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Legislative timewaster alert - NJ seeks to turn "Freeholders" into "Commissioners"

I think every state in the union has some form of county government. In 49 of those states the elected representatives for the county are called "Commissioners". But in New Jersey each county is governed by a Board of Chosen Freeholders, rendering the representative's official title as "Freeholder".

It's a historical term from English common law, referring to someone who owns his land free and clear of the King. What could be more emblematic of freedom than being the owner of your land? Wouldn't we want to emphasize that roots in the community, rather than fealty to the Sovereign (eg the government), is a desirable trait for our elected leaders?

Well apparently the term "Freeholder" is now racist. Yup. It's been in use for more than 400 years, but since it may at one time have been applicable exclusively to white (rich) men, now it's racist. This ought to be big news to the 5 African-American and one Latino member of Essex County's 7 member Freeholder Board (four of whom are women). They seem perfectly content to go about their business and run for re-election as "Chosen Freeholders".

Nonetheless, Guilty White Liberals are determined to abolish the term and replace it with "County Commissioner".

Doesn't our state have some slightly more important problems to solve? Why are they wasting their time on trivialities of nomenclature? Suppose they change the name; how much is it going to cost to reprint all the paperwork and change the signs and update all the web pages and phone books? Couldn't they find a better use for that money?

Freeholder is an ancient and honorable title. We would lose a piece of our history if we were to abandon it. Plus, it's a great tool for teaching civics to our schoolchildren. When they learn the origin of the term they get a sense of the historical underpinnings of our own government. We should not take that away by replacing it with a blase job description which connotes nothing more than a vague sense of self-importance.

Posted at 22:14 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |
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