From my perspective and that of my wife, a retired public employee and a retired teacher who rely on state pensions and Social Security; it is sheer suicide to vote for Obama. Under Obama's radical plans, there will be no money to pay left over for us. It is all destined to go to folks whose votes Obama can buy. Obama doesn't want a safety net for needy people; he wants cradle to grave dependency. Coupled with the limits Obamacare places on medical treatments for seniors, if you want to survive, avoid Obama. For younger folks, a vote for Obama is also sheer insanity. Without reform there will be no pensions, Social Security or Medicare for them. In order to save them, retirement ages must be raised, something Obama and the NJ Democrat controlled legislature refuse to even consider. That would resolve the solvency problems and would give the younger generations more than enough time to revise their finances. For that reason, our mid-30s son, also in the state pension system, will be voting for Romney. Please don’t be like the World War II Kamikazes and sacrifice your future and your children’s futures for the good of Chicago style political bosses, don’t sacrifice your vote for a Democrat with the cry, “Long live Dependency. Down with Freedom." Vote for yourself and vote for the future financial security of your family. Vote for the Republican Party.

Couldn't agree more. Thank you

Quote from Bob Griffiths; "It is sheer suicide for any public employee or retiree on Social Security and Medicare or woman that cares about her equality to vote for a Republican."

It should be obvious to anyone who tracts current events that The Republicans want our economy to be reset to 3rd world status. Only then will they bring back jobs to America. So keep voting Republican Americans and take us down the drain.

Just last week I was talking to a Doctor friend of mine. He admits to me he does quite well financially. After some tit for tat conversation, I said I can't understand how any women could vote Republican? He said, "I know, crazy, isn't it?"

Of course you don't get it, Bob. You are a liberal. Take, take, take. Before you do anything or vote you have to ask yourself , ..."What's in it for me?"
I am or were a public employee and am or will be collecting a pension. Having been in a social worker for the state/county for over 32 years I know the system well. I know all the social programs well and how effective they serve the population they are supposed to help. But that's another story. Perhaps a whole blog some day.
I don't like the wide brush some use to paint public employees. But I also know much of the criticism is well deserved. Civil service rules and public employee unions have states by the ... Protections and what was supposed to be fair contracts have gone so far they boarder on organized crime. Politicians giving everything away for votes and campaign cash.
I understand that if EVERY Republican or conservative got everything they wanted I might get hurt. But that won't happen. Most are reasonable. I'm willing to do my fair share regarding public employee pay and pension and benefits. I consider myself a good American first. it isn't all about me first. It's about what kind of country I leave for my children and your children.
Of course you don't get it.

In my business I deal with people all over the world. Talk to one of them about socialized ( Obamacare ) medicine and then come back and write an article. Our worst policy is better than their best. All this program will do is place even more of a financial burden on the taxpayers.

I am a registered independent - and both side are going to have to work really hard for my vote. Both sides are liars and one side had ';on the job training' which didn't teach him too much, so I am guessing it's an election of 'pick the lesser of two evils' AGAIN..... Rather than run on accomplishments this race is all about who can dig up the most dirt on the other... and tell the most believable lies...

Obama must go. His performance and lack of work ethic is deplorable and unacceptable..

Kamikaze Dems want to crash the country's economy into the 17 trillion dollar aircraft carrier.
Banzai Barry is the lead pilot, followed closely by his lap dog Banzai Bob.

Same old tired talking points and scare tactics. The dems plan has worked so well. 23 million unemployed, record food stamps and 1 in 7 in poverty. Obama has helped the middle class by making it smaller, pushing more and more into poverty. Can't run on results so slam the other guys. What are you going to do to fix this mess Griffins. Go to Washington and vote for what gets you re-elected or what's right for America. Both sides should ask that question not what will it do for me.....greed runs rampant on both sides and it is not just rich people that can be greedy. Wake up America and take the country back from ALL the politicians.

Those voting Republican are like ignorant Lambs to the Slaughter......the one's at the top play the "Patriotism" card, VERY skillfully, and the lambs follow.....

Bob, just want to thank you for a thoughtful article. Of course, we in the private sector understand why there may be some animosity against those public sector employees whose salaries, benefits, retirement and job security have grown so much more quickly than ours. But by the same token, public sector employees must realize they serve at the pleasure of the officials elected by the private sector workers who pay for their generous salaries, benefits, retirement and job security. Given that public sector pension benefits are projected to consume a majority of our state budget, a budget built on unsustainable tax rates, the reality is that the generosity of our elected officials will itself come to an end, and balance must be restored to the situation.

I again wish you the best in your quest to become our elected representative. You are a thoughtful person and there is no doubt we need more thinking members of congress.

Best thing about the patch is you can easily see the past blogs someone wrote, if you have any intelligence you would know this guy never quotes sources or facts, just repeats the liberal rants! - Proud Conservative Public School Teacher

Bob---did some fact checking and yes some republicans did question the constitutionality of child labor laws. But this highlights how things are being distirted. They questioned who had the right to issue the laws not the laws themselves. State vs. federal...sounds like something else doesn't it.....ohhh it's a penalty, no tax, no penalty...opps can't get by as a penalty it's a tax.

I leaned for Obama last time because I believed the hope and change speech, but with his dismal record I am not getting fooled again. it's the old fool me once, shame on you but fool me twice, shame on me. Now it really is time for a change.

" Republicans are not only trying to walk away from their own stupidity when it comes to Child Labor Laws" Stupidity?? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

Bob, you are disingenuous. Newt was talking about about how classic liberal Democrat solutions have failed people. Like the poor urban child in public school. Your answer is more money for publicly employed teachers [which also means more teacher union dues for liberal Dems.] And then more entitlements for the third or forth generation of this child's family. Newt was talking about trying to expose these children to something that is alien to many of them. Work and the what's involved in doing a job. Getting to a place on time, being part of a team that helps something run properly, being responsible, the value and self worth of having others depend on you for something, etc. Our urban youth and our youth everywhere might be able to learn some of these values at our schools if we think out of the box. Newt did not say fire janitors or cafeteria workers and make the kids do the work. The kid on welfare in our cities hasn't seen someone go to work and earn a paycheck in generations. What's Obama's and your response to that miserable failure? Did Obama inherit this mess from Nixon and Obama needs four more generations of more welfare to make it right?

BTW, Bob. I don't recite talking points from political manuals like some here. I speak from experience as a social worker, 32 years in the streets. Mostly on the streets of Abbott districts where we have poured lots of extra money in welfare and extra school funding. In my caseload I've had 3 generations of welfare. Some of the teens when I started are now grandmothers. Too bad none learned to push a broom or fill a lunch tray.

Change for the good of the people is never easy, as being the catalyst of change is not for the faint hearted, but President Obama is up for the challenge. Romney offers nothing but the same old Republican policies that failed in 1929...failed in 2008...and will fail with Romney. I also feel that the economic solutions proposed by the President have been consistently blocked and obstructed by the Republicans in Congress, Republicans that put their political ideology before the recovery of the American people and their families.

I would like to know why these posts make the board? Calling the opposition stupid and ignorant is ok but my posts do not get approved. Guess the moderators are biased. Not cool! I thought Patch is trying to exand it's readership..You know what word of mouth can do....cant say I will say anything good about a site that is one sided

I would like to know how many eligible voters in the area vote the party and not the candidate. My wife and I over the years have crossed party lines many times in hopes of getting, who we thought, was the best candidate elected. Some party line voters would vote for a chimpanzee if it was running on their ticket. We have also voted, many times, for the lesser of two evils because many times we are hard pressed for decent candidates on the ballot. We will vote for Romney this time around, because he is DEFINITELY the lesser of two evils,after the last four years and may hopefully get some order back into the American taxpayers lives. GOD BLESS AMERICA. Bring back the GOOD OLD DAYS!!!!!

NEWS FLASH: The Golden Goose is dead. The U.S. is broke, owing three dollars for every dollar that is borrowed. Grow up, Bob. It's time to throw away your love beads.

I'm not sure if you guys knew already, but CHRISTIE is having a town hall meeting on the 27th. Let's expose this job killer with a protest. OCCUPY CHRISTIE, see here https://www.facebook.com/events/536371506390042/

Why do you think highly educated university academics support the President, while the opposition is seen as red-neck hillbillies with tea bags on their hats, saying "keep government away from my medicare?"

If a Liberal needs health care,he demands that the rest of us provide it.
If a Conservative needs health care,he shops for it or finds a job that provides it.

If a Liberal is down and out, he wonders who is going to take care of him.
If a Conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.

Well, I know I am coming into this topic very late. Mr. Griffiths, I must complement you on your writings. Very articulate, and your history is grounded in some facts. Isn't it amazing that the very historical pattern you criticize (1929) has been taking place for several years? Specifically, Hoover (Republican was president during the beginning years of the Great Depression - Which spread all over the globe. Then FDR (Democrat was president during most of the remainder) took over, and continued the same policies Hoover enacted. Work programs (infrastructure), government backed loans, and other government driven programs. Bush (Republican during the beginning of the "Great Recession") brought introduced the government driven stimulus, TARP. Obama (Democrat) continued Bush's policies. Despite the criticisms one can levy against all the above, they accomplished the same thing on the domestic front (I want to stress - On the Domestic front) I do not want to make any comparisons concerning wars/foreign matters that these men had to contend with.
It was not until Eisenhower (Republican) - Possibly one the the greatest military men to have lived, took office and enacted domestic policies (and continued several work programs from the previous administrations) that brought us out of the Depression. He reduced the size of the military, and gave us a surplus budget. and warned us of unjustified government spending and the miltary industry. Now its time for a Republican, in my opinion,

BG as I see you are an inspiring politician, that’s why your writings are so misleading and downright wrong (or I could say lies) you parse FDR for getting the country out of the Great Depression when FDR’s own economist have put it writing that FDR’s plan was a failure (as is BHO’s) the only thing that got the country on its feet was WW2! And we can forget the national Ponzi scam SSI another of FDR’s great achievements (or we could have called it The DC Slush Fund) Filled with IOU’s from both the D’s and the R’s. You man in the Peoples Office is a looser economically as well and internationally the world knows a good joke when the see one! 40+ months of over 8% unemployment. The nation’s credit ration falls twice the mutt’s in the Middle East are urinating on us! I have to go or I would fill the page with facts and d truths about BHO but I have to go back to work OH by the way I am self-employed I did it on my own! BG why don’t you try to become a COMMUNITY ORGANIZRE!

bob its always interesting to watch you rile up those with tea bags hanging from their daniel boone and thomas jefferson hats. why not ask them if romney will get rid of his swiss bank accounts and the money he made sending american jobs to china like he and ryan said they would on 60 minutes.and even today bain is still doing it. they just laid off 170 factory jobs for sensata technologies and to rub salt in the wound these american workers in illinois will have to train their chinese replacements. when these dopes on this thread find out the tax loopholes romney says he will talk about closing after the election are actually their mortgage interest deductions and deductions for each child dependent. let romney win these people deserve what they get even if the rest of us in america have to suffer just so they finally get it. by the way romney thinks you should be able to open windows on airplanes hasnt he ever seen james bond in goldfinger?

heres the mantra of those like jerseyswamp and every other republican. if they have success they built it (as well as the schools and roads they used to have their success). if they failed the govt ruined it for them. if they get a break they deserved it. if you get a break its a handout and entitlement just like romney's own dad who got welfare for years before hitting it big.

jersey art gm is the top car seller in the world and even sold more cars to china than toyota did. plenty for you to complain about there right? instead of buying cars from china we are actually selling cars to them. saudia arabia and china have invested billions in solar while these " colonial re enactment players" whine about solyndra which was a program started by bush to get businesses loans.

the gop just blocked a billion dollars in funding for vets programs and things like suicide and post traumatic stress counseling as well as job traing programs. thats the thing with republicans they stick a " i support the troops" sticker on the back of their toyota suv and that covers their obligations. republicans love sending people to war. but once those shattered troops come home they get bupkiss from republicans. they didnt even mention them once at the rnc convention. romney mentioned them though as part of the freeloading 47$ who dont pay income taxes as active service members dont pay income tax. those bums.

I too enjoy a good political and historical discussion, where both sides listen to each other. All too often one side only wants to hear themselves and nothing else. That said, I think the one thing the presidents of old did not have to contend with (unlike the presidents of today), is welfare. What they worked with back then were types of "workfare". I don't believe that any president up to Kennedy would have supported entitlements as they are today.
Today's Democrats and Republicans are more alike than different. Carter, while a nice guy (and smart) was an ineffective president. Reagan (in my opinion our greatest modern day president) encouraged domestic growth and defense spending. Clinton (when you separate scandal from man) was a good president. He reduced miltary and welfare spending. That is why I say: Vote for the person, not the party.
Obama has shown himself to be ineffective. He too has been focused on the corporate sector like Hoover (except he poured billions into it ala Solyndra). He has also been indecisive as commander-in-chief like Carter (Afganistan, Iraq) - I say that because he has not done what he claimed he would do.
To Mrgrumpass - I agree that FDR's policies did not bring us out of the Depression, however I disagree with you about WW2 doing it. It would take another thread to discuss that. However, may I suggest that you read about the Baby Boom.
Again - Vote for the person, not the party.