X is united in outrage over a 15% planned NJ Transit fare hike! Head over to the platform and search by “NJ Transit” to find legislators, Lefties, and media-types criticizing the reported move to dramatically increase the cost of using New Jersey’s notoriously neglected public transportation system.
They don’t have to love it (I suppose), but the feigned surprise – and inability to take ownership – is more than a little jarring and obnoxious for those of us whose heads aren’t permanently lodged in our own assholes.
New Jersey voters made their decision in 2021 and again in 2023 and, for that matter, every election for the past three decades: abortion “access” and wokeness are higher priorities than affordability and fundamental liberties (like right to raise your own children). They’re willing to pay a premium for their “values.” And some values they are! I’ve been writing about this troubling trend since January 2018, but the NJGOP is still largely unwilling to confront the problem.
Such is the Garden State electorate’s fealty to the cultural Left’s priorities that they’re willing to swallow anything even when the scam is transparently fraudulent.
Governor Murphy bragged about stable NJ Transit rates when he was pushing his FY2024 budget. Once the Democrats legislative majority was safely returned to Trenton, powered in part by Democrat loyalists living in NJ Transit corridor communities… boom. Massive increase. It no longer mattered if they were pissed because they had already returned the ballots.
And remember the “StayNJ” property tax relief program? Which Democrats ran on in 2023? Well, as predicted, it appears the state’s coffers will fall below the level necessary to avoid a “pause” of the program before it even sends out a single check.
Anyone could’ve seen this coming if they wanted to see it coming. “An independent analysis finds the state is looking at a budget shortfall between $12.5 billion to $18.5 billion beginning in FY2025, while the StayNJ program will not take effect until January 2026,” Audrey Lane of GSI warned in a June 2023 Save Jersey post. “Meanwhile, NJ Transit, our school funding formula, and healthcare all face massive deficits.
It was once claimed that New Jersey deserved a government as good as its people.
What if that’s what we already have?
A majority of voters wanted this or at least they thought they wanted this. Until they don’t? Expect correspondingly miserable results.
