Christie's Liberalism a Bridge Too Far

Christie’s Liberalism a Bridge Too Far

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
January 29, 2014

Long before the shenanigans of what has unoriginally been dubbed “bridge-gate,” New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s bona fides as a RINO at best, a liberal at worst, should disqualify him from earning the 2016 Republican nomination for president.

Should the allegations regarding Christie’s involvement in the closure of the George Washington Bridge last September come to fruition as true, losing the nomination will be the least of his concerns. The bridge, traversing from Manhattan to Fort Lee, NJ, shuttles roughly 280,000 vehicles across the east-west span daily, is one of the busiest in the world at 100 million vehicles a year.

Christie is accused of orchestrating the closure, put into action by his aides, as revenge against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich (D) for a lack of an endorsement by the mayor for the governor’s reelection campaign. While Sokolich has said he takes Christie at his word when denying any involvement in or knowledge of the traffic snarling bridge closure, an investigation is being conducted by both the state legislature, currently under the thumb of a Democratic majority, as well as United States Attorney in New Jersey, Paul Fishman.

The George Washington Bridge notwithstanding, Christie has other problems that should prevent him from securing the 2016 nod as GOP standard bearer.

Just two weeks prior to facing the voters of the Garden State, Christie announced he would not appeal the decision made by the state Supreme Court approving same-sex marriage. Christie claimed fighting the court’s ruling would be “a losing battle.” Considering the lengths he has gone fighting the teachers’ union and many other “white whales,” Christie should have at least made an effort to speak out against the ruling and defend traditional, one man, one woman marriage. But he balked in deference to a powerful special interest group.

Additionally, one week after the ball dropped in Times Square, across the river back in New Jersey, Christie signed a bill into law dropping tuition costs for illegal aliens residing in the state. While legal residents and citizens of the other 49 states in the union must pay an out of state premium to attend Rutgers, Kean, Montclair State, William Paterson and the seven other state universities, people who have no legal right to even be in the United States, let alone take up space in a college or university, are given yet another incentive to break the law.

These are two important issues where Christie has opted to support the sides most deleterious to American society, culture, and morality. Sure, it won him reelection in an ultra-blue New Jersey as a Republican, but to most voters outside of the state, Christie is a bona fide RINO supporting the wrong side of issues that have galvanized not just other politicians, but a wide swath of American voters – especially illegal immigration which costs the United States’ taxpayers billions upon billions of dollars each year.

Each entitlement given to illegals only serves as an incentive to continue breaking the law while milking the American cow for all they can get. Free health care, public school attendance, food stamps, welfare – all paid for by hard working American citizens and legal residents who follow the law, but to what end? The continuing incentives given illegals will never stem the tide of their invasion into the United States, the breaking of our laws, and the rewards for simply being in this country.

Sadly, both major political parties are complicit in aiding and abetting the miscreants running amok in these United States. The Democrats see illegal aliens as future Democratic voters. Republicans see illegal aliens as cheap labor and thus are afraid to punish employers who are potential campaign contributors.

The answer is to punish employers by the amount of what a legal employee would earn in a year, deny illegal aliens any incentives for crossing the borders, and amend the 14^th Amendment to the United States Constitution granting citizenship for simply being born on American soil. The anchor baby notion of once there is a legal citizen in the US, he or she can then have the parents and eventually other family members in this country. The anchor baby citizen can then qualify for all sorts of goodies paid for by the real citizens of the United States working hard and paying taxes for the leaches to glom off of.

Between Christie’s bridge crisis which will no doubt span into the next election cycle and the liberal policies he is endorsing either by action or inaction, he is not just wrong for the Republican Party, but wrong for the nation.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN. He is a native of New Jersey.