Daily Chronicle Editorial Board Karen Pletsch, Inger Koch, Eric Olson, Brett Rowland
OPINIONS SATURDAY daily-chronicle.com
SKETCH VIEW
September 12, 2015
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Daily Chronicle Section A • Page 9
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OUR VIEW: THUMBS-UP, THUMBS-DOWN
Paying to have siren installed in Fairdale
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Too many lack basic telephone service
To the Editor: Many of us take for granted that we can pick up our phone, dial our friends and family, and stay connected with the rest of the world. Phone service has become such a routine part of our lives that we hardly even think about it anymore. But imagine what it would be like if you were suddenly laid off from your job and couldn’t afford to pay your phone bill. Imagine if you worked one or two jobs and barely made enough to pay the rent and had to sacrifice telephone service. Unfortunately, too many people in the U.S. and in Illinois face this problem everyday and do not have even basic telephone service. In our state, approximately 1 million to 1.4 million people cannot afford any kind of telephone service and are disconnected from friends, family, and emergency services. These consumers cannot even dial 911. There is good news, though. Many of these consumers may qualify for an assistance program – Lifeline – that discounts a portion of their telephone service. Lifeline provides savings for qualified consumers on basic monthly telephone service. As Commissioner of the Illinois
Commerce Commission, I am participating in a national event to raise awareness of, and participation in, these important public-assistance programs. As part of National Telephone Discount Lifeline Awareness Week, the Federal Communications Commission and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners are raising awareness across the country. Lifeline helps low income consumers connect to the nation’s communications networks, find jobs, access health care services, connect with family, and call for help in an emergency. The goal is to connect as many people as possible. We hope that by raising awareness of Lifeline, we can ensure that more consumers can call their friends, their families, and life-saving services. In today’s highly interconnected world, no one should be left out. For more information, visit http://www.fcc.gov/lifeline/ outreach. Miguel del Valle Commissioner, Illinois Commerce Commission Chicago
Early campaigning for office in 2016
To the Editor: If you think the political campaigns begin earlier each year,
you will find a lot of people agreeing with you. Reading a book by the late David Brinkley, I find that he wrote on this subject back on Feb. 6, 1983. So early campaigning is not that new. It’s hard to imagine for a non-political person (as I am) that anyone could stand the grueling months ahead, making all those boring speeches, shaking hands, etc. Do they still kiss babies too? I doubt it in this modern world of germs-conscientiousness, hand sanitizers, etc. If any of the candidates are like the late billionaire Howard Hughes, who refused to shake hands, what will they do to ward off germs – especially during the cold and flu season? I guess that shows a rather petty view on my part. They have their eyes on loftier goals. Telephone calls from politicians have already intruded during my afternoon siestas, mailbox is stuffed with literature, and TV and radio ads cause me to reach for the mute button. I think of all the worthwhile things on which campaign funds could be spent. in a biography of Will Rogers, Reflections and Observations, I read about a Michigan man
running for Congress in 1922, spending $195,000 on his campaign. Today they probably spend that much in a day, but Congress collectively criticized him for doing so. Though he was allowed to be seated, there was still so much public outrage 10 months later, he resigned. (I don’t know how true this is. As Will Rogers always said, I only know what I read in the newspaper, I can only say I only know what I read in books and leave it to publishers to verify facts.) Who will remember all the promises made so far ahead of when we go to the polls in November next year? In order to vote intelligently, we should be informed, but the brain’s capacity is finite. We will be subjected to so much verbiage before the election. It will be difficult to absorb so much information. The brain can only retain so much. The following quote is not original but I read it some time ago. An excess of information resists analysis and comprehension in much the same way a lack of it does. Mil Misic DeKalb
Cutting red tape key will set us free I’m upset that the presidential candidates, all of them, rarely mention a huge problem: the quiet cancer that kills opportunity – regulation. The accumulated burden of it is the reason that America is stuck in the slowest economic recovery since the Depression. I understand why candidates don’t talk about it: Regulation is boring. But it’s important. The founders of this republic were willing to die rather than be subject to other people’s rules. Today we are so accustomed to bureaucracy that we’ve forgotten what it means to be free. We now have a million rules – many so complex that even legal specialists can’t understand them. Yet bureaucrats keep writing more. And 22 million people work for government! Okay, that wasn’t fair. Many of those 22 million deliver mail, build roads and do things we consider useful. But at least a million are bureaucrats. And if you are a rule-maker and you don’t create new rules, you think you’re not doing your job. On his “Grumpy Economist” blog, the Hoover Institution’s John Cochrane points out that most of these rule-makers were never even elected, and legislatures rarely vote on their new rules. Yet “Regulators can ruin your life, and your business, very quickly, and you have very little recourse.” Regulators have vast power to oppress. Their power not only hurts the economy, it threatens our political freedom, says Cochran. “What banker dares to speak out against the Fed? ... What hospital or health insurer dares to speak out against HHS or ObamaCare? ... What real estate developer
THE FIRST
AMENDMENT
VIEWS John Stossel needing zoning approval dares to speak out against the local zoning board? The agencies demand political support for themselves first of all.” Speaking up will bring unwanted attention to your project, extra delays, maybe retaliation. It’s safer to keep your mouth shut. We learn to be passive and put up with more layers of red tape. Fortunately, a few Americans resist. At Boston’s Children’s Hospital, head cardiologist Dr. Robert Gross dismissed Dr. Helen Taussig’s new idea for a surgical cure for “blue-baby syndrome.” He wanted to do things by the book. So she took the technique to Johns Hopkins Hospital instead. It worked. You don’t hear much about blue-baby syndrome anymore. The embarrassed Gross went on to tell the story many times to teach medical students to listen to new ideas. Breaking the rules saved lives. But that happened years ago. Few doctors break the rules today. The consequences are too severe. American entrepreneurs took advantage of a “permissionless economy” to create Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc., but they could accomplish that only because Washington’s bureaucrats didn’t know enough about what they were doing to slow them down. Now regulators have their claws in every cranny of the Internet. Innovation will be much more difficult. Today’s regulations are often vague. A
typical edict: “The firm shall not engage in abusive practices.” That sounds reasonable, but what is “abusive”? The regulator decides. Compliance is your problem. If you have the misfortune to be noticed by the bureaucracy, or maybe a business rival complains about you, your idea dies and you go broke paying lawyers. European regulators have adopted something even worse, called “the Precautionary Principle.” It states that you may not sell something until it has been “proven safe.” That too sounds reasonable, unless you realize that it also means: “Don’t try anything for the first time.” Since we don’t know all the rules, we’re never quite sure if we’re breaking any. Better to keep your head down. And sometimes the rule-makers really are out to get you. Nixon used the IRS against political enemies. So did Obama IRS appointee Lois Lerner. It’s time for Americans to fight back. As Gen. Douglas MacArthur said, “You are remembered by the rules you break.” America became the most innovative and prosperous nation in history because many Americans were adventurous, individualistic people willing to take big risks to discover things that might make life better. Every day, bureaucrats do more to kill those opportunities. We’ll never know what good things we might have today had some bureaucrat not said “no.” Presidential candidates ought to scream about that.
• 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 Rotary International Rotary District 6420, for paying to have a tornado warning siren installed in Fairdale. Such sirens are primarily used to alert people who are outside about severe weather, but residents in the small community which was hit by an EF-4 tornado on April 9 have said that they would feel safer with one in their town. The Kishwaukee Sunrise Rotary Club helped funnel the money toward the effort, and it’s a great way of showing that people care and want to ensure that Fairdale residents will never be caught unaware. Thumbs-down: To enrollment declines at Northern Illinois University and Kishwaukee College. This year’s enrollment drop was about on par with what we saw at NIU last year, when enrollment fell 2.4 percent. Total enrollment at the university is now just above 20,000. At Kishwaukee College, enrollment fell more than 9 percent. Administrators, faculty and staff are making concerted efforts to reverse the declines, and we are hopeful that next year, there we’ll see more students enrolled rather than less. Thumbs-up: To a new scholarship established at NIU. Thanks to a $100,000 gift from Bob and Cathy Rothkopf, there will be a new, $3,000 scholarship available to students majoring in management and business administration at the school. Their gift is a great way to leave a legacy and help aspiring students achieve their goals through a college education. Thumbs-up: To the memory of Diesel, the Siberian husky and former NIU live mascot who died Sunday. The dog was a fan favorite and had his moment in the national spotlight when he was caught high-fiving a cheerleader on ESPN during a Huskies win against Ball State in 2013. We’re sad to see Diesel go, but take comfort that he lived 13 years and that his last full day of life was spent with other fans at Huskie Stadium on Sept. 5, where NIU beat UNLV.
ANOTHER VIEW
Unlimited giving, anonymity bad mix What’s worse, political campaigns working directly with special-interest groups, which the Wisconsin Supreme Court recently authorized, or not knowing who is fueling those groups? The answer is both. It’s no secret that many politicians who aren’t multi-millionaires, and even some who are, are bought and paid for by the rich and powerful in this country, thanks in part to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. But allowing unlimited campaign “contributions” and anonymity invites corruption in which every issue and policy is openly for sale to the highest successful bidder, meaning those who lay their money down on the winning candidates. As with most issues, there is another side to this. That is, business owners with strong political leanings who publicly contribute to campaigns or speak out for or against an issue or candidate risk having their livelihoods threatened by organized opposition, specifically boycotts of their businesses. There were examples of this during the heated debate that accompanied the passage of Act 10 in 2011 that stripped most public employees of their collective bargaining rights. Many would argue that paying a personal price is something that has to be weighed when deciding to become politically active. That may be unavoidable, but it’s the argument some use to justify anonymous contributions. In the end, however, openness needs to prevail; otherwise we risk being led by puppet regimes in which the elected leaders are simply well-spoken representatives of nameless special interests. The best solutions to prevent “buying” candidates and never-ending campaigns are shorter campaigns and public financing of those campaigns, but neither idea ever has garnered much support. The main argument is that the Constitution guarantees the right to express one’s opinions. So if one citizen has millions of dollars and the next citizen is poor – too bad. The other argument is that no matter how hard we may try, we’ll never keep money out of politics. But in shutting down the John Doe investigation that had been looking into whether Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign illegally collaborated with third-party groups, we now have rich special-interest groups and individuals able to give unlimited amounts of money anonymously that can be coordinated directly with the campaigns. The end result will be an inability to crosscheck those donations against later legislation that benefits the donors, whether the beneficiaries are unions, businesses, oil companies, a mega-rich casino owner, or whomever. There is no perfect campaign finance system, but an increasing number of frustrated citizens are realizing that the current arrangement is not what our founders intended, and it’s not leading us to a better place.
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.
Eau Claire (Wis.) Leader-Telegram