Greetings Fellow Citizens
The winds of secession are blowing in the Garden State: New Jersey was once free, and it can be again.
Over the past 50 years, the U.S. Federal Government has grown too big, too corrupt and too aggressive toward the world, toward its own citizens and toward State level institutions. It has abandoned the democratic vision of its founders and eroded Americans’ fundamental freedoms.
New Jersey did not join the Union to become part of an empire.
Some of us therefore seek permission to leave.
Originally settled by Dutch and Swedish pioneers escaping oppression, New Jersey quickly became a beacon of freedom and liberty in a dark world. The early settlers brought with them concepts of individualism which still inspire us today. New Jersey was once a land where every citizen was free to forge his own destiny.
Today, however, New Jersey no longer controls even its own National Guard, a domestic emergency force that is now employed in an imperial war 6,000 miles away. The United States now spends six times as much on its military as China, the next highest-spending nation, funding more than 730 military bases in more than 130 countries, abetted by more than 100 military space satellites and more than 100,000 seaborne battle-ready forces. This is the greatest military colossus ever forged. And it is disproportionatly funded by New Jersey citizens.
New Jersey has the highest imbalance of any state in the United States between what it gives to the federal government and what it receives. In fiscal year 2005, New Jersey taxpayers gave the federal government $77 billion dollars but only received $55 billion dollars back. This difference is higher than any other state and means that for every $1.00 New Jersey taxpayers send to Washington, the state only receives $0.61 dollars back. As of 2005, New Jersey has never been above 48th in rank for per capita federal spending (with a rank of 50th for the majority of that time) while being 2nd or 3rd in the per capita federal taxes paid to Washington.
This disparity is not superficial. In order to pay the Federal Government its high ransom, New Jersey often runs into deficits and has one of the highest tax burdens in the nation. The large federal tax liability is not adjusted for New Jersey’s higher cost of living and other local conditions. Incomes tend to be higher in New Jersey which puts people in higher tax brackets especially vulnerable to the alternative minimum tax. Higher salaries are negated when the high property and state/local income taxes and the low rate of return by the federal government are factored in.
In his Farewell Address, George Washington warned against the danger of a permanent standing army that “can be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.” A more recent general-become-president warned: “We must never let the weight of [the military-industrial complex] endanger our liberties or democratic processes.” Sadly, the American people have not heeded the warning of either of these national heroes and we are now in a state of financial and political ruin.
