About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 5, 2018)
5A OPINION ®he £ntics gainesvilletimes.com Monday, November 5, 2018 Shannon Casas Editor in Chief | 770-718-3417 | scasas@gainesvilletimes.com Submit a letter: letters@gainesvilletimes.com The First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. LITERS Diversity in classroom a boon to area As a teacher, I watch the news regarding immi gration (legal and illegal) and I reflect on how it has affected my classroom. I have been a teacher in Northeast Georgia for 7 years. When I began teaching, my classroom demographic was predominantly made up of Cau casian students. However, over my years in the classroom that demographic has changed so that my class now is very diverse with students from a variety of races and cultures. I’ve learned many things over the years in a classroom and have pursued professional devel opment in order to be a better teacher for my students. One thing I have noticed though is the lack of multicultural professional development provided to teachers and as a result the lack of multicultural education provided to students. The curriculum, textbooks, and books assigned for reading in many classrooms largely reflect the points of view (historically, politically, religiously, etc.) of the Caucasian experience. I believe there needs to be an intentional shift in education toward multicultural education and the inclusion of a variety of races and cultures in the classroom curriculum. Students are more likely to engage in content and participate in class when they feel a personal connection to the topics or understand its value and importance. By ignoring the multicultural demographics of our classroom, we essentially ostracized students who do not see themselves or their way of life in their classrooms. Students of all races, cultures, religions, etc., should see themselves reflected in the content taught in their classroom. We are doing a disser vice to students by ignoring the rich and vibrant multicultural community that has grown in the Northeast Georgia area within the last decade. As educators, our job is to teach all students who enter our classroom. Every race, culture, and religion represented has value and importance in who we are as a community, a state and a country. We can all learn from each other and I think it is important for teachers to lead the way in the classroom. Ellen Hill Gainesville To submit letters: Send by email to letters@ gainesvilletimes.com (no attached files) or use the contact form at gainesvilletimes. com. Include name, hometown and phone number; letters never appear anonymously. Letters are limited to one per writer in a month’s time on topics of public interest and may be edited for content and length (limit of 500 words). Letters may be rejected from readers with no ties to Northeast Georgia or that address personal, business or legal disputes. Letters not the work of the author listed or with material not properly attributed will be rejected. Submitted items may be published in print, electronic or other forms. Letters and other commentary express the opinions of the authors and not of The Times. Your government officials Georgia state government Gov. Nathan Deal, 203 State Capitol, Atlanta 30334; 404-656-1776; www.gov.georgia.gov Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, 240 State Capitol, Atlanta 30334, 404-656-5030; www.ltgov.ga.gov Secretary of State Brian Kemp, 214 State Capitol, Atlanta 30334, 404-656-2881, fax 404-656- 0513; www.sos.state.ga.us; Elections Division, 2 MLK, Jr. Drive SE, Suite 1104, West Tower, Atlanta 30334-1530, 404-656-2871, fax, 404- 651-9531 Attorney General Chris Carr, 40 Capitol Square SW, Atlanta 30303; 404-656-3300; law.ga.gov School Superintendent Richard Woods, 205 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive SE, Atlanta 30334; 404-656-2800; www.doe.k12.ga.us; askdoe@gadoe.org Hall County government Board of Commissioners, 2875 Browns Bridge Road, Gainesville, RO. Drawer 1435, Gainesville 30503, 770-535-8288, www.hallcounty.org. Chairman Richard Higgins, rhiggins@hallcounty. org; District 1, Kathy Cooper, kcooper@ hallcounty.org; District 2, Billy Powell, bpowell@ hallcounty.org; District 3, Scott Gibbs, sgibbs@ hallcounty.org; District 4, Jeff Stowe, jstowe@ hallcounty.org. County Administrator, Jock Connell, jconnell@ hallcounty.org Planning Commission, 2875 Browns Bridge Road, Gainesville, 770-531-6809. Tax Commissioner’s Office, 2875 Browns Bridge Road, P.O. Box 1579, Gainesville 30503, 770- 531 -6950, taxcommissioner@hallcounty.org Tax Assessor’s Office, 2875 Browns Bridge Road, Gainesville 30504, rswatson@hallcounty.org. Real estate property, P.O. Box 2895, Gainesville 30503, 770-531-6720; personal property, P.O. Box 1780, Gainesville 30503, 770-531 -6749 Public Works, 2875 Browns Bridge Road, Gainesville, 770-531-6800, krearden@ hallcounty.org Extension office, 734 E. Crescent Drive, Gainesville, 770-535-8293 Marshal’s Office, P.O. Drawer 1435, Gainesville, 770-531-6762 Elections Office, 2875 Browns Bridge Road, Gainesville, 770-531-6945, elections® hallcounty.org A Libertarian bridge to sell “Libertarians believe that you should be as conservative or as liberal as you want to be as long as you don’t want to force yourself on others,” says Larry Sharpe, Libertarian candidate for governor of New York. Sharpe is an unusual Liber tarian candidate because he’s doing well in some polls. One found Sharpe getting 13 percent, and after people heard his campaign pitch, 25 percent. That would put him in second place, ahead of the Republican. So of course the establishment shuts him out — he and other third-party can didates weren’t allowed in the one guber natorial debate. Sharpe wins fans by arguing that it would be good if individuals make their own decisions without government spending constantly getting in the way. “What we understand as libertarians is at the end of every single law is a guy or gal with a gun who’s going to put you in a cage; if you don’t want to go in that cage, they’re going to shoot you. What that means is you should only use the law when there is loss of life, health, limb, property, or liberty... Not because I don’t like what you’re doing.” That’s refreshing to hear from a politician. No new government programs under a Sharpe administration, then? “No, no, no, no, no, no,” he assures me. At least one candidate doesn’t want to make government bigger. New York faces a $4.4 billion deficit. Current New York Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed raising taxes. Sharpe has other ideas. “Lease naming rights on our infrastructure,” he says in my latest internet video. “The Triborough Bridge could be called the Staples Bridge, or the Apple Bridge.” My staff asked some New Yorkers what they thought about leasing naming rights to bridges and tunnels. “Bad idea!” said one woman. “It’s commercializing!” Most people were opposed. I said that to Sharpe. You know what she should do?” he responded. “Start a nonprofit, raise $30 million, she can name it whatever she wants.” One man said he didn’t “want to rename something after some sort of corporation!” “Shake your fist and say, ‘This doesn’t sound good,’” replied Sharpe. “You’re going to wind up in a place where the tax burden is insanely high.” Under our current system, many bridges and other public structures advertise anyway — but they promote politicians. Gov. Cuomo just named a bridge after his father. “An imperial bridge named after our royal family!” said Sharpe with a laugh. “I’m embarrassed.” We libertarians don’t think politicians deserve monuments just because they got elected. “Tell you what I’ll do,” said Sharpe. “(Governor Cuomo’s) got $30 mil lion a year? He can keep his name on that bridge and take care of the maintenance.” Sharpe applies similar thinking to New York’s decrepit subway system. “We have lines on the MTA right now not being used at night. Home Depot or Google or Amazon or whomever — they can use these lines... move their freight... They’ll pay. Win-win.” Sharpe’s campaign is attracting new people. His rallies draw bigger crowds than minor party candidates normally get. “If you’re unhappy with the system, you’ve got to change it,” he said on Joe Rogan’s podcast. For a libertarian, Sharpe surprised me by saying he wouldn’t dream of propos ing cuts to existing welfare programs. “Pull the rug out from somebody, some body’s going to be afraid,” he explains. If voters fear you, they don’t vote for you. I assume he’d shrink those programs eventually, maybe after other parts of government were reduced and the econ omy improves as a result. He also sounds friendlier to labor unions than most libertarians. “Collec tive bargaining is fine. My issue with the unions has always been: Are you forcing me?... I have a problem with (union shop laws). But you’re voluntarily doing it? I don’t have a problem at all.” Listening to Sharpe is very different from hearing most Republicans and Democrats. “Because no one has any new ideas,” he says. “No ideas how to fix anything or do anything right.... I’m a third party. I have to have ideas or no one will listen to me.” John Stossel is a columnist for Creators Syndicate. JOHN STOSSEL www.johnstossel.com DAVID HORSEY I Tribune News Service President shouldn’t mess with birthright Whenever I talk about immigration matters, I try not to let people see that tattoo on my forehead, the one with the Statue of Liberty wrapped in a copy of the 14th Amendment. It’s a conversation killer. But there’s no avoiding the fact that my day job has a strong influence on the way I view President Trump’s announced decision to get rid of birthright citizenship, some thing which has been fairly settled law for over a century. That is, until the topic of illegal immi gration became a useful arrow in the campaign quivers of both parties. The GOP, which used to have a healthy appreciation for the contributions of immigrants to society, has morphed into the party of “they all killed Kate Steinle.” And the Democrats have reacted by doing absolutely nothing, even when they were in the majority, to alleviate the problems caused by a broken border and ineffective laws that paralyze families and the economy. It was inevitable that immigrants would once again become that conve nient political football, raw meat for the social media masses. I’m hip to the games people play, and I usually ignore the comments about crim inal aliens, gang members, racist Repub licans and the like. That’s because I’m an immigration lawyer and know a lot more about the inner workings of the laws and the real world impact on people like my clients than the Facebook scholars who keep posting links on my page about “birth tourism,” which I thought was what happened when Mary and Joseph were scouting out a room at the inn. If that makes me sound pretentious, so be it. I tend to hide my law degree under a bushel until I hear some thing that twists my lower intestine into a pretzel. And my lower intestine is ready for some mustard this week, because the drumbeat of “eliminating birthright citizenship” has gotten louder. The useful imagery of the caravan at our south ern border was diminished somewhat by the intervening tragedies of the pipe bomber and the murderous anti-semite in Pittsburgh. So the White House did a masterful pivot, and raised the specter of scary “anchor babies” and the harm they pose to good, decent Americans. The term “anchor baby” was coined about 20 years ago, but it really gained prominence in 2006 when the country was embroiled in a debate about com prehensive immigration reform. When I first heard it, I envisioned Walter Cronkite with a bib and a rattle, until I realized that this derogatory term was being used to denote a child born in the United States who would be able to con fer benefits upon an illegal alien parent. By 2006,1 had been practicing immi gration law for over a decade, and knew that there was no such thing as a baby who could immediately legalize mommy and daddy. In most cases, that child needed to reach the age of 21 before he or she could sponsor a parent for law ful permanent residence or “the green card,” so it appeared to me as if that anchor was about as heavy as a feather. Then, proponents of the term started talking about all the government benefits that baby could get, which are really just the same benefits any US citizen is entitled to receive. And, kaboom!, the whole issue of birth right citizenship reared its anachronistic head. Since the time of the Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment has held that any person born in the United States and “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” is a native born citizen. Now, Trump and his friends who want to eliminate birthright citizenship or “ius solis” are saying that the children of illegal aliens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the US and therefore not entitled to citizenship. I’m having a hard time trying to figure out how an illegal alien who commits a crime in the US is not “subject to the jurisdiction” of our laws, and I’m sure all of those people worried about their daughters being raped by MS-13 mem bers are equally interested. But even if this were a legitimate argument, there are a lot of problems with the way that the White House is approaching it. First, you don’t fix a pol icy problem by erasing parts of the Con stitution with that pen you swiped from Obama. Second, you generally don’t ignore the clear wording of a statute unless there is compelling evidence to the contrary. And most importantly, you don’t dare change the thing that makes us exceptional: the fact that prince and pauper, invalid and healthy, black man and white woman, are equally entitled to the great gift of citizenship. Lay off my Bill of Rights, Mr. President. Christine M. Flowers is a columnist for the Tribune Content Agency. a CHRISTINE M. FLOWERS cflowers1961@ gmail.com She Stines EDITORIAL BOARD Founded Jan. 26,1947 345 Green St., Gainesville, GA 30501 gainesvilletimes.com General Manager Norman Baggs Editor in Chief Shannon Casas
