I asked a bunch of New Jersey state legislators–Andrew Zwicker, Roy Freiman, and Mitchelle Drulis–where they stood on S.1923, which “[p]rohibits investment of pension and annuity funds by [the] State in companies that boycott Israel or Israeli businesses,” and A.3882, which establishes the State’s official definition of anti-Semitism. I also asked each of them for an explanation of why they hold the view they hold. Never got an answer from any of the three, so I’ve decided to return the favor in the upcoming primary election by voting against them, even if they’re the only choices on the ballot. Hard to vote for people who insist on turning the state legislature into a forum for the defense of an apartheid state, but can’t be bothered to explain what they’re doing or why.

The Democrats’ favorite electoral tactic nowadays is moral blackmail: vote for us in all of our grandstanding, pseudo-liberal glory, or else you’ll end up with out-and-out fascism of the Trumpian variety. It’s probably past time for these people to figure out that that game gets old after awhile; it ends when the players start to become fascists themselves. And fascism is pretty much where the Jersey state legislature is headed: when you act in the service of an apartheid state by defining dissent as racism and punishing it by law, call it what you like, but you’re in fascist territory. At that point, the electorate faces a choice between Democratic fascism by the local train and Republican fascism by the express. One of the trains may be slower than the other, but both end up in the same place.

They can head there if they like, but they can hardly expect the targets of their vitriol to climb on board. It’s one thing when Ozzy sings “Crazy Train,” and another when the legislature writes it into law. Call me a spoilsport, but that’s when I get off.

Persistent, aren’t they? But so am I.

Is it unfair of me to go after these poor, hapless, well-intentioned volunteers? I don’t see why not. Maybe if they were a little better intentioned, they might be a little more thoughtful.

September 29, 2023: promise kept.