Letters: Dec. 4, 2019

Fear of I-976 scaremongering

I wanted to write to address all the scaremongers out there who are trying to make us think that the government is going under with the passing of Initiative 976. You folks need to carefully read the ballot title. It says, “except voter approved charges” on page 13 of the voters pamphlet. And on page 15 it says, “unless the fee is approved by voters.” We’re not saying you can’t have it, like the legalized seizure of our money the Legislature likes to do, all we’re saying is you have to ask us for it. The biggest loser here will be Sound Transit, because no one will say yes twice to that thing.

So if you want to raise our tab fees, you best be getting out your best sales people and convince us that we need it. Who knows? we might say yes.

Homeless kids our national crisis

Last week, the New York Times published an article following two homeless school children, “Two of the 114,000 homeless students in New York City.” Let that sink in for just a moment. Think of all the connotations of “home.” Now imagine a “city” twice the size of Richland whose residents (all) are school-aged children with no stable place to call home.

Many of us want desperately to do something to help, but faced with the enormity and complexity of the homeless crisis in America ,we feel overwhelmed and helpless.

One simple thing we can all do is contact Sens. Murray and Cantwell and Rep. Newhouse and let them know that resolving the homeless crisis is one of our top concerns. Specifically, we can ask them to support expanding the earned income and child tax credits in the next federal budget. These are two tax programs that assist struggling families to climb out of poverty and homelessness.

Knowing how crucial the safety and security of a stable home are to human development, any small step we can take to end homelessness will help not only these children and families, but also increase the health and well being of our country.

Taxes are taken at point of a gun

A recent letter to the editor (11/22/2019) said, “Food stamps and Medicaid sound to me more like Christianity, not socialism.” I feel obligated to note some differences between Christianity and government “charities.”

First, the Christian (or any cheerful giver) gives because he wants to. The funding behind government charities is taken from the American people at the point of a gun. As Mao Zedong said, “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” If you don’t believe me, try not paying your taxes and see how long it takes for someone with a gun to show up at your doorstep.

Second, people who freely give their money tend to be careful about where that money goes. Government charities, on the other hand, are run by bureaucrats whose only interest may well be collecting a paycheck. And there have been rumors of government operations where the managers were paid by how much they spent, or how many clients they served, with no regard to effectiveness, or a reduction of the underlying problems.

I won’t argue against a welfare safety net. But there should ALWAYS be privately run alternatives.

This story was originally published December 4, 2019 at 12:01 AM with the headline "Letters: Dec. 4, 2019."