Open letter to Governor Chris Christie.

Governor Christie,

I thought that you were a smart man and straight-shooting person. But after what I have read in the news about you lately, regarding a tax on e-cigarettes I have changed my mind. Anyone that would put a tax on something that would be a benefit to the health of people just to get a few million dollars in additional taxes is being inconsiderate of people's health.

I would say, a smart person would sit back and think of how a tax could be put on something that would bring in the few millions that would be needed to replace the loss of taxes on tobacco sales.

Well Sir, I would not consider myself to be smarter than the ordinary Joe, but I am smart enough to figure out a way to put a tax on something that would benefit people's health, and at the same time, reduce the amount of criminality in a state. All you need to do is find a certain product that affects health negatively and also affects some people's thinking and causes some of them to act out of character. For example, alcohol. This product is the cause of a lot of people being in jail for crimes that they would otherwise not have committed without using it.

Here are a few examples of what alcohol can cause people to do. Domestic violence (a wife being beaten by a drunken husband), rape (either those consuming it acting more aggressively and violently or else being intoxicated to the point of not being sober enough to give proper consent themselves), kids going hungry because the person responsible for their well being cannot control their consumption of alcohol (and spending), armed robberies, drunk driving and whatever else you can think of what abusing of alcohol does. In fact alcohol is worse for health and the conduct of some people than even smoking regular cigarette tobacco. So why not add a tax to that to try to discourage consumption rather than taxing something that may help people from developing cancerÉ

Oh yes, it just dawned on me. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to put a tax on something that would result in not giving you enough votes in the next election now would you? Or is it a case of "to hell with peoples health and actions, I just want to balance the state budget and get re-elected?"

Regards,

Bob in Canada