Dems Speak Out

Awareness of issues is a vital part of any Democracy.  Area Democrats have a lot to say as evidenced by recent letters to the editor in local papers and other formats being used to educate our neighbors as well as ourselves.   Read and enjoy…………………

Submitted by Bill Beck

Franklin Roosevelt said 75 years ago at the Democratic Convention of 1936 ~
“Liberty requires opportunity to make a living ~ a living which gives man not only enough to live by, but something to live for.”

For to many of us this political equality we once had was meaningless in the face of economic inequality.  A small group had concentrated into their own hands an almost complete control over other people’s property, other people’s money, other people’s labor, other people’s lives.

These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America.  What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power.  In vain they seek to hide behind the Flag and the Constitution.

Governments err,  presidents do make mistakes.  But the immortal Dante tells us Divine justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted in different scales.

Better the occasional faults of government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.

Dangers of Fracking

Ad nauseum TV ads show the rolly-eyed know-it-all “engineer” and the “Blondie
Spokeslady” for  the GAS companies telling about the huge number of jobs and
the safe world of gas drilling – really deep underground – to frack the shale
for gas.

In fact, their long-used technology of cement and piping through which they
INJECT and WITHDRAW their heavy injection drills are the very parts that
have failed often enough for all of us to know.    Envision the process as a
giant hypodermic needle that can contaminate entering and exiting.

Because it’s really deep, the implication from the diagrams is that naturally
found substances deep underground, and chemicals used in injections directed
under terrific pressure into the shale, cannot  get into your drinking water,
or water table or ground water.

The lethal compounds found naturally deep in the earth, along with deadly kinds
of bacteria are never mentioned. To support our gas addiction and enrich gas/oil
kingpins, we play Russian roulette with our finite water supply.

Gwen Millager
Rogers

Civic Lessons Are Vital

I have always been a fan of Sandra Day O’Connor, she of Supreme Court experience.    It is not that I agreed with all of her decisions when she was on the court.    But she spoke clearly of why she had decided what the facts were and what the Constitution said.   I am even more impressed with her latest endeavor, which is the teaching of Civics 101.

Every high school graduate should have a clear understanding of what the Constitution says about our government. it seems to me that Congress has lost its way.   Here are a few examples.

The last time that Congress declared war was under FDR on Dec. 8, 1941.  Since then, various presidents of various parties have sent our young into harm’s way without a declaration of war: Korea, Granada, Vietnam, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan as examples.

Now some expect the president to write laws and pass a budget. The Constitution requires the House of Representatives to propose all revenue bills (budget and taxes). This is not the job of the president or the Senate. The budget bill requires an up and down vote by the House. If  it passes, like any other bill, it goes to the Senate.

Once in the Senate, again there should be an up or down vote, majority wins.   If there are Senate changes it must go to a joint committee for resolution before it gets to the president. He can sign it or veto it, but he cannot alter it.

He is not, according to the Constitution, part of the process in writing the budget bill (or any other bill), nor should he be. There are no provisions in the Constitution for special commissions or joint committees; the House is responsible, period.

CHARLES ALDRICH
Rogers

Womack Trips On Medicare

Congressman Steve Womack insists that Medicare must be radically transformed to prevent economic catastrophe. He was interviewed by Steve Barnes on AETN’s Arkansas Week (Sept. 2).

Womack says that only a third of the federal spending pie is directly controllable by Congress. This includes support for our troops, transportation and various other departments of government. Just chopping these budget items cannot solve the deficit problem. (Does “support” for our troops include our massive “war costs”?)

The other, mandatory, two-thirds include health care, which is growing – he says – “exponentially.” Thus it’s essential to tackle entitlements to reduce the deficit. Womack says Medicare must be radically transformed to prevent its impending bankruptcy. He supports and promotes the “Ryan Plan,” adopted earlier by the House.

The change would “only” affect people who are now younger than 55. The change would be from “fee for service” to “premium support.” Womack told a skeptical Barnes that this is not the same as a “voucher plan.” It would cover a commercial insurance plan that you choose from among competing options. But the coverage would not be open-ended, as is the congressional insurance plan.

Womack says the Ryan approach is the “only plan I have seen” that has a chance of being sustainable for the future. As in other public appearances, Womack stubbornly fails to consider the simple measures proposed by the president’s bipartisan Debt Commission late last year.

The commission’s proposals would ensure Medicare solvency for the next 75 years. They would gradually and modestly increase the top salary on which payroll tax is paid. They would also gradually increase the eligibility age and adjust the cost-of-living provision. Go to http://cnnmon.ie/dEIlZw for a CNN summary of the commission’s final report.

My reluctant conclusion is that Womack has thus far poorly served the voters of Arkansas’ Third District. The interview shows that he has given up his independence as our representative in Congress.

BILL MILLAGER
Rogers