About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 6, 2018)
4A OPINION ®he £ntics gainesvilletimes.com Thursday, December 6, 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 Here we go again with ‘he said, she said’ Tom Baxter’s editorial Wednesday went on in detail about voting issues in NC. He quoted the Democratic vice-chairman of Bladen County saying “... has been repeatedly referred to the United States attorney and district attorneys to take action and clean it up. In my opinion those things have not taken place.” Finally Baxter concludes, “If something like this has been going on in one corner of North Carolina for years, it’s likely to have been going on elsewhere.” Well, here we go again. Yes, his information from the Democrats, if correct, looks like it is a bit messy at best up there. Not as bad as Broward County, Florida, of course. The problem is no one has been charged with anything despite being “repeatedly referred” for investigation. Maybe there was not much to investigate. Mr. Baxter does not stop there of course, he goes on to use the accusations made to “con clude” that it is going on elsewhere. So, if Republicans accuse Democrats of help ing people fill out their ballots in some backwater county, then we conclude the Democrats are doing it elsewhere? What the heck ever happened to let’s get the charges at least before we declare guilt. Better yet, wait for the trial to end. David Long Gainesville Heed scientist warnings before it’s too late for us all, please The fourth National Climate Assessment was just released, and it issued dire warnings about climate change. The report is mandated by law every few years. Hundreds of scientists and officials from 13 government agencies wrote the report based on the best scientific evidence. The report emphasizes that climate change is due to humans causing an increase in greenhouse gases. The report says that without greenhouse gases, natural forces — such as changes in energy from the sun — would be slightly cooling Earth. The report warns that, by the end of this cen tury, temperatures are expected to warm about 8.2 degrees F if we take no action. It also says that, without rapid action, we will have heavier precipitation events, a marked increase in sea levels with high tide flooding events along the U.S. coastline, ocean acidification and warming, crop loss, and an increase in forest fires in the western United States and Alaska. All this will result in economic losses in the hundreds of bil lions of dollars annually by 2100 with up to a 10 percent decrease in our GDP. Yes, this is very dangerous to us and even more so to future generations — those are your children and my children and our grandchildren. And yes, it is due to the burning of fossil fuels, despite what others may claim. It seems to me that, if our government ordered an exhaustive test to understand climate change, we should heed its warnings while there is still time. The good news is that we actually can solve this problem. Economic studies show that a national revenue neutral carbon fee and divi dend plan will actually grow our economy and put more money back into the average Ameri can’s pocketbook while at the same time being the best means to combat climate change. The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, H.R. 7173, was just introduced in Congress. This bill, with joint Republican and Democratic sponsorship, will do just that. This represents America’s best chance to change the course of history and control climate change. I hope and pray that we will heed the warnings of our best scientists and do the morally right thing. Vernon Dixon Hiawassee Your government officials 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 Marshal’s Office, P.O. Drawer 1435, Gainesville, 770-531-6762 Elections Office, 2875 Browns Bridge Road, Gainesville, 770-531-6945, elections® hallcounty.org Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Gerald Couch, 610 Main St., Gainesville, 770-531 -6885, www. hallcountysheriffsoffice.org Fire Department, 470 Crescent Drive, Gainesville, 770-531 -6838, www.hallcounty.org/fireservices The media wants the public s trust — they have to earn it At lunch the other day, a friend — an old Marine who will soon turn 80 — informed me that originality is dead. “Nothing is new,” he said. “Everything that’s happening now has happened before. ” At the intersection of politics and media, he has a point. The alarmist anti-Trump media likes to say that things have never been this bad. You know what’s bad? Peo ple’s memories. It’s Groundhog Day in America. It feels like we’ve been here before — even if neither party admits it. When a politician on your team comes up with an idea, we declare that no one has ever come up with anything this good. When a politician on the rival team does anything, we insist that no one has ever been this bad. You know what else is bad? The media’s reputation. In the Trump era, not many folks in my line of work are known for their fairness and objectivity. The media could restore much of the public’s trust by admitting that much of what they find shocking is actually quite familiar. For example, when reporting on a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico that looks a lot like the old trade deal with Canada and Mexico, why can’t reporters make that point — but then follow up by pointing out that repacking policy initia tives is hardly new. They could mention that President Barack Obama did the same thing when he essentially Xeroxed many of President George W. Bush’s policies for combating terrorism? In fact, federal judges would scratch their heads over the fact that — in defending domestic surveil lance — the briefs from the Obama Justice Department so closely resembled those of the Bush Justice Department. And, if the claim is that Trump simply re-branded the North American Free Trade Agreement without changing much of the content, then why not mention that Obama did much the same thing when he scuttled the educational law, “No Child Left Behind” — and replaced it with his own educational ini tiative, “Race to the Top?” There wasn’t much of a difference. The former pushed accountability by threatening to close underperforming schools, while the latter pushed accountability by offering financial initiatives to over-performing ones. Putting all this on the table provides con text. In the bygone days of what we used to call journalism, it was considered tell ing the whole story. It was fair. But it was also closer to the only thing journalists are meant to chase: the truth. Context changes a minor story from what one president is doing wrong into a major story about what’s wrong with our political system. In a more recent example, anti-Trump forces heaped criticism on the Fox News morning show “Fox & Friends” after it emerged that the show’s producers choreographed interviews with former Environmental Protection Agency admin istrator Scott Pruitt. Pruitt was often given the questions ahead of time, allowed to choose the topics, and even given script approval. We learned all this from emails revealed in a Freedom of Information Act request by the Sierra Club and confirmed by The Daily Beast. It was an egregious breach of journal istic ethics. Thankfully, Pruitt is now out of office. But still, all those interviews are now tainted. Yet the stunt was not exactly original. We’ve seen this movie before, where journalists get too cozy and give away the store to folks they’re interviewing. They go from doing the public good to doing public relations. If the media is really bothered by what the Fox producers did with regard to Pruitt, then they should have been just as bothered at what came out from WikiLeaks, in October 2016, about how Glenn Thrush — then a reporter for Polit ico — likewise broke the rules in cozying up to John Podesta. According to emails between the two men, Thrush shared a story pre-publication with Podesta and then begged the campaign chairman for Hillary Clinton not to tell anyone about it. He even called himself a “hack.” There wasn’t much of an outcry over that earlier sin against journalism. Why not? You know why not. Fox News Channel says that it is “disci plining” the producers who coddled Pruitt. Thrush wasn’t disciplined for coddling Podesta; he went on to a prestigious report ing job at The New York Times, which was jeopardized when female reporters claimed he had acted improperly at differ ent points in his career. No wonder the public has so little faith in us. What have we done to earn it? Ruben Navarrette writes for The Washington Post Writers Group. RUBEN NAVARRETTE ruben@ rubennavarrette.com I ®to» Ko®& !*r raistiJe Got Your fcfcCKA SCOTT STANTIS I Tribune News Service J T -Mm fmL - 4 ' ■ -iM : ' % ■' .tfe'sessSt ■.■■■• xIEifrXa Thinking about what’s right in America Amid this holiday season of reflection, I’m thinking about America’s future. A new poll from Gallup serves up some sobering data regarding how young Ameri cans feel about their country. Gallup asked the question, “Do you think the U.S. has a unique character that makes it the greatest country in the world, or don’t you think so?” Eighty percent said “yes,” America is the greatest country, in 2010 and 78 per cent said yes in 2018. However, among 18- to 34-year-olds, 80 percent said yes in 2010 but this dropped by 18 percentage points in 2018 to 62 percent. It’s troubling to think that now 4 out of 10 young Americans do not see their nation as exceptional and the greatest in the world. Maybe there is a sense creeping into our youth that America is no longer the land of opportunity that it once was. In a 2017 Pew Research Global Atti tudes and Trends survey, only 37 percent of Americans said they believed so when asked, “When children today grow up, will they be better off financially than their parents?” This compared with 82 percent in China (in 2016), 69 percent in Chile and 50 percent in Israel. According to recent data from the Brookings Institution, just 50 percent of those born in 1984 earn more than their parents, compared with 61 percent of those born in 1970 and 79 per cent of those born in 1950. But if America’s youth are losing a sense that this is a land of dreams, this sentiment doesn’t seem to be shared by the million immi grants who arrive in the U.S. every year. According to a new study by the National Foundation for American Policy, 55 percent of privately held startup com panies in the U.S. now worth more than a billion dollars were started by immigrants from 25 different countries. The study reports that the collective value of these firms founded by immi grants is $248 billion and each company employs an average of 1,200 people. Most of these immigrant entrepreneurs came to the U.S. to study as international students and chose to stay and become cit izens. However, some arrived as refugees and were sponsored by family members. This all tells me that America is still a land of dreams and opportunity. Are there things wrong with this country? Certainly. But there still is plenty that is right. Those who choose to uproot from nations all over the world to come here and start their lives anew are interested in what is right, not what is wrong. I like this quote from former TV person ality Art Linkletter, who observed, “Things turn out the best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out. ” There’s an important point here. Suc cess is not just about one’s circumstances, but also what is happening inside of each individual — one’s character. The holidays are a good time to think about this. I suggest two things. First, let’s look at what is right about America. And second, let every American ask themselves if they truly believe they are the best they can be, and if not, why not? Let’s each take personal responsibil ity to make ourselves and our country as great as possible and stop thinking that it’s others and circumstances that block our path. I think the nation would soar, even with the things that are wrong, if all Americans got out of bed each morning with the sense that what happens to them is not because of anything but what they themselves choose to do. And, if at the same time, we related to ourselves and everyone else as created in the image of God. We all would discover how much power each of us has and we all would discover how great America is, because it is free. Star Parker is an author and president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and a columnist for Creators. STAR PARKER www.urbancure.org 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 Community member Brent Hoffman
