Daily Chronicle Editorial Board Karen Pletsch, Inger Koch, Eric Olson, Brett Rowland
OPINIONS WEEKEND daily-chronicle.com
SKETCH VIEW
December 19, 2015 Daily Chronicle Section A • Page 11
Facebook.com/dailychronicle
@dailychronicle
OUR VIEW: THUMBS-UP, THUMBS-DOWN
Compromise in District 302
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Founders’ aim was true with Second Amendment
To the Editor: In his letter of Dec. 16 titled, “Conditional clause of Second Amendment ignored,” John Rogalin claims that service in the militia is necessary for ownership of firearms. “The days of a well regulated militia are well past; we no longer have minutemen who drop their plows, grab their rifles and head off to some previously specified location and then return to their field when danger has passed. We now have a defense system built around volunteer armed forces who serve in a duty status of on or off duty for specific time periods for a contracted number of years.” It is here that he shows his misunderstanding of the founders’ intent based on the reality they faced. The Founding Fathers trusted neither government nor standing armies. The militia at this time was every able-bodied man. In modern times we would now include women. It is quite clear that they wanted everyone to be armed should it become necessary not only to overthrow the government but its standing army, as they had just done in the Revolution. I own firearms as my father and his father and his father did. There has never been a time when law-abiding citizens have been unable to acquire firearms. The Supreme Court has confirmed this right. I too have grown weary of the
mass shootings caused by mental illness and radical Islam. By not attributing these tragedies to their actual cause and going after the guns used instead, we guarantee their repeat. Robert Kauffman Waterman
Protecting funds to provide energy assistance To the Editor: The Illinois General Assembly just passed and the governor signed a bill that released nearly $3 billion of already-collected money sitting in dedicated funds. Among these are utility ratepayer contributions to the Illinois Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund (SLEAF), which supplements the federal LIHEAP program. These ratepayer contributions are collected through our utility bills and placed in a public trust for the exclusive purpose of aiding our state’s elderly, people with special needs, veterans, and poor pay the high cost of heat and electricity. I commend the General Assembly and governor for finally releasing these funds as the winter months approach. Despite this step forward, the bigger budget discussion continues, and these funds are still in danger. These SLEAF funds are not general revenue funds, and should be off the table as Springfield considers solutions to the current fiscal year
and FY17 budgets. These funds, combined with the federal funds, only satisfy a small fraction of the State’s overall need. The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) estimated that under current state and federal funding levels LIHEAP would only help 35 percent of the roughly 926,000 eligible households in Illinois this year. The SLEAF fund also helps keep all ratepayers’ bills lower by reducing the “uncollectables” the utilities recover in everyone’s rates. Given the escalating utility costs, the harsh Illinois winters our residents have had to endure in recent years, and the ongoing hardships due to the budget stalemate and slow economic recovery, these funds are needed more than ever. Challenging fiscal decisions must be made; however, any budget solutions cannot include consideration of redirecting these much-needed funds into the general revenue fund, or reallocating any portion of these funds. It is imperative that the Illinois SLEAF, which aids our most vulnerable residents, be protected. Miguel del Valle
Commissioner, Illinois Commerce Commission Chicago
A city-owned Chicago casino is a bad idea
To the Editor: Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants a city-owned casino in Chicago to help pay for public pensions for po-
lice and firefighters. While the idea might sound good on paper, Forbes published an article counting the ways a city-owned Chicago casino is a very bad idea. The Forbes article concludes by saying, ”More casinos will not mean substantially more tax revenue. But a government-owned casino would mean more government corruption. That’s the nature of Chicago.” There are no city-owned casinos anywhere in the United States. Casino revenues are falling nationwide and in Illinois, where 21,695 video gambling machines have been installed in 5,158 neighborhood casinos. A new study found there is no safe level of gambling, even at relatively low levels of losses. Electronic gaming machines (slot and video gambling machines) were the most strongly associated with problem gambling in every country in the study. The city of Chicago and the state of Illinois cannot solve their revenue problems by legalizing a city-owned casino. The resulting increases in addiction, bankruptcy, crime, and corruption would be borne by all residents, whether you gamble or not. It’s time for residents to contact their Legislators and Gov. Bruce Rauner to tell them “no more gambling.” Anita Bedell
Executive Director, Illinois Church Action on Alcohol & Addiction Problems Springfield
Pretend answers on terrorism I wish I were as confident as many politicians and news commentators. They know what America should do about ISIS and terrorism. Donald Trump, who said he can feel terrorism “like I feel a good location ... I have an instinct for this kind of thing,” said he would “bomb the [expletive]” out of ISIS strongholds, ban Muslim immigration and shutter American mosques. America should “stop pussy-footing around!” according to Fox News host Jeanine Pirro. “Bomb them. Keep bombing them. Bomb them again and again. And I don’t care how long it takes!” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, agrees. If he’s elected, he said, “We will utterly destroy them. We will carpet bomb them into oblivion.” Cruz is at least skeptical about nation-building and sending in American soldiers, but Hillary Clinton and some of Cruz’s fellow Republicans are not. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, says there’s “no middle ground” because “radical terrorists want to kill us, because we let women drive, because we let girls go to school!” This is reckless. There probably is, the Cato Institute’s Ted Galen Carpenter puts it, “a jihadist somewhere who is so unhinged that he would want to slaughter Americans simply because of a virulent hatred of Western culture. But even the bipartisan commission that investigated the 9/11 attacks conceded that the primary driving force for Islamist terrorism was anger at U.S.-led foreign policy in the Middle East.” In other words, terrorists don’t come here because we let girls attend school
THE FIRST
AMENDMENT
VIEWS John Stossel but mainly because we meddle in their countries. Osama bin Laden said he attacked the World Trade Center because our forces are “too near to Mecca” and “occupy our countries.” A University of Chicago study concluded the central objective of 95 percent of terrorist incidents was to compel a Western state to withdraw from territory the terrorists view as theirs. It’s not just to make a religious point. Even Iraq War proponent Paul Wolfowitz admitted that America’s presence in the Middle East was “a huge recruiting device for al-Qaida.” Now Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio want to do more of that? We will create new terrorists while killing current ones (plus innocent people). I don’t see how that makes us safer. Commentator Mark Steyn said letting in immigrants without somehow screening out radical Muslims “will cost you your world and everything you love.” He wrote an article titled “The Barbarians Are Inside, and There Are No Gates.” Well, I worry about those immigrants, too, but there are more than 2 million Muslims in the U.S. already and have been for decades. Terrorist incidents are rare (so far). Even if we include the horrible attack on the World Trade Center, many more Americans die riding bikes, swim-
ming or driving. When there is terrorism, most has been committed by non-Muslims. In 2012 alone, non-Muslim mass shootings caused “twice as many fatalities as from Muslim-American terrorism in all 11 years since 9/11,” said Charles Kurzman, writing for the Triangle Center on Terrorism and National Security. Kurzman’s researchers report that Islamic terrorism “doesn’t even count for 1 percent” of 180,000 murders in the U.S. since 9/11. Of course, that could change tomorrow. But even then, there’s no guarantee that keeping desperate Syrian refugees out of America will make much difference. On my TV show, Steyn pointed out that there are many authoritarians among Muslims, so libertarians like me should worry about that. I do worry about that, but I still don’t think he or the current crop of loud politicians have answers. Most not only want to undo America’s tradition of immigration but also increase military interventions. These are not actions with good track records. Every subset of the U.S. population brings benefits and risks. It’s much easier to talk about banning less familiar ones, like newcomers. But until we can reliably tell the innocent from the guilty, I side with Keith, a viewer who in response to my question about security versus liberty tweeted, “If there’s a choice to be made, liberty needs to win.”
• John Stossel is host of “Stossel” on Fox News and author of “No, They Can’t! Why Government Fails -- But Individuals Succeed.”
Thumbs-up: To arriving at a compromise. On Thursday, negotiators from Kaneland School District 302 board and the district’s teachers association reached a tentative agreement on a four-year contract. Teachers had been working without a contract since the start of the school year. We hope the agreement will bring labor peace and also be fiscally responsible for taxpayers. Thumbs-down: To the loss of a local manufacturer. A blaze that started at the Gord Industrial Plastics building Wednesday in Sandwich kept burning well into Thursday. There were 30 employees at the business, whose shop was destroyed in the blaze, and two employees were taken to the hospital as a result. We’re sad to see a local business damaged by fire and hope that the owners will be able to rebuild and recover. Thumbs-up: To teaching children about volunteering. Students at DeKalb’s Littlejohn Elementary School learned about volunteerism Thursday, with older students going to help in places including Barb City Manor, Barb Food Mart, and Children’s Learning Center. Younger students heard presentations from representatives of community organizations including TAILS Humane Society, Meals on Wheels and the DeKalb County Community Gardens. It’s a good thing for children to learn about the opportunities for them to use their energy and idealism to benefit the community in which they live. Kudos to the children and the educators and the community organizations that made it possible. Thumbs-down: To the creeping menace of Asian carp. In the past six years, federal agencies have spent $300 million on measures to keep the fish known for jumping out of the water when boats go by from reaching Lake Michigan, Since then, federal agencies have spent the money on stopgap measures, including placing electric barriers on one likely route, a shipping canal that leads to Lake Michigan. The carp can grow to weigh more than 20 pounds and if they reached the Great Lakes, would compete with other fish. So far, the states have been unable to agree on a means of keeping the carp out, and the fish is now about 80 miles from Lake Michigan. Thumbs-down: To extended road closures. Coltonville Road in Sycamore will remain closed to through traffic until sometime in spring, DeKalb County officials said this week. County officials said a delay in acquiring steel I-beams and then weather troubles made it impossible for the contractor to meet its target completion date for the work. Residents who used the road on a daily basis are understandably annoyed. It’s odd that the mild start to the winter didn’t give contractors the opportunity to pour concrete, but it’s important that if the bridge is going to be fixed, it be fixed right the first time. Thumbs-up: To a winning work of art. Leyla Nora Puskar, a junior art and design education major from Sycamore, submitted the winning design for Northern Illinois University President Doug Baker’s 2015 Holiday Card Contest. Puskar’s design, “The Gift of NIU,” depicting a Huskie pulling the ribbon off a present, was selected to adorn the university’s official holiday card this year. For submitting the winning entry, Puskar received a $500 prize. We’re pleased to see a local artist finding success and hope that we see more work from her in the future.
ANOTHER VIEW
Secession vote not harmless Kidding aside – on this topic that’s a struggle – the Texas Republican Party’s flirtation with a referendum on secession is not the laughing matter it appears on the surface to be. The reassurances of saner party delegates who voted the idea down this month are not reassuring. Their successful dismissal of the proposal doesn’t erase that it was considered. Secession is fun for Texans to joke about. The bumper stickers are cute. But the party committee that approved it for consideration by a 7-4 vote wasn’t joking. And lost in all the joking and reassurances is that secession is just another word for treason. That, fellow Texans, is not hyperbole. Treason against the United States of America is punishable by death. And even in Texas, land of the death penalty, that’s no laughing matter. The ballot language under consideration by the Texas Republican executive committee said this: “If the Federal Government continues to disregard the Constitution and the sovereignty of the State of Texas, the State of Texas should reassert its prior status as an independent nation.” Yes or no. The member who proposed it said it was meant only to gauge opinion – to “take a thermometer of how Texans feel.” This thermometer reading, she said, would have been harmless. OK, let’s give that a try: “In our opinion – only our opinion, mind you – we should secede, which, last time, caused the federal government to respond militarily.” Sorry, but this is not harmless opinion. The prefacing remark – “if the Federal Government continues to disregard the Constitution and the sovereignty of the State of Texas” – is the opinionated part of this intended gauge of mere opinion. The “continues to” part is what we in this business mean by the question “When did you stop beating your wife?” It presupposes guilt. Texas Republicans have been told repetitively enough, through all the years of the Obama administration, that the U.S. government violates the Constitution and Texas sovereignty. Texas’ Republican officials have spent a lot of tax money suing the government repeatedly on that premise, without measurable dissent from the taxpaying Texas GOP base.
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.
Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times