Opinions
Daily Chronicle • www.daily-chronicle.com • Page A5 • Tuesday, February 5, 2013
8OUR VIEW
8SKETCH VIEW
Filling out local seats
8LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Glad to see Corn Fest returning to downtown To the Editor: I am truly excited about Corn Fest finally is coming back to the downtown DeKalb area. I went to Corn Fest the first two years that it was held at the DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport, and it just didn’t have that “hometown” feel. I didn’t see anyone I knew, and there was no shade to keep cool. And I missed being able to go into the stores downtown to see what they had on sale. Now that there will be no more “On the Waterfront” in Rockford, maybe DeKalb will be able to book some older great classic
rock bands, and once again to have some bleachers set up for more people to be seated while listening to the music. Sherre Perkins DeKalb
Urge EPA to ban bee-killing chemical To the Editor: There have been several reports in recent weeks concerning the die-off of bees involving the so- called “colony collapse”. The importance of bees to our agricultural industry cannot be overstated. We cannot provide with human labor and resources alone the services that bees provide.
Now we learn that a blockbuster study released last week by the European Food Safety Authority has for the first time labeled the pesticide clothianidin as an “unacceptable” danger to bees. Scientists have long thought that clothianidin is at least partially to blame for the alarming rate that bees have been dying off in the U.S. – nearly 30 percent of our bee population, per year, has been lost since 2006. Our own U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has repeatedly ignored scientists’ warnings and the urging of Americans to ban the use of clothianidin. The reply is usually that there is
a lack of evidence or the subject “needs more study.” Now, the EFSA study could be a major breakthrough to convince the EPA to take emergency action, and suspend the use of clothianidin to stop the precipitous decline in global honeybee populations. It is time for all concerned citizens to write to the EPA and tell them not to wait. End the use of clothianidin. The EPA mailing address: Environmental Protection Agency Ariel Ross Bldg. 1200 Pennsylvanica Ave NW. Washington, D.C. 20460 Paul D. Sorensen
Although DeKalb County Clerk John Acardo’s office has certified the preliminary ballot, there’s still time for those who want to get involved with local government to do so. And in many parts of DeKalb County, there are local governments that still need the help of interested citizens. There are more than 20 local offices in communities around the area that do not have enough candidates to fill the vacancies. It’s too late to have your name printed on the ballot, but there is time to run as a write-in candidate for those offices. Anyone interested in running as a write-in must register with Acardo’s office by Thursday. The filing process is easy: Citizens simply go to the elections office and fill out a one-page document and they’re on their way. The list of offices without enough candidates is long. The District 427 school board in Sycamore is short a candidate. In DeKalb, no one is running for the office of clerk, a position voters said they wanted to remain elected in a referendum last fall. If there’s no one to elect, the clerk position becomes an appointed job by default. Three candidates are needed for the Hinckley-Big Rock District 429 school board, and the Kaneland District 302 board is also short three candidates. A candidate is needed to fill a two-year unexpired term in Somonauk District 432, and the Genoa Township Park District board also is short two candidates. Library boards for communities including Clinton Township, Genoa, Hinckley, and Malta all are in need of candidates. Boards such as these often can provide a good introduction to local governance for people who are interested but lack experience. It has been noted many times before that although local elections generally don’t draw anywhere near as much interest as the race for our country’s president, it’s local government that holds more sway over the day-today lives of people. The quality of local government depends on the people who are elected or appointed to run it. It is not glamorous or high-paying work, but it is an essential service. A complete list of all the local races and the people running for them is available online at www.dekalbclerk.com/Elections/Infoforvoters.html, or by calling the election department at 815.895.7147. For anyone who would like to get involved, there is still time to run and make a difference.
8 OUR VIEW
Satisfactory end to Fewer dollars, babies threaten social programs sad political downfall
Our major public policies are based on the assumption that America will continue to enjoy growth. Economic growth and population growth. Through most of our history, this assumption has proved to be correct. These days, not so much. Last week, the Commerce Department announced that the gross domestic product shrunk by 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012. And the Census Bureau reported that the U.S. birth rate in 2011 was 63.2 per 1,000 women age 15 to 44, the lowest ever recorded. Slow economic growth and low population growth threaten to undermine entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare. Despite contrary rhetoric, they are programs in which working-age people pay for pensions and medical care for the elderly. When Medicare was established in 1965 and when Social Security was vastly expanded in 1972, America was accustomed to the high birth rates of the post-World War II baby boom. It was widely assumed that the baby boom generation would soon produce a baby boom of its own. Oops. The birth rate fell from the peak of 122.7 in 1957 to 68.8 in 1973 and hovered around that level until 2007. The baby boom, it turns out, was an exception to a general rule that people tend to have fewer babies as their societies become more affluent and urbanized. Social Security had to be tweaked in 1983 when it became clear there weren’t enough working-age people to fund benefits promised to the elderly. It needs tweaking again today for the same reason. Medicare presents even greater problems. Health care costs have generally been rising at rates above economic growth. By itself this is not necessarily a problem. Economic growth and market competition have enabled Americans to spend smaller percentages of their incomes on food and clothes, with more
VIEWS Michael Barone
In the 1990s, Canada and Sweden faced economic crises similar to ours. In response, they sharply cut public spending. Their economies have done well since, and their governments have been running budget surpluses. We did something like the opposite. The consequences could be enduring. Michael Barone
left over to spend on other things. Spending more on health care is a sensible thing for an affluent society to do – especially as new medical procedures and drugs mean that health care can deliver more than it used to. But in a society in which the elderly are an increasing share of the population and working age people are a decreasing share, it becomes increasingly difficult to fund these programs. These problems are exacerbated when the economy fails to grow as rapidly as the working age population. Birth rates fell sharply during the Depression of the 1930s. They have fallen significantly since the housing collapse, from 69.3 in 2007 to 63.2 in 2011. The steepest decline in births since 2007 has been among Hispanic immigrants, who were also hit hard by housing foreclosures. We don’t know whether this trend will continue. But if it does, the consequences will resemble the subtitle of Jonathan Last’s newly published book, “What to Expect When No One’s Expecting: America’s Coming Demographic
DeKalb
Disaster.” Last points out that our fertility rate – the number of children a woman has over a lifetime – has been below the replacement level of 2.1. Over time, a below-replacement-level fertility rate means population decline. To see what that means, look at Japan. Its fertility rate is 1.4, its population is declining, and it has had essentially zero economic growth since 1990. We are not in such a bad position, yet. Since the end of the recession in June 2009, quarterly GDP growth has averaged 2.1 percent. That has left job growth way below the historic trend line. Four years ago, the incoming Obama administration’s economists promised that we would be heading back up to the trend line, with unemployment down to a little above 5 percent now. Instead, it was 7.9 percent in January, and that’s with millions no longer even looking for work. Labor force participation is the lowest it’s been since 1981. The danger is that all this can come to seem the new normal. Low birth rates, as Last argues, can persuade others to want fewer children. Low economic growth or even decline can shape expectations and become a self-fulfilling prophecy. “An economic recovery has begun,” President Barack Obama said in his inaugural speech last month. The implication: This is all you’re going to get. In the 1990s, Canada and Sweden faced economic crises similar to ours. In response, they sharply cut public spending. Their economies have done well since, and their governments have been running budget surpluses. We did something like the opposite. The consequences could be enduring.
•MichaelBarone,seniorpolitical analyst for The Washington Examiner, is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a Fox News Channel contributor and a co-author of The Almanac of American Politics.
Letters to the Editor Don T. Bricker – Publisher
Eric Olson – Editor
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Dana Herra – MidWeek Editor dherra@shawmedia.com
Inger Koch – Features Editor ikoch@shawmedia.com
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George Ryan did the crime, and he did the time – more than 5 years behind bars – despite the determined efforts of friends in high places, who tried to have Illinois’ former governor released early. Illinoisans who believe corrupt politicians should be duly punished for their crimes can take satisfaction that justice was served. Ryan, 78, Illinois’ governor from 1999 to 2003, was convicted of corruption charges in 2006 and sentenced to 6 1⁄2 years in federal prison. He entered prison Nov. 7, 2007. Ryan’s lawyer was another former governor, James R. Thompson, who defended Ryan free of charge and constantly looked for ways to get his friend out of jail. In late 2008, after Ryan had served barely one year in prison, Thompson pushed to have outgoing President George W. Bush grant clemency to Ryan. Ryan, Thompson and Bush all are Republicans, but surprisingly, some Democrats rallied to the cause. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin called for Ryan’s early release. So did then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, mere weeks before he himself was arrested on federal corruption charges. Unfortunately for Ryan, but thankfully for the public, Bush ignored the clemency request. Ryan remained in prison. A second big push to have Ryan freed early came during the final illness of Ryan’s wife, Lura Lynn, who died of cancer in June 2011. Thompson tried every trick in the book to have Ryan freed early so that he could be at the side of his frail wife. Although officials allowed Ryan to leave prison temporarily to visit her, the criminal justice system stood firm that Ryan must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence before his release. On Wednesday, after more than 5 years and 2 months, Ryan was released from the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., to home confinement at his Kankakee house. He was allowed to skip living at a Chicago halfway house. He will remain on home confinement until his prison sentence officially ends July 4. Ryan served the state as House speaker, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, and governor. He served more than 5 years in prison. And he now serves as a stark reminder that political corruption is no longer a game in Illinois. Those convicted of it should no longer expect quick reprieves. Ryan’s successor, Blagojevich, began his 14-year prison term for corruption in March. Under federal rules, nearly 12 years must elapse before Blagojevich can expect to be released. Ryan’s failure to win early release gives no comfort to Blagojevich or his supporters. However, it should give great comfort to long-suffering Illinoisans who are sick of corrupt politicians running roughshod over the law, sullying the state’s reputation, and not paying the price.
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. – U.S. Bill of Rights, First Amendment