. And that explains why so many of the movies you see, have some anti-Republican, anti-Christian, anti- American, leftist socialist message in the plot somewhere.
I’m pointing this out because you just can’t get away from politics, even if you just want to see a good movie and forget about it for a while.
JOHN DEMASI: No. You can’t. That’s for sure.
There Were Two “Civil Rights” Movements. The First Was Good. The Second Was Bad.
SETH GROSSMAN: Last week, the news was filled with observances for Martin Luther King and, of course, we have Black History Month coming up. And it’s important to remember when we talk about the civil rights movement that there were really two civil rights movements. First, there was a what we call a first wave, which was to give black Americans in the Democrat Confederate South the same basic rights that blacks enjoyed in places like Atlantic City for eighty years. And that was a very good and positive thing. But we keep forgetting that the second that the civil rights movement then had a second wave or a second movement of using the government vote to get equality. And to get equality is socialism where you have to steal from successful people and give it to and reward unsuccessful people. And that is what created the problems we have today. And it also gave us this garbage so-called “Black History” that teaches that black Americans somehow have a different history than white Americans, It teaches that blacks were the only people in the world who suffered from slavery and who suffered from injustice and that whites were the only people who caused this. And this fake Black History has really divided America and has been very harmful.
So, when we talk about the civil rights movement, we really have to, understand that there were two civil rights movement. One was very good, one was very bad. And we have to remember that when we have Martin Luther King Day and when we have, Black History Month, remember that making sure Blacks in the South had the same voting rights, and rights to use public hotels, restaurants and transportation as all citizens in the rest of the country was good. However, the movement to guarantee economic equality by taking wealth away from successful people and forcing businesses to hire lesser qualified people based on race was bad.
Above Image: Beach and Destroyed Boardwalk After 1944 Hurricane. Five feet high wooden seawalls built after the storm protected Margate from most ocean flood damage ever since–long before Governor Christie forced Margate to build sand dunes in 2013.
Federal “Beach Replenishment” Is Expensive, Useless, Corrupt, and Unconstitutional.
I really admire, congressman Jeff Van Drew with all he did to stop the wind turbines. And I admire how he supports President Trump and his policies. But I disagree with him on one big issue. That is the idea that the federal government should be spending money to move sand from one place to another to do what they call “beach replenishment”.
Read the U.S. Constitution from one end to the other. You quickly see that it creates a federal government to deal with national problems like defense, like interstate commerce. The idea that somebody wants to live by the beach and have a a million-dollar beach house and then expect the federal government to spend a fortune to protect their beach is ridiculous. First, living by the beach is a choice and people pay a lot of money for that. And there’s no reason in the world for people who live nowhere near the beach to pay for that luxury. Second, this so-called beach replenishment does not work. For billions of years, the ocean has moved sand from one place to another. Third, beach replenishment projects break the budget. Congressman Jeff Van Drew can’t get hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government to do this unless he gets the votes of at least 218 other members of the House and 51 U.S. Senators. And they’re not going to vote for it unless Van Drew agrees to vote for their crappy, corrupt and useless pork barrel projects in their states and districts. And that’s what has broken the budget of America. And that’s why we have a, a $38 trillion dollar debt, that’s why the value of the dollar is dropping like a rock, that is why gold is selling for $5,000 an ounce and silver is selling for more than a hundred dollars an ounce.
There’s nothing to prevent Wildwood from making its own taxpayers pay to pump sand on its beaches. It’s the same thing with Stone Harbor and Brigantine and everybody else. There’s no reason to make people who live in Idaho pay for the beaches of South Jersey, either morally or from a practical point.
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Seth Grossman is executive director of Liberty And Prosperity, which he co-founded in 2003. It promotes American liberty and limited constitutional government through weekly radio and in-person discussions, its website, email newsletters and various events. Seth Grossman is also a general practice lawyer.
