Holt 2024

ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE FOR WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.

MEET JOHN

I am a retired educator. I earned my doctorate from the University of Chicago, and I have taught English and humanities in grades 7 – 12 as well as college and graduate school. My first full-time teaching job was in 1967 at the College of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. I was also a department chair at the Chicago Latin School and at Centenary College (now University) in Hackettstown.

At present I am a trustee with the Washington Township Land Trust, having served as its secretary and treasurer; a member of the Washington Township Green Team; and the Chair of the Washington Township Democratic Committee. I am married to Nancy Gable, a clinical social worker; and I am father to four children and grandfather to five. I have lived in Long Valley since 2004.

WHY AM I RUNNING?

I want to represent the people of Washington Township whose concerns have been ignored or dismissed by the Washington Township Committee. Years of one-party rule have led to a kind of tunnel vision and even arrogance, a prime example of which is their cavalier dissolution of the Historic Preservation Commission. I believe that a more proportional political representation would make for a healthier civic community for everyone, including the Republican majority.

I am also concerned that all levels of American government are now beset by an extreme polarization of the Republican and Democratic parties. The broad national consensus of the period following World War II has been lost, and each party sees the other as a threat to the continued survival of the spirit of the Founding Fathers, the core of our national identity.

We disagree on what that spirit was, what made our new nation exceptional, what made it a beacon that the peoples of the earth could look up to as an ideal of what they desired for themselves and their children. I want to do what I can to regain that spirit at the local level, the spirit that animated my New England ancestors in their town meetings and guided their deliberations for the Common Good.

WHAT ARE MY POLITICAL PRINCIPLES?

I accept the idea that humans are both social creatures and rational individuals. I identify as a centrist Democrat who believes that politics is the art of organizing human societies according to rational principles, and that the best way to do this is through a broad social consensus on what all citizens value and hold in common. I believe these principles are articulated magnificently in the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution (including all its Amendments and the amendment process), and Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural Address.

While Republican conservatives tend to emphasize the values of private property, limited government, and individual liberty – thus focusing on the “rational individuals” aspect of our common nature – I agree with Democratic liberals in emphasizing the values of public property, a government that regulates the excesses of private enterprise, and the responsibilities of citizenship in seeking the common good – thus focusing on the sociality of our common nature.

Because my disagreement with Republicans is over matters of emphasis, not substance, I believe that the way forward, once we reach consensus on our national identity, is through reasoned compromise.

DONATE NOW!

Support John.

To donate, you can send checks payable to WTDC P.O. Box 265

Please ensure that your donations specify “Holt for Washington Township Committee” to direct your support accurately.