why New Jersey is...
and will forever be, a political cesspool...

I live in District 13 in New Jersey. The township I live in was voted the most desirable place to live in the United States several years in a row. There is a lot of implied wealth around here and some real wealth. We lost a fair number of citizens on 9/11. You can't navigate from one side of town to the other on a Saturday or Sunday in the Spring and Summer because of all the soccer moms in their SUV's. The car of choice around here these days is the Bentley. And the Hummer. Town hall is packed every meeting with citizens, voicing their displeasure, wants and needs. We have lots of churches, lots of synagogues and a few mosques. There's lots of ethnic diversity and, for the most part, everyone gets along. Where we live, on the wrong side of the tracks, literally, is the old town. A mile long strip of homes built in the late 18th century, 19th century and a few 20th century homes, horribly out of place. Everyone keeps to themselves, there's usually no trouble around here, it is, in spite of my constant bitching about the rampant building of McMansions and strip malls, not a bad place to have put down permanent roots. But as far as caring about the New Jersey Gubernatorial Race, you can cut the apathy with a really dull knife...
I usually leave for work at six in the morning, which is when the local poling place opened. It's in the middle school about a mile away. I left a few minutes early and was there at six. We share the poling palace with NJ District 1, so there was another voter there as well. I was the first primary election voter in District 13 at the stroke of 6. After I voted, I went to work. I got home about six thirty tonight and asked Mrs. SOG about voting, she said she went after school got out, she was at the poling place a few minutes before 4 PM. When she signed in she asked the volunteer how many people voted during the day. The old lady shook her head and said,
"Dear, you're number ten...".
In the time that elapsed between my voting and my wife voting, a total of eight other citizens bothered to exercise their most treasured privilege, voting in a free election.
So that about sums it up, doesn't it? There's not much more I can say. Opportunity squandered is opportunity lost...

Touch me...