On September 9, 2013, a political scandal erupted when a staff member and political appointees of Republican then-Governor Chris Christie colluded to create traffic jams in Fort Lee, New Jersey, by closing two of three toll lanes at the main toll plaza for the upper level of the George Washington Bridge during morning rush hour.  Republican dirty-trickster David Wildstein, former GOP Governor Chris Christie, and Port Authorty bigwig Bill Baroni.

In a searing and uncompromising address to the people of New Jersey, progressive firebrand Lisa McCormick issued a clear and furious indictment of the Democratic Party’s worst offenders—those who, a dozen years ago, sold out their voters, their values, and their very integrity by enabling Christie’s reelection in what she calls “one of the most disgraceful acts of political surrender in modern New Jersey history.”

The names are familiar to anyone who’s followed the slow, suffocating decline of the state’s Democratic machinery into a swamp of cronyism and cowardice: Senator Cory Booker, South Jersey political kingpin George Norcross, and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo.

In the hallowed halls of the Museum of the Bible, a temple to a commodity he has never read and a faith he has never practiced, President Donald Trump performed his latest act of constitutional arson. Flanked by acolytes, he promised his faithful a new crusade: to bring government-sanctioned prayer back to public schools.

The announcement, like the man himself, was a masterful confection of grievance, hypocrisy, and outright fabrication, designed not to protect liberty but to consolidate power by pitting Americans against their own founding principles.

Let us be clear: the "right to prayer" Trump claims to protect is not under threat.

Anti-establishment progressive Democrat Lisa McCormick issued a scathing condemnation of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin’s proposal to rescind the landmark 2009 Endangerment Finding, calling it a blatant act of scientific denialism and a corrupt handout to the fossil fuel industry that will poison communities and accelerate climate catastrophe.

The numbers don't lie, but the gun lobby does.

Across America, so-called "stand your ground" laws - those dangerous statutes that allow armed citizens to shoot first and ask questions later - are fueling a deadly epidemic of violence.

The evidence is overwhelming: these reckless policies are increasing homicides while doing nothing to make Americans safer.

The American experiment bleeds onto the marble floor of a ransacked Capitol, not from the crude knives of a mob this time, but from the calculated, grinning scalpels of those sworn to protect it.

We stand at a precipice, staring into the maw of something rancid and familiar—the chemical stench of unbridled avarice and power lust masquerading as governance.

The restoration of trust in the sacred machinery of democracy isn’t some polite academic exercise; it’s a bare-knuckled brawl against a cabal operating with the subtlety of a sledgehammer and the moral compass of a coked-up jackal.

This is the desperate, bloodthirsty cry of a tyrant who understands nothing of justice, nothing of life, and nothing of the moral fabric that is supposed to hold this nation together.

Donald Trump, a man whose entire term was a masterclass in corruption, cruelty, and the grotesque abuse of power, now dares to posture as a champion of justice.

Can Americans trust the man who tear-gassed peaceful protesters for a photo op? The same man who locked children in cages and golfed while a pandemic ravaged the nation? The same man who incited a violent insurrection to overturn the will of the people? This man now presumes to lecture us on the sanctity of life?

Traffic fatalities in New Jersey rose sharply in 2024, with 691 people killed in 654 crashes, representing a 14% increase from the previous year, according to official figures. The state recorded 85 more traffic deaths than in 2023, with speeding identified as a key contributor to the rising toll.

Public safety advocate Lisa McCormick said the growing number of speed-related fatalities underscores the urgent need for a shift in driver behavior. “Speeding was a factor in more than 200 traffic deaths in New Jersey last year,” she said. “Every driver has a responsibility to understand the real impact of their decisions behind the wheel.”

“Drivers must remember that every time you get behind the wheel, you are taking other people’s lives in your hands and you have to make good decisions,” said McCormick. “Your need to get somewhere quickly does not outweigh somebody else’s need to have a life, a limb, a son, or a daughter.”

When the federal government injected $814 billion into American households during the coronavirus pandemic—$11,400 for a family of four over 18 months—it wasn’t squandered on frivolities. It was saved. Aggressively.

The U.S. personal savings rate tripled to 33.8%, the highest since Truman occupied the Oval Office. Child poverty plummeted by nearly half, hitting the lowest rate ever recorded in September 2021. For $630 a month—less than the average car payment—millions of American families caught up on bills, paid down debt, and breathed.

Then the system snapped back to normal, which was so bad that citizens in the richest and most successful republic in history twice elected an authoritarian fascist who was convicted of crimes by a New York jury and used his political power to avoid trials in three other indictments.

There is a persistent, comforting myth sold to the American public: that our economy is a pure meritocracy, a rising tide that lifts all boats. It is a lie.

Labor Day is an excellent time to reveal the truth, which is far uglier and more deliberate.  As Mahatma Gandhi said, “The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.”

The American economic engine has been systematically reprogrammed over the past five decades, from a vehicle for shared prosperity into a kleptocratic machine, meticulously engineered to funnel wealth upward while convincing those it fleeces that they are merely temporarily embarrassed millionaires. 

Introduction

The United States faces an evolving set of security challenges in the 21st century—from cyber warfare and climate-driven instability to pandemics and economic disruption. A progressive approach to national security must be multifaceted, integrating robust defense capabilities with proactive strategies to prevent conflict, strengthen alliances, and address the root causes of instability. 

This policy paper outlines a comprehensive security framework that prioritizes resilience, innovation, and global cooperation while ensuring America remains capable of both deterring aggression and prevailing in any conflict.