Governor Christie and the Politics of Intimidation

In an act of political reprisal, the staff of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie created a traffic jam last September which delayed a half-million people for 3 to 4 hours each day over a period of four days.  The target of the reprisal was one small-town mayor who refused to endorse Governor Christie for re-election.

The term "abuse of power" has been missing in news reports about the incident.  But abuse of power is exactly the crux of the scandal in New Jersey.  Governor Christie and his staff were put in office to use that power for the betterment of all citizens, not to use that power for their own political gain.

The scandal illustrates the politics of intimidation as practiced by Governor Christie, and is a preview of what we can expect if he is successful in his campaign to be the next President of the United States.

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Ghengis Khan understood.  Niccolo Machiavelli understood.  And Chris Christie, governor of the the State of New Jersey, also understands.

What they understand is that intimidation is an effective means of seizing and keeping power.     

Niccolo Machiavelli wrote that intimidation was necessary for a prince to gain and keep power.  Machiavelli wrote that it is good if a leader is loved, but better if he is feared and respected.  To be only feared is insufficient, and to be only respected is insufficient.  To be feared and respected would ensure that potential opponents would find it better to be supporters of the prince.

It is sad, but likely, that every prominent politician plays this game.  It is human nature to reward supporters, and to punish opponents, to regard supporters as friends, and opponents as enemies.  And intimidation – the selective application of punishment – is an effective way to turn opponents into supporters. 

In many other countries, the political process of punishment and intimidation is harsher than in the United States.  In Kiev, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is serving a seven year prison term for corruption, in what is generally regarded as political retribution.  In Russia, dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky was recently released from a ten year sentence.  Although convicted of tax evasion, Khodorkovsky was clearly imprisoned for political opposition to Vladimir Putin.  And in North Korea, the new ruler Kim Jong Un put his uncle to death, either by being blown to bits by anti-aircraft guns, or torn apart by a pack of starving dogs, depending on what report is to be believed.   The more severe the punishment, the more effectively it stifles opposition.
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 For four days last September, Governor Christie’s staff and appointees caused a traffic jam as an act of political retribution.  A traffic jam seems like a fairly minor issue, except that the traffic jam was staged on the busiest bridge in the world.  The George Washington Bridge connecting New Jersey to New York City carries nearly 300,000 cars every day, including buses and other vehicles with multiple passengers.  The traffic jam caused 3 or 4 hours of delays for more than 500,000 people.   According to information in the news, this is a conservative estimate.

Consider for a moment the scope of the traffic jam, and let’s compare it to Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s sentence of ten years for political opposition to Vladimir Putin.  Khodorkovsky paid the price of 87,600 man-hours for opposing Putin – ten years of a man’s life.   On the George Washington Bridge, a half-million people (who were completely innocent of the dispute) lost at least three hours each for four days, for about 6 million man-hours.   The time wasted is equivalent to 684 years of human life.  Which of these reprisals is more egregious?

 The closure of lanes on the George Washington Bridge was an act of punishment for one man, the mayor of a small town of 35,000 people.  The mayor, a member of the opposition party, refused to endorse Governor Christie’s campaign for re-election.  Governor Christie's staffers apparently hoped that the mayor would lose his own election due to public anger about the traffic.   

Governor Christie built his public image as a moderate politician, able to work across party lines with President Obama, and able to secure the endorsements of Democratic Party mayors and officials within the state.  The foundation of those endorsements is now deeply in question.  How many endorsements has he won through respect, and how many endorsements has he won through intimidation?

Governor Christie, so far, has avoided being directly implicated in the scandal.  Nevertheless, if at least four of his senior staff and appointees are involved, how can he be innocent of the general strategy of political intimidation? 

Governor Christie is currently the leading candidate from the Republican Party for the office of President.  If this event is indicative of the way he and his staff operate, what would these people do with the full power of the NSA to identify political opponents throughout the country?

As Machiavelli observed, to maintain power, it is necessary to be regarded with fear and respect.  Chris Christie may still be regarded with fear, at least within his home state of New Jersey.  But for me, it is difficult to imagine how Chris Christie can still be regarded with respect on the national stage.