It's been almost a year since Gov. Murphy has single-handedly taken power away from your representatives in the Legislature and RULED over our lives. A state of emergency, as written in the New Jersey Constitution, was intended for brief periods of time, like in the aftermath of a storm, natural disaster or attack. Several attempts have been made by a small handful of legislators to limit that power to 15 days, subject to the approval of YOUR representatives in the assembly and senate.

Several small demonstrations took place early on to urge the governor to give the power back to the people. The power for people to run their own business. The power to assemble and go to their jobs. The freedom to live life. The reason people haven't done more to force his hand is because they are ignorant, scared and weak. If you're one of those people that think Murphy's doing a great job, then that means YOU.

You're ignorant of how our system is designed to function. You're scared of a virus with a very low mortality rate, due to fear mongering by the media and some in politics. And you're weak in thinking this is how we should do as we are told, because THEY know better.

Murphy just lifted the curfew on restaurants and "allowed" for an increase in capacity from 25% to 35% for indoor dining, along with other minor tweaks on indoor gatherings. It should be up to free people to legally operate their own businesses and the citizens decide whether or not they feel safe enough to patronize them. Other states with governors who understand how our system works have done this with great success and no appreciable rise in COVID-19 cases. Lockdowns potentially do more harm than good in the short term for the economy and long term for mental, physical and psychological health.

People continue to flee this state because of all of the things that big, out-of-control government has already done to make things nearly impossible to bear here. Here is another reason the pastures may indeed be greener in another state like Florida, Texas or South Dakota where you have the choice to live your life as you see fit. Live free or die is the state motto of New Hampshire, not New Jersey, that's become glaringly obvious to many of us this past year. Murphy has made a mockery of the motto on our state flag. "Liberty and Prosperity." We have neither here with tyrants like him.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy. Any opinions expressed are Dennis's own.

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