Letters to the editor for May 13, 2011
Individual rights
To the Editor:
Yaron Brook said this in his rousing speech at the Tea Party Patriots Summit in Arizona Feb. 25 (www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7fiagHwNJY), “You know Paul Ryan and these guys are having a hard time with the budget. Right? It’s a budget of $3.7 trillion. A deficit of $1.7 trillion. Our brave Republicans have proposed cutting $30 billion. And then you guys complain and they went back and now they are going to cut $70 billion. Out of $3.7 trillion? They don’t know where to start. They don’t have a principle.”
They don’t have a principle.
Yet the Founding Fathers had a principle. I find it interesting that for all the attention that the Founding Fathers are getting right now, people are still missing the one principle that they stood for and without that one principle there never would have been a United States of America.
It is this single idea that all the rest of their ideas rested upon and it is how they came up with their unique system of government.
Does any Republican even know what that one principle is? Let alone stick to it? Yet the Founders were willing to risk their lives and everything they had for it — the principle of individual rights.
Individual rights are spelled out very clearly in the Declaration of Independence: Our rights are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (our happiness, not anyone else’s).
They went on to say that the government was created among men to protect those rights. And that is all the government should be doing. That’s it.
So how should the Republicans determine which programs to cut? Yaron Brook goes on to say, “But if you think about individual rights as a principle, then it’s easy.”
If a government program doesn’t protect individual rights, then it needs to stop.
Whose rights are protected when wealth is redistributed? Not the man who earns an honest living who has his money stolen to give to someone else. His right to what he has worked for which supports his life has been violated.
Whose rights are protected when health care is socialized? Not the doctors who become slaves of the state that regulates how they should practice medicine and not the patients who cannot choose the best treatments for the best price.
Whose rights are protected with Social Security? Not the man who wants to invest for his future the way he chooses when his money is taken away from him to give to someone else.
We need to cut government so that it does only one thing. One thing. And that one thing is to protect individual rights.
Yaron Brook pointed this out about the Founding Fathers: “They didn’t say, ‘We just want a little bit less taxes, please, King George.’ They didn’t say, ‘Give us some liberty, please, King George.’
“They changed the world because they asked a fundamental question. And the question they asked is, ‘Who does your life – does my life – belong to?’
“That’s a question that people had never asked, because it was always obvious: your life belongs to the state, to the king, to some emperor, to somebody else – and it’s your job to do his bidding.
“The Founders of this country said ‘No: sovereignty belongs with the individual. My life is mine. Your life is yours. And nobody can take that away – not a king; but not even a majority!”
We need to demand that Republicans stand on the principle of individual rights. They need to believe in that principle and commit to that principle. Then we will be on the road to recovery. But not until then.
Here is how I see it. You are either in favor of individual rights or you favor the government controlling your life. There is no in between. It’s either freedom or submission. Me, I’m with the Founding Fathers. I take freedom. Freedom all the way.
Charlotte Cushman
Works in Anoka
Add revenue before cuts
To the Editor:
Cuts to projected spending are being passed at the state Legislature left and right. We all have to tighten our belts in tough times, but if we see a $20 bill lying on the street, we pick it up and loosen the belt one notch.
Racinos are Minnesota’s $20 bill. They would create thousands of jobs for construction, hospitality and entertainment industries along with millions in new tax revenues for the state to help ease the pinch on our state budget.
Adding slots at the state’s two horse racing tracks allows the legislature budget breathing room it can’t afford to turn down.
Minnesotans have been pointing out the racino $20 bill lying in the street for years. It’s time the Legislature picks up that bill and loosens the budget belt by a cut or two.
Jake Leavitt
Forest Lake
Contrasts in budgets
To the Editor:
With weeks still go to in the legislative session, the House has passed a complete budget package that lives within its means and cuts taxes for middle class Minnesotans.
This is a stark contrast with Gov. Dayton’s budget plan which would pay for a 22 percent increase in government spending with a $2.4 billion tax increase on Minnesotans of every income level.
My hope is that the governor won’t hold out on tax increases so we can agree on a budget to rein in government spending and leave money in the pockets of the people who earned it.
While the budget is the top priority, I have also been working on education reform issues.
In particular, I am working on a teacher evaluation based on student achievement growth that would replace the outdated “last in, first out” tenure system and ensure we have an effective teacher in every classroom.
I am chief author of House File 945 to establish such an evaluation system.
There has already been bipartisan agreement between the Legislature and the governor on alternative teacher licensure and I look forward to working with the governor on passing this important reform.
While the House budget increases per pupil funding for schools across the state, a recent national survey found that only 11 percent of voters think that taxpayers are getting a good return on their investment in education.
It’s clear simply spending more money won’t improve our schools without meaningful reform.
Sincerely,
Branden Petersen
State Representative, District 49B
Sneaking in legislation
To the Editor:
First the Republicans want to return smoking inside bars and restaurants.
Now they sneak in a bill that would make it easier to get away with selling tobacco to children.
The session is almost over when are the Republicans going to get to the economy and jobs?
Bernadette Chlebeck
Coon Rapids
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