May 24: Energy, politics and school funding

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: May 24, 2008

It’s time to make choices

To the editor:

We have become a nation of whining wimps. Gone is the rugged individualism and pioneer spirit that made the country great.

We have it made, like no other humans before us. We have conquered nearly all of the diseases which have ravaged mankind through the ages. We understand how wealth is created. We have plenty of food, to the point that obesity is a major health concern of “the poor.” We have access to higher education, to the point that many in college don’t belong there. Transportation, communication and every other facet of everyday life is immeasurably improved over the standards of history.

But gasoline, adjusted for inflation, costs nearly as much as it did in 1975 or whenever, and the country is going to hell in a hand basket. Government must do something!

Naturally, the ones complaining the loudest are the same people who have done the most to bring gasoline prices to their current level.

The political left, particularly the environmentalists, have done more than anyone else to cause prices to rise. We can’t drill our own oil or natural gas, or mine our own coal, for fear that some animal or plant might be inconvenienced.

Leftists believe that the law of supply and demand doesn’t apply to gasoline. Those old enough to remember the Carter administration and the long lines at gas stations are well aware of the consequences of tampering with that law.

Conservatives view the free market as the ultimate form of democracy. A man who spends his own dollar makes more considered choices than those who would spend it for us. We’re thinking cost and results, they’re thinking kickbacks and votes. The two lines of thinking are not compatible, at least from the taxpayers’ standpoint.

We want government to do something, when we are unwilling to do anything ourselves. I say that after a weekend trip to south Georgia. I learned two things on that trip. One, if you drive the speed limit — or even close to it — you will see a constant stream of people in a hurry, passing at the first opportunity.

And the practice of driving children to school is not limited to this area. If we, as a nation, obeyed the speed limit and made the kids ride the bus, the price of gasoline would probably drop $1 per gallon.

We have an abundance of natural resources, and have proven that we can harvest and use them to produce energy without risk to the planet, if we only set ourselves to do so.

We are prevented by a relative handful of radical environmentalists who seem to me more interested in wrecking our economy and way of life than in preserving anything.

The worldwide demand for oil will continue to grow, as the Chinese and Indians trade their bicycles and donkey carts for Fords and Toyotas. We can’t begrudge them that, but neither can we deny the effect it will have on the world economy. That’s what we get for buying all that cheap Chinese crap.

We will, as a nation, have to make some serious choices about energy — where we get it, how much we will get and how much we are willing to pay for it. The sooner we decide that we will do what we can to reduce demand or increase supply, the sooner prices will moderate. That is the way the free market works, has always worked — and must work, if anything is to work.

ROBERT HUDSON

To the editor:

It has been both interesting and enlightening to watch the Democrats attempt to select a presidential candidate.

Sen. Clinton, who is now behind, has stated that she will “fight to the end” in her quest for the nomination.

However, in an interview on TV, she recently stated that she wants to win the war in Afghanistan but “end the war in Iraq” and re-deploy the troops. So for Sen. Clinton, there is a difference between winning and ending. She then went on to say that this would not be losing in Iraq. If that’s so, and she “ended” her campaign and re-deployed to the Senate, would she have lost? Of course! It’s too bad that she is not as strong against the terrorists as she is in her desire to return to the White House.

Sen. Obama has shown us he has questionable judgment in the selection of his pastor and friends. I am referring to Pastor Wright, and Obama’s association with a convicted terrorist (Ayers) and a questionable financier (Rezco).

Further, in his comments we now know that rather than seeking to be commander-in-chief, he is seeking to be appeaser-in-chief.

If we needed any proof, consider the comments by a Hamas top political adviser, Ahmed Yousef, on a radio interview saying, “We like Mr. Obama. We hope he will win the election.”

Obviously, this terrorist organization feels that he is sympathetic to their cause. He has also stated that he will meet with the leaders of a number of rogue nations without any pre-conditions. This shows that he is not ready for prime time and is naïve about his friends and international diplomacy.

Dean Acheson, President Harry Truman’s secretary of state, once said, “No people in history have survived through making themselves inoffensive to their enemies.”

It seems to me that Sen. McCain is the only candidate that has any creditability to be the commander-in-chief.

JOHN BRUNS

To the editor:

In, “Chamber urges county to give more to its schools,” (May 21, page A6), Roger Gillispie, in his role as chairman of the board of directors of the Danville Pittsylvania County Chamber of Commerce, authored a letter urging the Board of Supervisors to dump money and more money into Pittsylvania County’s schools in the name of the twin gods, the global economy and global competition.

Gillispie did condescend to us ignorant, backwoods residents of Pittsylvania County to state that, “money alone is not the solution to our educational challenges.”

In the same issue of the Danville Register & Bee, I found big headlines about students at George Washington, Chatham and Tunstall high schools, along with references to the out-of-area schools of E.C. Glass and Patrick County high schools.

Did these headlines refer to the academic achievements of those students? Do not be silly! Of course not! These stories and pictures glorified achievements in the sports programs of those schools.

Just exactly what does baseball or football or basketball or volleyball or whatever kind of sport have to do with qualifying a student for competition in the global economy? I do not think China has taken over American manufacturing through any kind of ball team, nor has India scooped up the computer science employment sector through skill in baseball, football or basketball.

When the chamber of commerce takes on the area parents who place no value on education — thus producing students who would prefer to be anywhere except in schools and who spend their time in school creating classroom havoc — then let the chamber come and ask the Pittsylvania County taxpayers to embrace the view of how to fix the problem of the global economy and global competition.

Until then — as far as I am concerned — where the chamber stands on the subject carries no more weight than the croaking of a millpond frog.

HILDRED C. SHELTON

To the editor:

As a member of the Providence Hunt Club, I am deeply shocked and appalled that the Rev. John Hagee has called that notorious scoundrel Adolf Hitler “a hunter” who was merely following the will of God in attempting to kill off all of European Jewry.

Did John McCain have no shame when he once sought the endorsement of such a religious figure who would refer to Herr Hitler as a hunter when it is patently obvious that mass murder is not particularly sporting?

Rev. Hagee apparently believes that as an agent of God, this Hitler chappie must be merrily potting the odd quail and turkey in Heaven these days.

This has elicited many a contentious conversation in the deer stand as we debate the theological ramifications of this. If Adolf really was an agent of God, then the 6 million that Adolf killed, in addition to all the other deaths that resulted from him invading Poland and the like, does rather dwarf that bin Laden fellow.

The things we ponder in the wilds of Caswell County!

PAUL FOX

Providence, N.C.