Be careful of what you wish for government
Radicals who rule our Legislature praise the ideal state in which government is virtually powerless; public education gone; environmental laws don’t exist; unemployment is high and salaries low, except for the privileged few; guns are available for all; socialism is wiped out; businesses run the show; and taxes don’t exist.
There is such a state in the world today. It is Somalia, where:
• There has been no effective government since 1991, when the dreaded socialists were overthrown;
• Public schools and universities closed;
• No one tells people what they have to do, so heavily armed criminals rule;
• Businesses issue their own currency;
• No one is responsible for keeping air and water clean;
• Most people live in poverty without basic health care;
• But a few wealthy pirates live along the coast in lavish mansions and don’t pay taxes.
Is little or no government what Arizonans really want?
Barbara Tellman
Tobacco taxes fueling children’s health care
Smokers may not be thrilled to be paying higher federal tobacco taxes beginning this month, but smokers and all Americans can be proud that these taxes will increase access to affordable health care for millions of children (April 13 article “Tax increase to boost tobacco black market?“).
Arizona’s own health coverage, KidsCare, has been a success in our state. KidsCare has increased the proportion of children with health insurance from 74 percent to 84 percent since its creation a decade ago, even as employer-sponsored coverage has eroded.
KidsCare was designed for tough economic times like these, providing cost-effective health care to 60,000 children in our state who would otherwise be uninsured.
These families don’t have to worry that a kid’s hospitalization from an asthma attack or emergency appendectomy will plunge them into bankruptcy.
KidsCare assures kids have access to the preventive health care they need, keeping them healthy, in school, and out of expensive emergency rooms.
The new federal tobacco tax means Arizona will continue receiving $3 from the federal government for every $1 the state invested in KidsCare. Thanks to this funding, we can continue to keep children healthy – even when our economy is not.
Penelope Jacks
southern Arizona director
Children’s Action Alliance
Tea Party stirs up anti-socialist sentiment
The Tucson Tea Party was a success! Many people signed up to be informed of other events, and there is now a grass-roots movement to prevent the socialist leanings of our president and Democratic Congress.
Long live freedom of speech, and down with the Orwellian type of government that may take hold if we do nothing.
Seth Butler
technology specialist
Wild horses, burros riding off into sunset
Wild horses and burros have received very short shrift from agencies in Arizona.
These animals have ancient evolutionary roots in North America and restore the ecosystem here, yet they are being denied their natural place.
Their many positive contributions are overlooked or denied.
It is a shame Julianne French was denied her booth to represent all that is positive about Arizona’s wild equids. This has been because of the same power establishment that is doing them in.
Arizona’s burro and wild horse populations are too low to be viable, according to standards of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Species Survival Commission Equid Specialist Group, which recommends at least 2,500 individuals in the wild.
Only about 215 wild horses and 1,501 wild burros are left in Arizona. This is a setup for extinction.
Craig C. Downer
Minden, Nev.
Growing support will fuel clean energy drive
We can “kill two birds with one stone”: By capping carbon pollution, we would ignite the transition to clean energy, end our dependence on destructive fossil fuels and create good-paying American jobs that could not be shipped overseas.
In addition, by ending our dependence on foreign oil, we could win the war with extremists by eliminating their financial sources.
This is the time to act and open the opportunities that will secure our future. I believe many Americans feel the way I do and would be pleased to see how many agree.
Gerry Schoen
Clearing air on oil gives better vision of future
The real threat to America in the long view is our dependence on foreign oil. The resources we squander on the Iraq war could have been applied to a solar and wind infrastructure that would have made a huge dent in our ever-growing dependence on foreign oil.
Little wonder that the approval rate of our legislators is so low when they seem to focus on the creation of terrorists rather than on removing the reasons the terrorists choose the only route they see as having any effect on our narrow vision of security.
Come on, America, we can create a better vision of the future!
George Wheeler