Why Christie's a Republican

In his speech to the Republican nominating convention Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, revealed why he is a Republican.  Of course he didn't say it in so many words, but he did reveal a key guiding principle of his life.  He said that his mother told him that, if he had a choice between being loved or being respected, choose being respected (see: Politico Story).  In many ways this mirrors a theme that I have been espousing of late -- Democrats govern with their hearts and Republicans govern with their heads.  And there is no clearer distinction to be drawn between the consequences of these two styles than Christie's success as New Jersey's governor.  He took a state broken by the dewy policies of Democrat Jon Corzine and his many Democratic predecessor governors and, in a few short years, has begun to bring this state back to fiscal solvency.

Clearly not every Democrat eschews logic in their administrative styles, but enough of them prosper by pulling the heart strings of their voters for me to comfortably make this generalization.  Too many Democrats denounce the economic self interest which is fundamental to capitalism as "greed."  Too many Democrats denounce any criticism of Obama's policies as "racism."  Too many Democrats denounce a belief in the traditional family unit  as "homophobia."  Too many Democrats denounce a desire to see people achieve their greatest inborn potential as "slavery."  Too many Democrats denounce right-to-lifers  as "sexists."  Do you see where I am going with this?  Using pejorative labels to silence your critics has been a strategy of those on the left for too many years now.  Listen to Christie ... it's time for Republicans to stop trying to be loved and go for respect instead. 

I actually think Romney gets it.