Weekly Update – September 30, 2012
LIBERTYandPROSPERITY.org
1.?? Are you registered to vote???? Is everyone you know registered to vote??? Your kids or grandkids in or out of college??? Their boyfriends, girlfriends, or co-workers??? Especially kids, grandkids, other relatives and friends living in swing states like Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio)?? Co-workers, employees, customers, people you hire for odd jobs???? Make sure that they all know what you know about what four more years of Obama will do to this country.?? This is the most important election so far in your lifetime!?? And don?t forget to mention the U.S. Senate race where Republican Joe Kyrillos is running against Bob Menendez.
2.? There is only one more week to get everyone you know registered to vote.?? The absolute deadline for papers to be RECEIVED by your County Board of Elections is October 9!??? If anyone you know moved since the last time they voted, make sure they change their address with their County Board of Elections by October 9!? Remember Murphy?s Law and don?t wait for the last possible day.?? If you don?t know where or how to register, contact Seth Grossman at sethgrossman49@gmail.com.
3.? Don?t be discouraged by polls and reports on network TV.??? Remember how they all were ?shocked? and ?surprised?? by how many Democrats were voted out of Congress in 2010,? And by how much Scott Walker won his recall election last year.??? There is a simple reason for that.?? Those polls cannot measure how effective ordinary citizens like you can persuade?friends and neighbors.??? If a? few million people like you persuade just one or two people to vote or switch their votes in the next five weeks, everything changes.
4.? And before you complain how the Romney campaign “is not getting its message out”,? ask? how anybody can?get any message out with every major TV network and daily newspaper lying about and distorting everything Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan say?every day.?? And while Democrats work together as a team, why won’t a single Republican leader in New Jersey from Governor Christie to Assemblymn Chris Brown and John Amodeo and Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson and Freeholder Frank Formica do or say anything to defend Romney pr Ryan when they are?unfairly attacked??? And why are last year’s and possibly next year’s unsuccessful?Republican candidates for State Senate or Assembly like Vince Polistina in Atlantic County, or Dave Deweese? or? Suzanne Walters in Cape May County , or Sam Fiocchi in Cape May and Cumberland Counties so quiet????? Why is it that Republican leaders blame Tea Party conservatives for hurting the Republican party, but we are the only ones who publicly defend?the national ticket???? Why is it that most people understand how a good quarterback can’t make good plays unless he is protected by his linebackers–but don’t understand why a candidate also needs protection from his or her team.
5.?? By the way, during the past week,?Democrats and the media have been caught?lying and distorting the facts and the news to help the Obama campaign and hurt Romney and Ryan more than ever–even to the point of covering up military disasters in Libya and Afghanistan.???? They would not be doing that if they believed they Obama was comfortably ahead.
6.?????? Latest LibertyAndProsperty.org Radio Message:? ?Four years ago, Democrat Governor Jon Corzine? tried to ?privatize? our toll roads by selling the Parkway, Turnpike, and Expressway to private investors.?? The investors would pay the state lots of money upfront, and Corzine Democrats would use it to reward their friends before the election.?? After the election, we would all pay eight-hundred percent toll hikes for the next twenty years so the private investors could get their money back and make big profits.
?Now Republican Governor Chris Christie is planning to sell a big chunk of the New Jersey state lottery business to private investors.
?Under the deal, these investors would pay the state one hundred twenty million dollars up front in return for a monopoly on the state lottery business for the next fifteen years. This would let the Governor and a bunch of state politicians help a lot of their friends before next years? election.
?For the next fifteen years after the election, the private investors could get their money back in a whole bunch of ways?and none of them would be good for people who play the lottery?or the small business owners who now sell the tickets?or taxpayers..
?Article Eight, Section Eight of the New Jersey Constitution says that state government cannot borrow money without a vote of the people.??? This is nothing but a gimmick to get around our Constitution??
7.?? More than six hundred people, including more than three dozen LibertyAndProsperity.org members crowded into the Assembly of God Church in Vineland last Thursday to hear Brigitte Gabrielle.?? Thanks to Brenda Roames and www.greenwichteaparty.com for putting this event together.?? Ms. Gabriel’s presentation included these topics:
????????? Suppression of criticism of Islam
????????? Homegrown jihad
????????? Terrorists infiltrating our borders
????????? The Muslim Brotherhood and creeping sharia law in America
????????? Misrepresentation of history in our public education
????????? How Radical Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood are infiltrating our government
Since not a word of this appeared in any of our daily newspapers or local TV, get at ?http://tclblogger.blogspot.
[redacted]
9.?? New LibertyAndProsperity .org Radio Message: ??About nine years ago, the Hotel and Motel owners of Wildwood had a really bad idea.???? They wanted state government to help the tourist business.
?And so they supported a new seven percent tax on every hotel and motel in New Jersey on top of the six percent sales tax everybody paid already.? That came to thirteen percent.
?When the sales tax went to seven percent, the hotel and motel tax went to fourteen percent.??? That is on top of the highest property taxes, business taxes, and income taxes in the country.
?This new tax was a disaster for every hotel and motel in Wildwood?and everywhere else in the state.
?First, money from the new double tax on hotels and motels? did not bring more tourists to the shore.??? It chased them away instead.?? A lot of them went to low tax resorts in Delaware, Virginia, and even Florida.
?A big chunk of the tax money paid for political jobs and contracts that did not bring any new tourists.??? Lots of money paid for concerts, plays, and art exhibitions that very few people wanted to see.
?And some smart tourists figured out they could avoid the big motel tax completely by renting out beach houses and condos instead.
?If the Wildwood hotel and motel owners were smart, they would admit they made a mistake and demand the repeal of the double tax on hotels and motels.
?But instead they are doubling down on the bad bet they made nine years ago.?? They are now demanding a new double tax on beach houses and condos.
? Learn how only liberty creates prosperity.?? Liberty means getting government out of business and business out of government.??? It means lower taxes for everybody?and simple laws that apply equally to everyone.? . .?
10.?? Your tax dollars at work.?? Most of our high property taxes pay for public schools.??? NJ State Law forces each of the 103,000 public school employees to pay roughly $1,100 per year (a total of $113 million each and every year) to three unions, the NEA (national teacher?s union, NJEA (state union) and a local union.?? ?Each of those unions spend some of that money on expensive professionally prepared newspapers and emails to all ?175,000 current and retired public school teachers, janitors, clerica workers, and cafeteria workers.?? Here is part of this month?s message from the NEA? urging everyone to support? ??Educator?s for Obama?. ???Every public schools employee was forced to pay for this message:? ? In his first term, President Obama made education his top domestic priority.? He works for us.??? How you vote in the presidential election is a personal decision, but NEA recommends President Barack Obama for his tireless support for public education and America?s middle class?.?? The mailing then urges all NJ public school employees to go to www.NEAFUND.org to help the Obama re-election campaign.
11.?? New Jersey has the third highest state government debt in the nation.?? It owes $281 billion, or $32,023 per person, or $128,100 for a family of four.?? This is the second highest state debt per person in the country.??? So why did Republican Governor Christie, and Republican Assembly Members John Amodeo and Chris Brown vote to borrow $750 million more???? This borrowing is subject to voter approval on November 5.?? Think carefully before you vote for more state government debt.?? More debt today means higher taxes for 20 years until the debt is paid.?? And talk about this important ballot question to everyone you know.?? The Republicans, Democrats, and daily newspapers have been very quiet about this important issue.
12.?? Shae Dailyda is an active, well informed, and articulate member of LibertyAndProsperity.org.?? She is a candidate for a three year term on the Egg Harbor Township Board of Education.?? This year, EHT School Board elections will be held together with the general elections on Tuesday, November 5.? For more information go to her her website www.shae4eht.org.??? We encourage you to learn more about candidates who support our basic principles of liberty and to help them.?? However,? as ?tax-exempt, education organization, LibertyAndProsperity.org cannot get involved in any political campaign
13.?????????? Regular Breakfast Discussion this Saturday, October 6, 2012 from 9:30AM to 10:30AM at the Shore Diner. Tilton and Fire Roads in Egg Harbor Township.? Regular live, two way talk radio on 92.1 FM (Vineland) heard in most of South Jersey, Philadelphia, and Wilmington, Saturday from 8AM to 9AM. Last week, angry phone calls from three Obama Democrats proved that the program is reaching a lot of ???Seth Grossman should return to Larry Trulli and Dan Klein radio programs on 1020AM (Ocean City) Mondays from 8AM to 10 AM.
14.?????????? Bring a friend or family member to the next Breakfast.?? Liberty and Prosperity will pick up the check for one of the three Liberty specials for the first time any South Jersey high school or college student attends one of our breakfasts.?? We don?t expect you to attend every breakfast meeting, but you should attend one meeting every month or two to learn the news that never makes the TV networks or daily newspapers.? Forward this email to friends and family and ask them to sign up for our email updates at http://www.
15.????????? Stockton College is doing a ?Democracy Caf?? program of round-table discussions on ?political and civic issues? facing a democratic society?? According to its Press Release, ?the events are free and open to all?.?? The location is the Campus Cener Gallery East, ourside the Board of Trustees Room in the Campus Center in Pomona.?? We urge you to attend as many of these sessions as you can and present the ?Liberty and Prosperity? point of view.?? Please contact Seth Grossman at sethgrossman49@gmail.com or 609-927-7333 to pick up literature explaining our organization.1.????????????? The next event is ?Rewriting the Constitution? (but not understanding and defending it) this Tuesday, ???October 2 from 12:30 PM to 2PM.
16.? Become a full voting member of LibertyAndProsperity.org! Dues are $60 per year, attend 3 business meetings each year, and work on at least one volunteer project each year. Or be a non-voting supporting member for just $30 per year, with no other commitment.??? Forward this email to friends and family, and ask them to sign up for our weekly update at http://www.
17.? Volunteers needed to distribute LibertyAndProsperity.org literature at the New Jersey Cranberry Festival in Chatsworth, New Jersey during the weekend of October 20 and 21.? If you can help, please contact Dennis Mahon at dmahon1@yahoo.com.
18.?? Last week, radio talk show host Harry Hurley wrote a column in the Current Newspapers of Atlantic County which asked this question:?? ?Why does New Jersey consistently elect Democrats???? Seth Grossman?s draft column suggests some answers.?? What do you think??? Please? read the rough draft of that column for the Current and Gazette weekly newspapers in Atlantic and Cape May Counties and forward your corrections and suggestions for improvement to Seth at sethgrossman49@gmail.com. Thanks.
Last week, my fellow columnist Harry Hurley asked, ?Why does New Jersey consistently elect Democrats??
When I was a sophomore at Atlantic City High School in 1965, New Jersey was one of the best states in the country to live and work.??? We had no state sales or income tax, but my public school education was second to none.??? Rutgers and most state colleges charged less than? $800 per year for tuition, room, and board.?? I and most of students easily earned that much (plus beer and apartment money)? in a single summer working on the Boardwalk.?? Borrowing money to pay for college was unthinkable back then.?? (I also learned just as much from my summer jobs as I did from college.)
Yes, you had to play politics and pay ?ice money? to get a low pay government job or a sweetheart government contract or license.??? But most people did better starting their own businesses.?? They did not want or need favors from politicians to make a good living.
But in 1965, New Jersey re-elected Democrat Governor Richard Hughes and continued eight years of Democrat control of? both the Senate and Assembly.? In 1966, these Democrats promised to cut New Jersey property taxes by having a new 3% state sales tax help pay for local public schools.
But instead of cutting property taxes,? money from the new state sales tax gave local politicians and teachers unions more political clout.? They then used it to demand and get bigger salaries and more benefits.?? So local property taxes kept going up even with (or because of) the new state tax.
In 1969, just four years later, New Jersey voters were so fed up that they elected Republican Governor William Cahill and a Republican legislature in a landslide.?? But? Republicans quickly betrayed the voters who trusted them.?? Despite new money from the new state lottery, Republicans failed to repeal or reduce the 3% sales tax.? Instead, they increased it to 5%!
Then, Republican Governor Cahill appointed the previous liberal Democratic Governor Richard Hughes as Chief Justice of the state supreme court!? Hughes immediately ripped the New Jersey Constitution to shreds.? His court ordered the state to impose a new state income tax to fund local public schools.? He also created loopholes for state government to borrow billions of dollars without the voter approval as required by Article VIII of the NJ Constitution.
So Republican Cahill and the Republicans were voted out after one term in 1973.?? Democrats under Governor Brendan Byrne ran all branches of state government for the next eight years.?? In 1976, they gave us the 3% income tax demanded by the Hughes Supreme Court on top of the 5% sales tax.
In 1981, the success Ronald Reagan made it possible for? Republican Tom Kean to become Governor, and for Republicans to again rung the New Jersey Legislature.??? But these Tom Kean Republicans did as much taxing, spending, and borrowing as Democrats.?? Republicans raised state income taxes to 3.5%, hiked the sales tax to 6%, borrowed billions without voter approval, boosted government pensions without paying for them,? and left the state with $3 billion short in their last budget year.
So in 1989,? NJ voters put Democrats back in control with Jim Florio as Governor.?? Florio doubled the state income tax rate from 3.5% to 7% for incomes over $60,000.
There was so much anger that New Jersey voters defeated most Democrats in November, 1993, and elected Republican Governor Christie Whitman and a Republican Legislature.?? The lame-duck Democrats were so demoralized that they actually tried to roll back the entire Florio tax hike.??? The dirty little secrets is that they were stopped?by Republicans!?? Republicans wanted their new Governor Whitman to look like a hero by repealing only a small part of the Florio tax hike.
Would you be surprised that Whitman?s Republicans then spent the next eight years packing the after packing the Supreme Court with even more liberals???? And by increasing state borrowing, spending, and government regulations as much as Democrats???? And that when they were thrown out, ?Democratic? Governors McGreevey, Codey, and Corzine did the same thing–and raised taxes.?? McGreevey gave us the 14% hotel-motel tax.?? Corzine the 7% sales tax.
Since 2009, Republican Governor Chris Christie has done? what Republicans Cahill, Kean, and Whitman did before.?? Complain about Democrats?but spend, tax, and borrow just like them.
These Republicans will never change?unless Tea Party conservatives organize and get strong enough to consistently beat them in June primary elections.