In response to a recent editorial in The Sun, with respect to New Jersey being 48th of the 50 states in terms of personal freedoms, may I suggest in contradicting the writer that this ranking is disgraceful. Does the writer even know the true definition of freedom? In the broadest sense, freedom is being able to do whatever you want as long as it does not negatively impact your fellow citizens. Why should that be wrong?
Let’s face it — New Jersey is a police state with a cop on every corner, most of whom are just itching for an excuse to arrest somebody or charge them with the latest “crime du jour” as promulgated by “our” jackass legislators in Trenton, who enjoy controlling every aspect of our lives. As an example, if they could get away with it, all firearms would be completely outlawed in New Jersey. As it now stands, if a homeowner shoots an intruder, the homeowner will be raked over the coals and jailed by police, not the criminal. A young man from Colorado who had relocated to Mt. Laurel was given a seven-year sentence in state prison for paperwork violations related to his legally purchased firearms brought here from Colorado. Is this egregious violation of out Second Amendment rights going to make us all safer? I think not. Thankfully, he was pardoned by the governor after extensive appeals.
Sure, driving while texting or talking on the phone should be illegal, because if you crash, it’s going to “impact” your fellow motorist(s). But driving without a motorcycle helmet or not using a seatbelt only impacts the person doing it. What about smoking cannabis — again, it should be a personal choice. Don’t like guns? Don’t own one. Hate cigarettes? Don’t smoke and stay away from people who do. Against recreational drug use? Abstain! But don’t ram your personal ideologies down the throats of all others like the control freaks in Trenton.
We can’t have raw milk, we can’t have firecrackers, we can’t even swim in a public pool in a rain storm (all state laws) all for our own good, all because our politicians love us and care about us so much they need to “protect us” from ourselves because we’re a bunch of idiots, too dumb to come in and out of the rain, and, if we don’t obey their senseless dictates, cops will break your door down in the middle of the night looking for “drugs” and clobber you over the head; that’s your big fat sloppy wet kiss from the Nanny State that “loves” you.
The writer seems to sanction what are called “sobriety checkpoints.” These police state tactics are nothing more than illegal, unconstitutional fishing expeditions where cops cause a traffic jam on a busy highway as they harass innocent motorists without probable cause, while looking for any excuse to write a ticket or make an arrest. Then, if a police dog “alerts” they have their “probable cause” to detain you or tear your car apart looking for whatever they can find (or plant). And if they find nothing they leave your stuff scattered all over the road and drive away. Yes, I know people it’s happened to.
I agree with the writer in one respect — freedom isn’t free. When our “public servants” get out of control and walk all over us like sheeple, as they do now, we have an obligation to push back and reclaim our rights before we end up as slaves, which is the natural progression of all government. As George Washington said, “government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force. . .”
It’s time to send a message to Trenton (and Washington) — we will not tolerate usurpations of our constitutional rights. We will not tolerate police state tactics in a “free” society, and we will not tolerate government control freaks micromanaging every aspect of our existence.
Don’t tread on me.
Jeffery Martin
