If this candidate becomes governor, NJ will reopen

As we close in on 400 days of 15 days to stop the spread, it's a question worth asking.

Although more than a million residents lost jobs and businesses and had their lives upended by endless COVID restrictions and emergency powers used by the governor, Murphy still looks like a favorite for re-election. The examples around the world and nation showing the stark contrast of successful policies compared to the abject failure of Murphy and his team don't seem to matter. Or do they?

Kids in Sweden stayed in school throughout the entire pandemic and no kids died. Georgia, a little closer to home, opened up last year with the same result. Florida, Texas and a number of other states have rescinded their COVID restrictions including the mask mandates and there has been a decline in cases, exactly opposite of what the so-called experts predicted.

Actually none of the predictions from the experts has become reality. We never ran out of hospital beds, never had millions of deaths, never had any reason to lock down society at all.

Now we're watching life get back to normal, not the least of which is the incredible optic of seeing 40,000 fans packed into a stadium to watch the Texas Rangers begin their baseball season.

It's pretty stupid that despite all of the evidence about how masks may be doing more harm than good, they still asked fans to wear one if they weren't eating. That said, hard to see a masked fan if you look at the videos posted online. And regardless of how many followed the rule, no distance and no masks on fans eating peanuts, hotdogs and drinking beer. So the entire COVID protocol is out the window.

Since we've already seen people packed together by the thousands as beaches opened up across the South, we know that there will be no danger to public health. Still barely any voices in New Jersey talking about this. Hardly a peep out of the so-called opposition in the Legislature. Certainly nothing of value coming from the presumed GOP frontrunner Jack Ciattarelli.

Then something happened. An unknown candidate out of North Jersey emerged and took a stand. Took a stand for working and middle class families. Took a stand for small business. Took a stand for medical choice. Took a stand for children and teachers. And his stand resulted in a record-breaking day of fundraising, which put his campaign for governor well over the threshold for qualifying for matching funds.

Phil Rizzo is that man and he has decided that enough is enough. He is running to replace Phil Murphy, energized by the coming backlash as New Jersey continues to suffer under an outrageous and unnecessary lockdown.

He joined me on Tuesday to tell voters why he believes he's the right choice to be the Garden State's next governor.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own. Bill Spadea is on the air weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m., talkin’ Jersey, taking your calls at 1-800-283-1015.

READ ON: See the States Where People Live the Longest

Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.