Page 4 - Dinuba Sentinel 10-18-18 E-edition

Opinion
A4 | Thursday, October 18, 2018
Fred Hall - Publisher Rick Curiel - Editor
In My Opinion
VWote as if your future depends on it
ith the ever-growing mass marginal, on their of political claims and a way to voting in virtual deluge of political lock step to deny an
ads swirling about us, it’s abundantly clear that we are drawing to the close of “silly season.” A quick check of thecalendarrevealsthereareonly
20 days between now and election
day on November 6. If you’re one of the ever increasing number of voters who opt for vote-by-mail, your ballots should have reached your home by this time.We hope each and every one of you have taken the time to do your own research of the candidates and initiatives and have not relied on much of the scurrilous information being supplied nor the recommendations of third parties.
Having spent over 50 years in the newspaper business, it’s really tough for me to admit that much of what is reported as being absolutely factual, isopentoone’sinterpretation. There was a time, believe it or not, when
one could actually rely on reporting as beingfactuallycorrect. Notsomuch in today’s media which is so driven by “clicks!” It’s even worse for those who rely on Facebook, Google, Yahoo and assorted others as their way of keeping up on what’s going on in the world. These web sites make no attempt at honest reporting nor do they employ true professional journalists.
In a year when it appears all semblance of rational thought has
gone right out the window it is going
to be imperative that people who are capable of thinking in a constructive manner ask themselves, “Is this good forthecountry?” WhenAmericahas an administration that has given the country an improving economy, more people (including minorities) working, welfare roles being reduced, record low unemployment and increasing salaries does it really make sense to change horses. We know what the Democrats are offering has been tried and has beenanabysmalfailure. That’sjustthe mainstreamoftheparty. Thefarleft wing is advocating socialism which has always resulted in a depleted economy, starving people and eventually the
rise of a dictator as a solution to their problems.
Ask yourself exactly what is the opposition offering you as a reason
to put them back in power after a devastating period during which they wereincontrol. TheonlythingsIhave been able to sort out of the convoluted mess they are offering as a platform are endless investigations of the winners of previous elections and/or appointments and taking back the tax breaks which have been such a part of the engine of this recovery.
Class and racial warfare have been the operative methods of dividing
and conquering the electorate for fartoolong. Americansarefartoo good and we fully expect them to rise above the machinations of a political partyinsearchofitslostpower. The implication that the rich have become wealthy on the backs of hard working Americans should be a non-starter. With just a moment of rational thought, that claim makes no sense at all.
Early predictions in the press of
a “blue wave” have begun to wane because Senate Democrats overplayed a false narrative during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings and employed tactics, which at best can only be called
Guest Column
I Out of sight, not out of mind
Fred Hall
eminently qualified jurist to occupy a seat on the Supreme Court. What’s especially egregious is the fact that at least three really marginal liberals
sailed through the process. It seems that only strict constructionists and conservatives find it tough sledding when they seek such an appointment.
Meanwhile, back in California, voters face a long list of initiatives and are poised to select candidates which, one can only hope, retain the conservative tendencies of the population of this area. Huge amounts of outside money is pouring in, in an effort to insure that the Valley has a chance of becoming as liberal as the rest of the state. We’re hopeful that the hard working people of this area who fully understand
that a paycheck does not come from government will vote to support true American ideals.
In a state which is increasingly pricing out the average family, something has to be done to bring
the cost of living into check. We can’t afford higher fuel costs, more expensive utilities and ever growing housing costs. Inane regulations and restrictions
Guest Column
being penned every day by a growing
bureaucracy is certainly a driving factor.
People can no longer afford to live A here. How else does one explain the
expanding homeless problem.
matters more
Recreational marijuana does not help nor does the idea of sanctuary “shoot-up” zones for drug addicts. The overreaching attitude of politicians in today’s world seems to be to empty our prisons. We are on the way toward that goal when we seem to be decriminalizing everything. Just put them back on the street with a special leather-bound copy of their special California “rights.”
California is in an absolute mess when it comes to distribution of
the limited supply of water. Think about that rationally for a moment. California’s population is now double the size its infrastructure’s original intent. We can, A; grow crops to feed people, B; try to restore rivers that have been dry for the better part of a century, and C; flush it down the river to the ocean or cede control to the environmentalists. One can’t provide water service for twice the population and deal with these other issues.
Why the hell are we building a futuristic railroad to nowhere when our roadways, statewide, are so horrible. When we realize that gasoline tax money is going to help build this boondoggle, we need say no more.
Stop voting for people who want more of your money and stop voting for bond issues which only place us deeper in debt and result in no movement on the problem which they are supposed to fix.
Read about the issues and candidates and vote as if your future depends on the decisions made at the ballot box. It probably does!
But, as always, that’s only one man’s opinion.
Fred Hall is publisher of the Dinuba Sentinel.
fter Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed, my Facebook feed filled up with people telling one another to vote in the midterms. “If you don’t like
Third, Republicans in particular
view compromise as a bad thing these days. In the past, compromise was
how Washington did business. Now, particularly on the far right, compromising is seen as lack of commitment to one’s values.
A Republican who works across the aisle must fear a primary challenge from the far
right. Compromising can lead to losing
Voting matters, but staying engaged
what’s happening in America, vote!” they said. And yes, I’ll vote. I always vote. As a believer in
democracy, I’m in favor of everyone voting. And if the Democrats take either house of Congress, there will be real change — to a point.
However, there are larger changes that voting won’t bring. Not this time, anyway.
For left-leaning Americans, voting for Democrats has its limits. Here are some of them.
First, most of the Democratic Party leadership is beholden to their wealthy donor base. They love to talk
a good game about LGBTQ rights or reproductive rights, issues that are progressive but don’t ruffle the feathers of the billionaires they rely on for support.
They’ll support some degree of social safety net. Between Democrats and Republicans, Democrats are certainly more in favor of policies that help the middle class or the poor than Republicans. But their support has its limits.
Republicans will do things like vote to strip people of food stamps. Democrats won’t do that — but in recent history they haven’t proposed any policies that actually change the income distribution in the U.S. in any significant way.
The wealthiest 1 percent of Americans own 40 percent of America’s wealth. That’s more than the wealth of the bottom 90 percent combined. Tinkering with the marginal tax rate or improving the school lunch program can help, but they won’t fundamentally alter the inequality in our nation.
Second, the reduction of “pork barrel” spending in Congress limits ability for compromise. In the past, reluctant members of Congress could be brought around to vote on something they weren’t thrilled about with “earmarked” funding for something like a new bridge in their district.
In the last decade or two, these so-called earmarks were targeted as wasteful at best and corrupt at worst, and they’re no longer used as often to facilitate compromises.
Jill Richardson
one’s job. This drives polarization. Until recently, Democrats haven’t feared primary
challenges from their left flank — more often, they fear being seen as too left-leaning. Perhaps that’s because there’s a far right donor base eager to fund right-wing primary challenges against Republicans who appear too moderate, but the Democrats’ largest donors push them away from the far left, not towards it.
The recent victories of democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others suggest this may be changing, but that change is still in its early phases.
In any case, electing a Democratic majority in one or both houses of Congress will put a halt on some of the most right-wing policies coming down from the Trump administration and Republican Congress. It would be a moderating influence on our government.
However, for Americans who want to see significant change to combat the climate crisis, promote racial justice, and reduce economic inequality, simply voting won’t be enough.
Don’t get me wrong: I’ll still be voting in November.
But real change means staying engaged long after Election Day — as intensely after the 2018 midterms as many stayed engaged after 2016. It means keeping up on the issues, building movements, and holding politicians of all parties accountable.
OtherWords columnist Jill Richardson is pursuing a PhD in sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She lives in San Diego.
n June, our immigrant-bashing are now out-of-sight president ordered an end to his and out-of-mind in own warped policy of forcibly our government’s
tearing terrified migrant children from the arms of their asylum- seeking parents. “I didn’t like the sight or the feeling of families being separated,” Trump declared
Yeah. It’s “bad optics,” as PR consultants call scenes of such thuggishness.
So the president — and the rest of us — no longer have to witness nightly TV coverage of shrieking toddlers being taken from their parents and hauled off to federal warehouses. But putting it out-of-sight doesn’t mean the depravity has ended.
Some 500 of the 2,900 children who were snatched last spring are still in government custody, scared that they’ll never see their parents again and traumatized by the uncertainty of what’ll happen to them.
Worse, more refugee children are being incarcerated every day as they seek asylum from the horrors of rapacious gang wars and abject poverty in their Central American homelands. More than 12,000 migrant children
warehouses, military bases, and sprawling “tent cities.” And Trump is requesting money to lock up another 20,000 children.
All this trauma and cost is the result of the Trumpeteers’ inhumane and failed “zero-tolerance” policy of jailing children — even babies — in hopes of scaring other refugees from seeking
asylum in our land of opportunity. They created this humanitarian crisis. And rather than ending it by rushing in hundreds of lawyers and judges to process the asylum requests, Trump and his rabidly anti-immigrant ideologues are taxing us by building more jails for refugees, while also openly violating the law that says immigrant children can’t
be locked up for more than 20 days.
Jim Hightower, an OtherWords columnist, is a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker.
JimHightower
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