Whoa Nellie... vote Welle!!!

The way I heard it, a wife frantically calls her husband to warn of a crazy man driving the wrong way on the freeway. He responds "One? There's hundreds of them!". Like the confused man in that old joke, Donald Trump is leading our country in the wrong direction. Not a “new direction”, the wrong direction, with the Republican US Congress quivering in the back seat too scared to act or speak.

So what does this have to do with New Jersey's 4th congressional district and Josh Welle, the long shot democratic candidate fighting to take that seat away from a complacent and complicit Republican Party? Everything! The 4th, represented by Chris Smith for the past 38 years, is the safest Republican congressional district in the state of New Jersey and is deeply in the pocket of an out-of-control Donald Trump. Chris Smith has ridden safely under the radar screen of controversy for 38 years, neither making waves nor leading change. He has soldiered on in the Republican party, rarely voting against party lines, and when he does, it’s from the safety of his party’s majority win in the end.

To be fair, Chris Smith's congressional service over the past 38 years should be recognized as the life work of a community minded citizen, something to be respected, maybe even honored. But it's time for a change! Our congressional district is deserving of fresh and energized leadership, not two more years of a representative so confident in his position he no longer lives in the district. More importantly, the insults to our values, dignity and democracy unleashed by this president on a daily basis requires a congress with the courage to stand up to him, not kowtow to him. That’s something Chris Smith and the rest of the Republican congress is incapable of doing. On the other hand, Josh Welle is a graduate of the Naval Academy in Annapolis, deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom and then Afghanistan, served 12 years active duty in the Navy and was second-in-command of a warship. He’s also a fierce advocate of women’s rights, a firm believer in affordable health care, a protector of Social Security/ Medicare, and the kind of new, energetic, leader we need to fight for the needs of the 4th district and help hold this president accountable for his outrageous and un-american behavior.

As a citizen of the 4th, I offer the following catch phrases to help contrast Josh Welle with the wrong-way circus that has become everyday politics in Trump’s America, and as an aid in properly pronouncing Josh’s last name, something I hope we’ll be doing for the next two years:

- President Trump says there were good people among the neo-nazis and white supremacists protesting in Charlottesville. Whoa Nellie... vote Welle!!!

- Chris Smith cannot find the words to acknowledge that a loving, married same-sex couple would be a good alternative to keeping children in foster care or an orphanage. Whoa Nellie... vote Welle!

- President Trump believes he has the power to violate the Constitution's 14 Amendment through a simply decree, ignoring every constitutional safeguard envisioned by our Founding Fathers and that which Trump swore to protect. What does Chris Smith say in defense of our Constitution in response to this attack by the president.... nothing. Whoa Nellie... vote Welle!!!

I could go on but you get the point. If you are outraged by the assault on our values, morals and Constitution made by this president, take the 4th congressional district out of his pocket and vote for Josh Welle on election day. And as a final corny catch-phrase I hope we’ll all be saying after the election - All’s Welle that ends Welle!