In March, Newark, New Jersey—not so long ago dubbed “America’s Most Dangerous City”—celebrated its first homicide-free month in 44 years. Overall, since 2006, Newark has seen its number of shootings cut in half and its murder rate drop by a third.

New Jersey would close its centralized car inspection lanes and motorists would pay for their own emissions tests under a sweeping set of recommendations set to be released by the Christie administration today.

State parks, psychiatric hospitals and even turnpike toll booths could also be run by private operators, according to the 57-page report on privatization obtained by The Star-Ledger. Preschool classrooms would no longer be built at public expense, state employees would pay for parking and private vendors would dish out food, deliver health care and run education programs behind prison walls.

Looking at election data from this week’s statewide elections in New Jersey and Virginia, it seems that the loyalty of young voters may only have been to one man — Barack Obama — not a party or an ideology, presenting a real opportunity for the GOP despite calls of extinction after 2008.

Tuesday’s elections results prove this point. The Republican candidates won the governorships of both NJ and VA because they carried the Independent voters in both states. The election was not about ideology, but about pragmatism. That is the lesson to be learned from the results.