Janice Rykowski
Lambertville
The quality of the people we have elected to represent us in Trenton and Washington, D.C. is extremely lacking — especially when they have put same-sex marriage as their top legislative priority for the people of New Jersey.
Democrat leaders in the New Jersey Legislature and Congressman Rush Holt have placed same-sex marriage as the number one issue to address within the state. These Democrats have vowed to make same-sex unions their top priority in the coming weeks — two years after similar legislation was voted down.
While relationship equality should be a goal, it pales in comparison to New Jersey’s economic maladies, such as our pernicious 9 percent unemployment rate and the highest property taxes in the nation.
It is difficult to understand why this issue has taken center stage. Advocates of same-sex unions, in fact, are a very small portion of the electorate. Public opinion pollsters have found that it is an overriding issue for only highly educated people on the coasts living in liberal communities. Meanwhile, same-sex unions do not address basic legal equality (such as Title VII protection), which is far more important to the majority of gays and lesbians who don’t live in California or New York.
Personally, I believe the priority being placed by our NJ Democrat legislators is a red herring. It is meant to distract us from their inability to address and solve the really tough issues facing the majority of New Jersey citizens.
For the few crying about marriage equality in New Jersey, these marriage seekers always have the option of moving to New York, DC, Connecticut or New Hampshire. And when they do, Democrat leaders in the New Jersey Legislature and Congressman Rush Holt should consider going along for the ride.
