>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.

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.

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