Letters 10/27/05

Oct. 26, 2005

Who‘s really to blame?
  Thanks to Jeff Gibbs for his opinion piece, “Bush Made Me Do It” (9/27) and the refreshing balance promoted. His approach diminishes the “cult-of-personality” dynamic that seems to dominate much of political discourse. We may differ on many issues; however, like Jeff accurately illustrated, there’s much self-examination needed in our own lives before we start throwing stones. The blatant hypocrisy of driving any kind of gas combustion-powered vehicle (not just an SUV) to a “no blood for oil” rally just boggles my mind. Yet unfortunately, this type of disassociation is not an uncommon occurrence.
  Bush and every previous president have had to make scores of gut-wrenching difficult decisions - without the benefit of hindsight or exacting knowledge. They are going to screw-up on occasion, but those perceived errors in judgment do not necessarily indicate a great greed conspiracy, evil intent, or even rampant incompetence. Truth is, we really don’t know what is in the hearts and minds of our national leaders. Flawed they are, but most of our elected officials are not complete sociopaths. My best indication of their motives is how they respect their own families. If they do not at least exhibit care and consideration for their own, they can’t be trusted to care about our welfare.
  A political buzzword word I would like to scrutinize is: extreme. Tune into any news conference on any divisive issue, and you’ll hear it used about 500 times an hour by some of our elected ”leaders” and political pundits to describe the opposition. It pays off for them because the fringes, the ignorant, and an occasionally complacent media grovel at such drivel. Morally effective leadership rallies us around positive optimistic outcomes. 
  Here’s an extreme idea: any politician who attempts to win votes and curry favor by labeling others as mean-spirited, greedy, extreme, stupid, dishonest, racist, evil, etc.; permanently looses my vote and backing. Try an Internet news search of these words matched against your future voting choices. You’ll expose a consistent cast of characters who try to sway opinion and votes with this kind of destructive rhetoric.  Here are the real extremists.
  Now take a look at the celebrity self-styled environmentalists opposing the clean energy wind farm at Cape Cod. Here’s the cream-of-the-crop of Bush bashers (frequent users of extreme negative personal characterizations) actively resisting a viable alternative energy project. Examine opposition to other oil-alternative energy systems around the country. It’s not coming from “big oil” or right-wing leaning groups. Oil companies are energy producers and distributors. Most will start investing (some already are) in alternative energy processes as demand starts changing.
   Constantly blaming Bush for energy woes distracts us from exercising our own power. Few other forces in our society are more effective than consumer behavior. It’s shallow thinking at best, and lunacy at worst to live a lifestyle that demands corporations and policy makers provide cheap abundant energy; and then condemn them for trying to satisfy that same demand! 
  Want to put a dent in Bush’s so-called greedy oil ambitions? Buy solar panels for your home, or drive less and walk more, or use gravel on your driveway instead of asphalt…or a thousand other actions that would reduce demand for that which you believe is harmful. Some of it may cost a little more up front, but trade it out by canceling your cable TV service for a year. Then your demand would not only force changes in energy policy, but also help motivate the traditional news media to produce a better product. 
  Do we really care about peace and justice? Then let’s start at home, because in the long and short run: Consumer demand equates to political power.

                                  Dave Page • TC 

Our fairy tale country
   All fairy tales do not end happily, however they do offer an analogy for our lives today.  As told in “Breath“ by Donna Jo Napoli, the Pied Piper of Hamlin tale tells how the dominant culture of the day fails its people by refusing to serve with intelligence and honesty.  After the piper rids the town of rats, which brought misery and death to all, the leaders refuse to pay the piper.  Consequently, the piper takes the children away.
    Why were the townspeople “asleep” (ignorant) and why did they succumb to the poor leadership?  They divided and destroyed themselves instead of analyzing the situation and making informed decisions.  This also happened during WWII in Germany.  “They came
for the Jews and I did not speak up,” said Martin Niemöller.
     Will we speak up against our administration’s corruption?  Which rights don’t you want? We will pay the piper.

                                    Judy Childs • TC

CAFTA‘s ripoff strategy  
   This letter supports the opinions expressed by Green Party Chair Sylvia Inwood in her Northern Express article on CAFTA (Dominican Republic and Central American Free Trade Agreement).
   Granted, this recently passed bill was a “Fast Track” negotiation and required arm-twisting by the current administration, but how those who voted in favor of it (Rep. Dave Camp) can justify their yes vote is beyond me.
   Let’s see, could it have been because NAFTA, which CAFTA is modeled after, has worked so well? Far from generating a trade surplus and a flood of new jobs as promised, in the decade since NAFTA was passed our combined trade deficit with Mexico and Canada has ballooned from $9 billion to $95 billion. The Labor Department has certified that more than half a million U.S. workers have lost jobs due to NAFTA. If the goal of free trade agreements is truly to open foreign markets to U.S. exports (and not to encourage companies to shift jobs overseas), it is clearly a strategy that is not working. And yet CAFTA gets passed.
   And our neighbors to the South aren’t faring any better. Since NAFTA, an estimated 1.3 million Mexican farmers have been forced off their lands because they were unable to compete with large multi-national producers. CAFTA will impose similar hardships on 5.5 million Central American workers who are dependent on agriculture.
   CAFTA grants extraordinary rights to global  corporate investors at the expense of working families and the environment. It will cause a “race to the bottom” in labor, and promotes privatization and deregulation of public services. And there’s more to come: stayed tuned for FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) the next step in this failed model.  Don’t let them sneak this one by you.

     Karen Ressi 
    TC Watershed Green Party