Where do we go from here?

Over the past few weeks, many of my fellow residents have shared ideas with me on how they believe we should proceed as a community. I have also seen brilliantly written and well-intended letters, emails, and more, submitted to elected officials. With that, I wanted to share a few thoughts, as well as my own suggestion(s) on what (I believe) should be our collective next steps.

The suggestions and efforts I have seen thus far can be summarized as follows -

1. Reach out to our elected officials -
   
   Bad idea...here's why: ALL politicians lie, are deceptive, and attempting to lobby them is an utter waste of time. Politicians lose their humanity and they do so, quickly. they have absolutely no interest in fighting for the interests of their constituents, no matter what they state to the contrary. These folks go out of their way to lie and mislead. For example, did you know that the Truth in Advertising laws, approved by Congress years ago, include an explicit exception for political advertisements? They literally protected their own ability to lie! Especially with respect to matters that potentially involve or even remotely touch upon religion, Josh Gottheimer, cannot be trusted. Noting that as many of us have known about the plans of certain communities to expand into NJ for years, back in November, prior to the election, many of us were diligently trying to get others to appreciate that Gottheimer would not be of any help to us in our fight to protect our communities. Please consider, at all costs, what I do not want to do is be perceived as 'leaning' left or right of the political aisle. In truth, I don't want anything I write to be perceived as my attempting to be political, in any way, shape, or form. But when sharing facts, you wind up walking a fine line. After all, why would I share a specific fact if it goes against what I believe, personally? In my experience, being objective and non-partisan is so rare it can hardly be recognized anymore. Sharing facts is not the same as sharing opinions. Are we now supposed to turn to our useless Senators, Menendez and Booker? Menendez is a criminal and Booker is a space cadet. I detest Cory Booker, as a quick aside. He is like a bad Broadway production, where every one of his moves is carefully crafted. He is a puppet. I don't care about on which side of the aisle he sits...the man winks and wiggles, thinking he will convince others that he cares about them...he doesn't. More on this loser, later. :-)
   
2. Community Events-
   
   Good idea...but it won't achieve anything...here's why: I do not object to there being walks, speaking engagements, or other events. However, these will literally achieve nothing other than give us an outlet to share our thoughts and feelings with people...that already agree with us. Also, please remember, awareness is useless. I am telling my clients this all the time. Awareness does nothing. I am aware of a lot of things in this world...it doesn't mean I buy every product or use every service.
   
3. Focusing on the symptom, not the cure- Typically, efforts such as most of those I have mentioned above aim to eliminate symptoms, not cure anything.

• Forget politicians. They are literally useless. They will matter once our voices are loud enough and they want to pretend like they are in full support to ensure they get re-elected.
  
• Strength in numbers. Bergen and Rockland Counties, as well as any others interested, must band together in a single unified voice and message. We must create a list of USA Today's advertisers and then send a letter, on behalf of all of us, that we will stop using their products if they continue to support USA Today's publications, until such time as they begin to report accurately and fairly. USA Today's senior management should be copied on this letter. But folks, it is of crucial importance that we all boycott these same products in LARGE numbers and get others to do the same. Idle threats are the devil's workshop.
  
  Many of you are concerned with sending a message to those who do not have Facebook or other social media apps...this is a crucial step in reaching them with a truly holistic and balanced message.
  
• Similarly, we need to send a message to the corporate donors of our elected officials. Truth be told, Gottheimer is a Junior Representative, so I'm not sure how much he could achieve in the first place. We need to send a concise letter explaining our situation and what we need done about it to these sponsors with a similar message that we will boycott their products until our voices are heard and action has been taken. Essentially, we need Gottheimer to come to us. If he responds to your letters now, he will take minimal action, if anything at all. This is a larger problem than it seems...a group is hiding their true intentions behind their religious liberties and this requires significant help.
  
• Most of all, above anything else...we need a government policy/constitutional attorney working with us. This is of vital importance. Does anyone know of someone?

In conclusion, the most significant point in all of this is that we cannot, at any time, whimper. With humility, please consider that I would be happy to support with writing these letters and leading in any way I can. However, I would need help with the necessary research and we need to organize community outreach to ensure these boycotts are fulfilled and not strayed from. These elected officials and media outlets believe that time will soften our voices. That cannot occur.

If you are ready to make this happen...I'm eager to help.