If you're trying to write a heartfelt appeal to convince voters to change their vote, you should probably proof read it first.

Also, you say you're independent but this post and your previous posts do not convince me of that.

Wahhhh!!!!!

Not a heartfelt appeal at all just like his common sense approach to a few issues I have heard him speak on.

Yeah if you look it my posts on reddit considering they are mostly in only 3-4 forums no doubt you might think that way. Socially Liberal, Financially conservative, be kind and live free.

EVERYONE IS STUPID EXCEPT FOR ME

You're welcome to go to Florida with all the retiree refugees if you idolize it so much since according to you it's such a haven for good voters with a brain of their own but making a post on reddit where 99% of NJ voters will not see this isn't doing anything so you may as well go outside right now and kick some rocks because at least you'll be affecting something in reality by doing so.

I love NJ and lived here most all of my life. Had you actually read the post you would understand why, I pointed out how great this state is. I posted this in the NJ forum knowing the reaction I would get and yup, so far it's just what I expected. Most people are so stuck on what ever team they are on for EVERY ISSUE that they can't hear anything over the inane chatter of their own opinion. Perfect example, how many times have you heard someone get all crazy about what phone they have. They pay $1,000+ for some product and then defend it like they invented it. In reality they are just the consumer who paid for product and need to justify why their decision in the best.

i actually like Bergen quite a lot but god damn this post ain't the way to get people to like him chief

Found Bergen's alt

I don't know....You're extolling the greatness of NJ and using capital letters, telling us to wake up, sounds pretty heartfelt to me.

I consider myself an Independent and I have voted Democrat and Republican in the past. I will usually research the candidates and vote for who I think is best at that time, or against who would be worst at the time. I would never try to use my research to convince someone to vote like me. To me, that's really what being Independent means.

You're talking about tribalism and that's something thats in our biology with how we evolved. Is it unnecessary and detrimental to how we vote and such? Yes. But don't mistake thr fact it's political partisanship that causes this. You've stated it yourself. People play tribalism with a goddamn android and apple. With Xbox and Playstation. With coke and Pepsi.

Curious. Do you think this ends when you go to Florida for example? Texas? Even California for our more left leaning voters? It's always going to be there. Right now you're complaining because so many voters vote between party lines. How do YOU know they voted for Murphy because he's simply Democrat for example? Did you even research the other republican? I'm not going to pretend NJ is perfect. Far from it.

But apply utilitarianism. What do you hope to accomplish by posting this thread? Change our minds? To see if there are valid counterarguments? To just vent about your frustrations?

I went and checked his Ballotopedia. Seems like an all right dude. Don't like it all, never going to. Really seems focused on vets and first responders.

The affordable housing stuff can go either way, but I like the idea of assessing a town's water and sewer, as well as public services, before forcing a town to just add thousands of units in order to meet an obligation or else lose all rights to builders remedy. The pendulum has swung way too far in favor of developers and needs to swing back, but not at the expense of actually producing affordable housing.

He sponsored a bill to make May LEO and CO month. A whole month? Really?

I’m sure the reason everyone moves away at retirement is totally about taxes and not about the winters.

Don't let the fence go too far up your ass.

I'll bet you the republikkkans have NO PLAN to do anything but bitch and complain.

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>Socially Liberal, Financially conservative, be kind and live free.

This isn't really something that exists in a system where socioeconomics play such a large role in equality and opportunity. It's not really reasonable to say 'I believe everyone should be able to live how they choose, unless their circumstances prevent them from affording to live how they choose.' Without financial freedom, there is no freedom.

Let's be real here and look at some facts about NJ though. Under the current governor we've gone from having a 600m budget surplus to a 6b budget surplus. Across the board, statistics on state run services have improved drastically, especially NJ Transit. Crime rates are down. Population is back on track to keep rising. The state police(as much as I hate cops) is doing a pretty solid job. State-funded roads and highways are in better shape.

Last, some anecdotal stuff. My job has me driving around the northern half of the state on irregular routes. I get to see a handful of different places each day and cover about 90,000 miles per year. In 2008-2014, I was a junky and spent most of my time in some of the worst slums the state had to offer. I often get to drive through those same areas these days and let me tell you, it's a night and day difference. The places that used to be open air drug markets aren't anymore. It's actually fairly difficult to go to NJ's major cities and find similar setups. The turnpike and parkway are a lot smoother than they were even 5 years ago. I own a home in a relatively large municipality and my property taxes haven't gone up since I moved in 6 years ago. And holy shit dude, the money I pay in taxes gets me a hell of a lot in value. My neighborhood is well policed, our fire departments are well equipped, our schools are great. 10 years ago I thought this state was a shit hole and could drive 10 minutes in any direction and find proof. These days the proof isn't as easy to come by. Sure, there's some stuff to be angry about; overdevelopment; pollution. But a lot of those things fall to the municipalities. The state isn't the organization letting Woodbridge approve dozens of high rise luxury condo complexes with no parking, or Rahway from approving massive apartment buildings downtown, or Edison approving absurd Amazon warehouses adjacent to residential areas without considering traffic planning.

Can we get news articles and not YouTube?

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I agree that these people need to move to FL or TX or NC or whatever state fits their current tax situation. I would like to pay less in taxes but I am comfortable enough now that I am willing to let my tax dollars go to help others less fortunate. That may change at some point, in which case I'll move and not try to encourage 8 million people to change for me.

The two parties are all we have right now. Independent voters give up their right to vote in party sponsored primaries, so go ahead be independent and give up your right to choose candidates...Good for you?

Yeah me too

Regardless of what you all think of the post, i'm a liberal. I left NJ last year after 27 years because of the cost.

When i moved there in 1996, round trip train fare was $6.75 into the city, now its $21.50. So, how much is it gonna be in another 25 years? $$65!!??!!? NJ gas was cheap so they taxed that. You cannot get on a highway without paying. Lincoln Tunnel was $4 when i moved to NJ, Now its $17!!! More than quadrupled in 25 years.

NJ is a gigantic pharma state flooded with cash and yet, the people pay and pay and pay. I looked at the writing on the wall for the next 2 decades as i approach retirement age, how on earth will anyone be able to afford anything in NJ?

This isnt a Dem Republican problem, Both sides have run shit into the ground. I certainly wouldn't trust a Republican to fix things, and the NJ Dems haven't been any better on taxation.

Sorry Jersey, had to go, you priced me out.

Are you a part of the Long Valley Patriots?

You could not pay me to vote for a Republican after growing up seeing the Tea Party and then the afterbirth that was 2016 to today. A democrat is the most suit I will take, give me someone actually addressing labor issues and to the left of them and you’ll have a voter for life.

No decent person sees the GOP of the last thirty years and hitches themselves to it. I don’t care if that’s half of the voting population, it’s the lowest denomination of the whole population.

lil bitch shut the fuck up

Nerdass post.

Thoughts and prayers

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have you ever seen how much social security pays out?

Someone who gets it.

to be fair though coke is just better

Everyone who has ever told me not to vote down the party line is someone who is absolutely voting down the other parties line.

Guys post history is wild. You can literally see where he snaps, about 3 months ago, and goes from relatively dormant to spamming gun stuff.

This guy is terrible. All he's interested in is a police state and directing all money to that.

So is PlayStation.

Christie heavily increased the gas tax, which hurts working class more, and former PA Gov Corbett (also R) increased it for PA by a huge amount (because he didn’t want to increase taxes on fracking corps even tho that new and exploding truck traffic was tearing up the roads, not passenger cars). I can’t think of one republican that has ever made any noticeable affect on the decreasing of my tax rate. Can anyone else??? Trump supposedly greatly decreased taxes but I guess I’m not wealthy enough for it to have affected me personally.

The fight these days for sane people is made in the primary for the Democratic party or trying to grow a third party. The GOP has totally lost the plot and is full of fascists, ultra nationalists, evangelicals, mega capitalist corporate shills and a smattering of other lunatics. The lunatics are running the asylum.

Yes. Both parties are bought and sold by giant special interests. What ideological wing has been pushing for lower regulation, privatization and increased corporate freedom over the years? This is not be a party problem (although one is definitely worse), it's a problem with economic conservatism and campaign contributions.

de-regulation always means de-regulating the shit people would never have voted for so that a few can make more money, and is usually detrimental to the common citizen in the long run. How bout de-regulating those breaks on train cars?

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I agree its a campaign contributions problem. One party utterly supports Citizens United ruling and the other doesn't. That should tell you about campaign law. Economic conservatism always means Republicans spend like end times when in office and shout from the rooftops about spending when they are out of power. NJ Republicans are no different.

Because old people have a fuck you mentality and don’t want to pay for the quality education that they received

Old people leaving is important. It frees up houses for the rest of us

Grifters. Can’t forget grifters.

We wouldn't have those state parks, etc without taxes. Yes our taxes are a bit high but we have some of the best public parks, libraries, schools, roads, etc in the country because of it.

There are more then 2 parties!