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OPINION
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gainesvilletimes.com
Saturday, June 29, 2019
Shannon Casas Editor in Chief | 770-718-3417 | scasas@gainesvilletimes.com
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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.
LETTER
A child is leading us
on climate change
The prophet Isaiah speaks of a time in the
future, an age of “righteousness” when there will
be justice and harmony, when “the wolf shall
dwell with the lamb” and “a little child shall lead
them” (Isaiah 11:5-6, RSV).
Clearly, we aren’t there yet, but the good news
is that a child is leading, whether we are ready
or not.
Time magazine for May 27 had a cover picture
of a girl in a green dress. That girl is Greta Thun-
berg, a 16-year-old Swede who decided, based
on the conclusive scientific evidence of climate
change, that it is more important to motivate adults
to respond to the crisis than to go to school. So, on
Fridays she began to sit in front of the Swedish
Parliament with a sign proclaiming School Strike
for Climate. On March 15, an estimated 1.6 million
people in 133 countries joined her demonstration.
She has addressed the U.K. Houses of Parlia
ment, the U.N. Climate Change Conference and
the World Economic Forum (where the very rich
gather in Davos, Switzerland). She also made
a TED talk, a video available on the internet.
Her message in each case is simple, and I will
paraphrase it: Why should I educate myself
for a future blighted by ruined air, oceans and
economy when world leaders are not respond
ing to a disaster that has already begun? If there
were a war, nations would do everything possible
to protect their people and defeat the threat. You
adults are not paying attention. You have blown
it. You must take drastic steps for the sake of my
generation and our children now.
Greta concludes her talk thus: “Now we are
almost at the end of my talk, and this is where
people usually start talking about hope... but I’m
not going to do that. We’ve had 30 years of pep-
talking. ... I’m sorry, but it doesn’t work.... The
one thing we need more than hope is action. Once
we start to act, hope is everywhere.”
The most powerful action available to Americans
right now is the Energy Innovation and Carbon
Dividend Act (HB 763), which should come up for a
vote in Congress this summer. It will reduce carbon
emissions, build the economy and protect consum
ers. I hope we are wise enough to be led by a child.
Jim Robison
Gainesville
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Your government officials
U.S. government
President Donald Thimp, The White House, 1600
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20500,
202-456-1111,202-456-1414, fax, 202-456-
2461; www.whitehouse.gov
Sen. Johnny Isakson, 131 Russell Senate Office
Building, Washington, DC 20510,202-224-3643,
fax, 202-228-0724; One Overton Park, 3625
Cumberland Blvd., Suite 970, Atlanta 30339,770-
661 -0999, fax, 770-661 -0768; isakson.senate.gov
Sen. David Perdue, 383 Russell Senate Office
Building, Washington, DC 20510,202-224-
3521, fax 202-228-1031; 3280 Peachtree Road
NE Suite 2640, Atlanta 30303, 404-865-0087,
fax 404-865-0311; perdue.senate.gov.
U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, 1504 Longworth House Office
Building, Washington, DC 20515,202-225-9893;
210 Washington St. NW, Suite 202, Gainesville
30501,770-297-3388; dougcollins.house.gov
D.S. Rep. Rob Woodall, 1725 Longworth House
Office Building, Washington, DC 20515,202-
225-4272, fax 202-225-4696; 75 Langley Drive,
Lawrenceville 30045, 770-232-3005, fax 770-
232-2909; woodall.house.gov
Hall County government
Board of Commissioners, 2875 Browns Bridge
Road, Gainesville, P.O. 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, Shelly Echols, sechols@hallcounty.
org; District 4, Jeff Stowe, jstowe@hallcounty.org.
Tax Commissioner’s Office, 2875 Browns Bridge
Road, P.O. Box 1579, Gainesville 30503, 770-
531 -6950, taxcommissioner@hallcounty.org
Public Works, 2875 Browns Bridge Road,
Gainesville, 770-531-6800, krearden@
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
Public Safety, Director Marty Nix, 470 Crescent
Drive, Gainesville, 770-531-6774, mnix@
hallcounty.org
Animal Shelter, Director Mike Ledford, 1688
Barber Road, Gainesville, 678-450-1587,
mledford@hallcounty.org; Animal Control, 770-
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Area school boards
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770-534-1080, www.hallco.org
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Buford City Schools: 2625 Sawnee Ave.,
Buford, Georgia, 770-945-5035, www.
bufordcityschools.org
Harris just taught a debate
clinic ... You re welcome
BY JONATHAN BERNSTEIN
Bloomberg News
It’s a fool’s game to predict how vot
ers will react to nomination debate per
formances — or, for that matter, how
the media will construct the story of
any debate. So I won’t play that game.
What I will say is that Sen. Kamala
Harris of California put on a clinic
Thursday night in how to do these
events. From early on in the second
Democratic presidential debate until
her final statement, she earned her
place in the upper tier of candidates
who have ever participated in these
events. Again, that doesn’t guarantee
anything; Barack Obama won a nomi
nation despite never really mastering
that particular format, while several
candidates who were good at debates
never went anywhere. But yes, Harris
is good at it.
The centerpiece is the clip you’ll be
seeing, in which Harris took on Joe
Biden on the issue of, of all things, bus
ing — a policy question that’s been out
of the news for decades. It was in some
ways a fascinating moment in U.S. polit
ical history, in which questions of race
and ethnicity, generational change,
education, political efficacy, and more
all came together. But as to executing a
plan, Harris pulled it off about as well
as anyone could have. (And we know
that it was a planned attack, because
Harris’s media folks had material
ready to go once it happened.)
The thing is that when Harris inter
rupted to gain control of the floor
in order to launch her attack, it was
already (at least) the second time that
she had effectively shushed the other
candidates. It was a messy night, with
lots of cross-talk and interruptions, but
Harris was repeatedly effective at seiz
ing moments when she wanted to.
Of course, that wouldn’t help if she
didn’t know what to do once people
focused on her. But her answers were
consistently solid. She’s excellent at
shifting from anecdotes to policy,
excellent at feeling her way to time
limits — and excellent at exceeding the
time limit without (in my view at least)
seeming pushy or obnoxious. And her
closing statement, in which she prom
ised to prosecute the case against Don
ald Trump, was a strong way of labeling
what she had been doing all night, and
arguing that her particular skills are
the right ones for the general election.
Again: All of this is essentially the
ater criticism. We’ll just have to wait
and see whether it will play well with
Democratic Party actors, with the
media, and directly or indirectly with
rank-and-file Democratic voters. What
we do know is that Harris doesn’t need
any immediate polling surge to at least
stay in the conversation for the next
few months, and she has quite a bit of
support from party actors already —
suggesting that if she does surge, she’ll
be in good position to take advantage
of it.
It’s worth mentioning that all Har
ris would have to do is win the support
of some of the undecided members of
the California U.S. House delegation
to move into first place in the endorse
ment race, at least according to the
FiveThirtyEight accounting.
As far as the rest of the night? I
thought Pete Buttigieg probably did
what his supporters were hoping for.
Joe Biden had some solid moments, but
all that’s going to matter for him is how
people are going to read his exchange
with Harris, so we’ll have to wait on
that as well. I didn’t see anyone else
who entered with a plausible chance
and who really helped himself or her
self. In particular, it’s hard to believe
that anyone who wasn’t already in the
Bernie Sanders camp was persuaded
by his performance, which is the exact
same thing he’s been doing since the
2016 primaries.
It will also be interesting whether
the candidates who did well during
the Wednesday night debate wind up
overshadowed by Harris (and Biden) on
Thursday, or if they can retain some of
the attention they earned.
There’s going to be one more round
very similar to these debates at the end
of July. After that, there’s a two-month
break, and then a September debate
with a much more difficult threshold
for earning an invitation. We’re about
to go through a series of second-quarter
fundraising disclosures, which not only
count as evidence of how the candi
dates are doing but also generates help
ful attention going forward from those
who do well. So as far as the horse race
is concerned, these debates won’t keep
anyone in the headlines for long any
way. But for those of us who appreciate
political skills, it was impressive to see
Harris at work.
Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg
Opinion columnist covering politics and
policy. He taught political science at the
University of Texas at San Antonio and
DePauw University and wrote A Plain Blog
About Politics.
"Think of it as a lesson in economics.
If you want pie, you have to pick the berries."
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