This was a courageous move even by Chris Christie's standards and it's yet more evidence for why this man absolutely must be President of the United States some day. The reporting on this particular story is especially repugnant because of how the story is structured. Basically, the reporters seemed to have gone around to various representatives of the organizations experiencing the cuts and asked them to vent. It's a giant complaint bullhorn and a pretty lazy job of reporting. Predictably, there is massive outrage from the people who stand to lose money and power.
Let's step back for a second. If you're someone with a certain budget and that budget gets cut, what's your reaction going to be? If your boss comes to you and informs you that your job is no longer necessary, how would you respond?
The answer is unquestionably negative. By asking people who are losing money how it's going to affect them, you aren't getting anything close to the full story. Nobody receiving money is ever going to admit that they don't need as much as they're getting. It's against human nature. You're never going to say "Sure. I and the people with whom I work don't need this much cash." or "Are you kidding? My job is not even necessary!"
Take it a step further. Many of these people experiencing cuts are constituents voting and organizing votes for certain members of the Legislature who reward those votes with bigger budgets. So, when that cash flow is threatened, members of the Legislature are going to yell, scream, carry on, threaten consequences, etc. That keeps the money and the votes flowing. No representative in his right mind would say "Sure, these people who show up to my campaign rallies and get people to vote for me don't need any of this money. Cut it!"
The question that arises is, why can't journalists see this? I'm not saying they shouldn't be asking the people who are facing the cuts to comment and there's no stopping members of the Legislature from venting their side of the story in the news. I'm asking: where's the balance? Where's the objective balance in this story? When you interview the people facing the cuts and the reps in the Legislature who are trying to protect their votes, the news is necessarily skewed. The result of the story - without the journalists uttering a single sentence of opinion - is that Chris Christie is a heartless bastard cutting off funding for the poor, the old, the children, the (insert weak, helpless victim here).
The myth of government spending is that it's all for the little guy. Tax cuts are always for the wealthy or big business but spending goes right into the pockets of seniors, poor people and the down and out. Have you noticed our representatives in state and federal government, union leaders or the lobbyists surrounding them driving around in beat up pick up trucks? Government spending is big money, and when representatives can bring money back to their constituents, it's even bigger. When those representatives can award massive grants to localities, education instiutions, scientific research, union contracts, "green" companies, etc... don't be fooled. That money is taken from taxpayers and given directly to rich people - who put a lot of it right back into the campaigns of the obedient representatives who brought it home either with contributions or by organizing voter support. Sure there is necessity for government spending but if you believe the myth that all public spending goes to the needy, you aren't paying attention.
So who's looking out for the taxpayer? Who is objectively analyzing the money being spent in state budgets and coming back with a clear and unbiased explanation for where our dollars are really going? Why do you think state and local (and soon the federal) governments across the country are bankrupt? There is no check and if reporters are too lazy to do anything more than ask people who are dealing with cuts what their opinion of those cuts are, there won't be any clear check. Governor Christie is made out to be the villain but the fact of the matter is, he hasn't even begun to address the problem - not even in New Jersey. Get this man in the White House ASAP.
