Letters for November 22, 2012

Thought I’d share

The Republicans have entered into a period of self-analysis, to determine why they lost the recent election. Allow me to clue them in. Mitt Romney lost (in part) because the American people know that: 1. Corporations are not people. 2. Fertilized eggs are not persons. 3. There is no such thing as “legitimate rape,” and 4. There is no such thing as “clean coal.” I sincerely hope this helps.

John DavisReno

Just sayin’

Re “NORML man” (15 Minutes, Nov. 15):

The voters of Colorado and Washington state have made it clear that the federal government can no longer get away with confusing the drug war’s collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to deter use, prohibition is a failure. The United States has double the rate of use as the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available. The criminalization of Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis has no basis in science. The war on marijuana consumers is a failed cultural inquisition, not a public health campaign. It’s time for politicians to catch up with the people and end marijuana prohibition.

Robert Sharpe, MPA
Common Sense for Drug Policy

That’s sarcasm, right?

Re “Golden loophole” (News, Nov. 15):

This socialist proposal to increase taxes on the “job creators” in the mining industry makes no sense whatever to conservatives such as myself. The “government” should remove itself entirely from the system and permit the mine owners to write a check directly to the people. (Sort of a reverse voucher system.) “People” would, of course, be limited to white male property owners, much as the original framers of our Constitution intended. Then each year an election could be held wherein voters could determine if their check was too generous. They could vote to reduce the amount of the check for the ensuing year. If the “people” became too greedy, “free market” forces would be brought to bear. Mine owners could move their mines to any location of their choosing. Somalia springs to mind, as they operate almost entirely without a “government.” Wake up, people! Don’t make us resort to armed insurrection and secession.

Larry L. Wissbeck
Paonia, Colo.

From books!

Re “That’s capitalism, folks!” (Feature story, Nov. 15):

Why do you keep printing articles by Jake Highton? This guy doesn’t make intellectual arguments. He simply lists ideas he read in a book. The actions of humans are not a good argument for or against the existence of god. If you want socialism, go live in Cuba, China or Venezuela. Capitalism is not perfect, but communism has failed to deliver on its promises everywhere it has been tried. There are two groups of people living in a bubble: republicans and college professors. Try living in the real world. Discard partisanism and start thinking for yourself. Stop being one of the sheeple.

Mark Hussey
Reno

Hope springs eternal

Re “That’s capitalism, folks!” (Feature story, Nov. 15):

There is no question that Jake Highton is deeply compassionate, of high intelligence and that he earnestly hopes for an improvement of the human condition. However, it is apparent that he has been blinded to reality by his own beliefs in socialism. How can he possibly defend the communist states of the USSR and Mao’s Red China that ushered in their workers paradises by murdering well over 100 million people and by delivering decades of grey homogenized dependency, servitude and depression to those imprisoned within their borders, let alone the horrendous grinding grief and suffering of Pol Pots Cambodia and North Korea among others?

Perhaps he considers the EU as the shining light of socialism. Only a fool would think so. The only thing propping up their doomed attempt of servitude to the socialist state is the constant drip feed of fiat (phony) money crated out of thin air by their central bank, our own Fed and the IMF. The house of cards of the EU will utterly collapse within the next two-three years. Their only hope is that an international monetary system, using the same failed Keynesian economics, will rescue them. They will discover the new monster is kin to the current one and will lead them to an even greater failure in the near future. Life is not fair. We are not equal.

But Highton would make it so through the power and force of an armed police state. Shouldn’t his state of social justice and fairness include an amorphous sameness in academics, no winners in sporting contests, no high achievement in music or theater, no rich or poor, and no great minds that create inventions to elevate mankind?

Please do not think I am ignorant of the cruelty of state-aided corruption of the free market system that we now have in our own nation, and of the history of enslavement, bitter grief and sorrow that avaricious “capitalists” have spewed upon humanity. I am well read too and have wept upon learning of the terrible suffering of humanity at the hands of evil men and women. Indeed, here in the U.S. we jig to a macabre dance of economic dependency upon a capitalist warrior state with a defense budget larger than all other nations of the world combined, while at the same time we escalate spending for our Frankenstenian entitlement programs that, combined with defense spending, has bankrupted us. Our $16 trillion of debt will soon be $20 trillion. Our unfunded liabilities are well over $115 trillion (some estimates are as high as $200 trillion). It is mathematically impossible to survive as a nation under this burden of debt.

There is a third challenge that facilitates evil among men regardless of what governance we choose: human ignorance. The vast majority of Americans, for instance, vote for their political champion based upon misleading TV ads, false beliefs, biased media (both sides), the propaganda of zealous professors, and whoever promises them the most government goodies. Can we ever rise above our own human fallibility? Frankly, at times I wonder if we ever will. So what is the answer? Certainly not socialism or communism. Certainly not state-aided corruption of the free market.

I propose the best system to date has been the remarkable original Constitution and its advocacy of rights and liberty while attempting to protect us against “isms,” and the power of the few corrupting the state for their own avarice.

Chris Hardt
Carson City

Troubling reminder

I was in the post office in downtown Reno a little while back, and my nephew pointed out some rather disturbing decor. The sides of the table are decorated with swastikas. They are level, but the design is still there. I understand the symbol is hundreds or thousands of years old, but as a proud man of Hebrew blood, I found it to be a slap in the face. Not only for me, but for all the honorable men who died to rid the world of an evil tyrannical group of psychos.

Larry Rubin
Reno

Editor’s note: Many older U.S. buildings feature swastikas, which have been found in archeological digs around the world, including ancient Troy. In 1932 when Frederick DeLongchamps designed the Art Deco Reno post office, the swastika was known as a Native American symbol. Until it was tainted by despicable ends to which it was applied, it was normally used as a benign, sometimes hopeful symbol. Since World War Two, residents have occasionally debated its presence in the post office building.