The New Decoder Pin Republicans
A New “By Invitation Only” Secret Club.
On May 8th, somewhere in a diner in Freehold New Jersey, carefully shielded from the unwashed toothless masses, a group of self-appointed elite “leaders” are gathering...to rescue us!
But…it is by invitation only.
Of course it is.
Because nothing says “grassroots movement” quite like a velvet rope and a secret guest list.
The latest genius attempt to “unify” New Jersey’s fractured GOP has arrived in the form of a private club called the New Jersey Conservative Organization Club (NJCOC) — a carefully curated circle of insiders, organizers, and political hobbyists who are finally going to finally fix everything. In other words, the same people who destroyed the New Jersey GOP and turned it into a Superminority in Trenton are now gathering in secret to fix it by shutting out even more people.
The invitation from this new “club within a club” explains what it is about:
GOP legislators, and their hand picked cheerleaders, will gather to do what they probably should have already been doing: collaborating, information-sharing and public activity, etc.
Perhaps the legislators 67% pay increase has become an incentive.
But, this is where the whole thing begins to feel less like a political movement and more like something out of the family favorite holiday movie “A Christmas Story” — specifically, the Little Orphan Annie Secret Society.
You remember it.
Ralphie waits breathlessly for his decoder pin. He tunes in religiously. He follows every instruction. Finally, the moment comes — the big secret message.
And what does he get?
“Be sure to drink your Ovaltine.”
A crummy commercial.
Seems like we are now Ralphie witnessing another attempt to create a self-serving crummy commercial in Freehold, New Jersey.
But, New Jersey taxpayers should remember another commercal before these elites begin patting themselves on their own backs…
“Where’s the Beef?!”
In other words… show us what you have done so far.
THE INVITATION IS THE POINT
Let us be honest about what this “invitation only” structure really is.
It is not strategy. It is not discipline. Frankly, it is not even an organization.
Rather, it is insecurity masquerading as exclusivity. Because when a movement is confident in its ideas, it expands. When it is unsure of itself, it contracts.
And when it has nothing real to offer, it does silly things like starting to hand out secret decoder rings and secret handshakes to get in to make you think something special is taking place.
The overall central mistake is clear: too many organizations on the right in New Jersey are built around people instead of causes.
This new club does not correct that flaw — it perfects it.
Instead of opening the tent, they are shrinking it.
Instead of rallying people around issues — property taxes, the gas tax, affordability, school funding — they are rallying around… each other… and a few carefully selected politicians to “celebrate.”
Because nothing energizes a struggling movement quite like a room full of insiders congratulating themselves.
Perhaps that is why New Jersey is starting to see the genesis of an independant movement.
FROM JEKYLL ISLAND TO THE FREEHOLD DINER
If all of this feels familiar, it should. Because we have seen this before.
In 1910, an elite group of powerful bankers and political insiders slipped away to Jekyll Island, Georgia for a secretive meeting. No press. No public. No debate.
The main participants included:
Nelson W. Aldrich
U.S. Senator and chairman of the National Monetary Commission. He was the political leader of the group and the driving force behind banking reform.A. Piatt Andrew
Served as the Treasury Department’s representative and provided technical economic expertise.Paul Warburg
A German-born banker widely considered the intellectual architect of the Federal Reserve concept.Frank A. Vanderlip
President of National City Bank (now Citibank), representing major New York banking interests.Henry P. Davison
Senior partner at J.P. Morgan & Co., closely tied to the Morgan banking empire.Charles D. Norton
Head of one of the most powerful banks in the country at the time.Benjamin Strong
Represented Bankers Trust; later became the first governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Out of that closed-door gathering came the blueprint for what would eventually become the Federal Reserve System — a sweeping transformation of the nation’s financial system, crafted not in the open marketplace of ideas, but behind carefully guarded doors.
Now, whatever your view of the Federal Reserve, one thing is undeniable:
When elites gather in private to “fix” things for everyone else, the public tends to get the results, not a seat at the table. And those results are always better for those who did the fixing.
And here we are again.
A diner instead of an island. Political operatives instead of financiers.
But the instinct is the same:
Control the room. Control the conversation. Control the outcome and decide what is best for everyone else and how the organizers can gain from it.
The lesson of Jekyll Island is not that secret meetings are powerful. Rather, it is that they are disconnected and self-serving. And in politics, disconnection is fatal.
Hence, the results of that meeting is unaffectionately known as “The Creature from Jekyll Island”. Are we now waiting for “The Creature from the Freehold Diner?”
At least the men on Jekyll Island walked out with a plan.
This group may walk out with nothing more than a mailing list.
MEANWHILE, BACK IN THE REAL WORLD
While the decoder pin crowd gathers, New Jersey families are dealing with:
Property taxes that have crossed the $10,000 threshold
Rising gas prices with a built-in tax escalator without a vote by the legislators
Energy costs climbing into winter
School funding systems no one can explain, let alone defend
But do not worry — somewhere in Freehold, someone is going to be “celebrated.”
That is the continued disconnect. And unfortunately, it is not new.
The left builds movements around people’s problems. The right builds meetings around personalities.
This “club” is just the latest example.
While some are building invitation-only clubs, the New Jersey Property Taxpayers Coalition is building pressure.
While they are celebrating politicians…the Coalition is drafting the bills those politicians have failed to write and putting them on their desks.
And while they are holding closed-door meetings in diners, the Coalition is opening the doors across all 21 counties.
Because the families of New Jersey need someone to fight for them.
THE FANTASY OF CONTROL
There is also a deeper misunderstanding at play here — one that keeps loses elections.
The belief that you can choose your coalition.
You cannot.
Politics is not a dinner party. It is a street fight.
You do not win by carefully selecting who gets to sit at your table.
You win by assembling the largest, most effective coalition possible — including people you do not like, do not trust, and do not fully agree with.
History is filled with alliances between people who could not stand each other because they understood the alternative was losing.
But here in New Jersey, we have apparently decided to try something new:
Keep losing… but with better guest lists.
THE DECODER PIN PROBLEM
What is most striking is how perfectly this moment mirrors that scene from “A Christmas Story.”
There is anticipation. There is secrecy. There is the promise of something important.
And at the end? Nothing!
It risks being nothing more than:
A meeting about meetings.
A celebration of politicians.
A discussion of how to get more Facebook likes on their posts.
A discussion on how to get through the next election with nothing to show
A closed-door conversation about how to fix problems the public was not invited to discuss.
In other words… a crummy commercial.
THE REALITY THEY ARE IGNORING
The future of the right in New Jersey is not sitting in diners waiting for invitations.
It is not in carefully curated email chains. And it is definitely not in exclusive clubs.
It is with:
Homeowners drowning in property taxes
Families struggling with rising gas and energy costs
Parents fighting for control over their children’s education
Small business owners suffocating under costs
Voters who have checked out because no one speaks to them anymore
Here is the hard truth:
If your strategy requires excluding people… You have already lost.
If your movement cannot survive without controlling who gets in the room… It is not a movement.
If your big idea is to gather a select few to “coordinate” the future… Do not be surprised when the rest of the state changes it without “you”.
Because while the “Secret Society” is passing out invitations… Everyone else is looking for leadership.
And they are not finding it there.
People do not want a decoder pin.
They want results.
The same Dawn that didn’t like her man’s arrest being talked about and turned her staff loose to have them have IGs office come at me ??? Nice