Letters to the editor for Sunday, Dec. 5: OR-93, campaign spending, and carbon emissions
A slippery kind of totalitarianism
Rita Lombard warned of a “communist hellscape” (Letters, Nov. 28) in The Register-Guard. Communism began with the good intention of helping the people, but then dictatorships robbed people of their freedoms. Cuba is a good example.
It instituted free education and free health care and produces many doctors, but it took away the people’s freedom. Republicans today are embracing all of the worst totalitarian aspects of communism yet denying the good. They are eliminating a woman’s choice, minority voting rights and democracy in general.
An example is Texas where 95% of the new growth is from Democratic-trending Latinos, yet Texas redistricting eliminates most minority influence. Of 150 districts, only six have a chance of switching sides. About a third of the people in the country are obstructing the will of the majority with the filibuster. Likely voters support the Build Back Better Plan by 29 points, yet it will receive zero Republican votes. Seventy-eight percent support “expanding Medicare coverage,” 66% support “funding for affordable housing,” 61% support “funding for child care and universal pre-kindergarten,” 53% support “extending the child tax credit,” 59% support “a 15% corporate minimum tax rate for large corporations.”
Total obstruction from the wannabe totalitarian Republican dictatorship.
Jerry Brule, Eugene
Credit to people, not God
In his Nov. 25 Your Turn column about Thanksgiving, James Newton includes what seems like a bizarre non sequitur: “Even if you are an atheist, you can thank fate or blind chance.”
But when you notice that God is mentioned in the first sentence, you see the connection. Newton apparently thinks atheists need a substitute for God — some other “higher power” such as fate or chance. Personally, when I think of giving thanks these aren’t on my list because it implies agency, and it’s the wrong emphasis. Atheists don’t need condescending instruction on what to give thanks for based on religious bias.
James Newton: Guest View: A moral quandary of celebrating Thanksgiving?
A surgeon acquaintance of mine talks about when, after telling loved ones that a surgery was successful, their response is often “thank God” rather than “thank you.” In a comedy routine, Daniel Sloss goes further and points out that God evidently gave the patient cancer in the first place. Shouldn’t we give thanks and credit to people when people do good things?
I don’t need God, fate or chance to be thankful for a loving partner, friends, modern medicine and the general comforts available to us through science and engineering when people are responsible for these things.
Charles H. Jones, Eugene
Cap campaign spending
Campaign finance reform. Getting money out of politics. No matter what side of the aisle you sit, or if by now you are totally “over politics,” we should all be able to agree big money buying campaigns and elections won’t help us solve any of the problems we care about. We should all be asking our representatives, where do your campaign contributions come from?
Donors have huge influence over the decisions legislators make. And a lot of that money is coming from corporations with special interests. If we are going to have success in ending corruption, we need transparency when it comes to who funds these campaigns and their ads, etc.
2022 is right around the corner and for me, I’m looking at candidates who prioritize this issue.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Patrick Starnes has made campaign finance reform a main focus of his candidacy. It’s the first thing you see on the homepage of his website. He’s also committed to taking no contributions over $1,000. Starnes wants to put an end to unlimited money in our elections.
In 2020, Starnes successfully advocated for a state constitutional amendment that allows the Legislature to set limits on campaign donations.
Whitney Randall, Springfield
Narrow, panicked thinking for the city
If the city of Eugene intends to mandate all single-family home lots be converted to units of high density, then those new homes must also be designed, priced and made available for sale to home-owning residents who are most in need of housing. Otherwise, the temptation may be too great for the builders to keep non-market rate units as rentals or sell them to other landlords to retain the appreciation and tax benefits that accrue to non-wage income.
Guest Opinion:: What to do as Eugene City Council votes to rethink natural gas
The long-range outcome of converting established neighborhoods could result in more rentals, while fewer resident-owners have the opportunity to accrue the wealth from capital appreciation they will need to retire comfortably and pass something on to their children.
The city of Eugene has already shown an alarming preference for taxing wage income alone for public services that benefit all residents. For Eugene to be so determined to impose a high-density, concrete heat island on what has been an acclaimed northwest tree city, shows narrow, panicked thinking, not the long-range thoughtful planning process that gives due consideration to possible adverse consequences.
Ellen Otani, Eugene
Can trees keep pace with emissions?
The good news is automakers are transitioning to electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The bad news is, they are still marketing and selling gasoline-powered vehicles, each expected to be on the road for 10 years or so.
According to EPA estimates, the average car (22.5 mpg, driven 12,000 miles) emits about 4.8 metric tons of CO2 each year. Could we offset these emissions by planting trees? The EPA estimates that planting one urban tree and allowing it to grow for 10 years sequesters 0.06 metric tons of CO2. Thus, one could offset one year’s car emissions by planting 80 trees.
Lane County has 335,000 passenger cars registered. Assuming 300,000 of those are gasoline-powered, we would need to plant 24 million trees each year to offset average car emissions for the county. Assuming higher mileage and less use, planting 12 million trees each year and ensuring they grow for 10 years might offset most car emissions for this one county. Nationwide?
Transportation accounts for the majority of our CO2 emissions. If you are thinking of purchasing a new vehicle, buy electric. Things must change if we hope to maintain some of the fresh water and forests we have in Oregon.
Arthur Farley, Eugene
RIP OR-93
With tears of sorrow, I pay tribute to the iconic member of a valued species important to sustaining natural systems wherever they exist: male wolf OR-93. His epic journey from near Mt. Hood into southern California is thought to be the longest travelled by his species, bringing about worldwide attention.
This two-year-old wolf greatly contributed to the well-being of his species by becoming a poster child for what wolves should be: wild and free. Why? Because science shows that the presence of wolves and other large predators is essential to maintaining the layered complexity of biodiverse ecosystems. Removing wolves from ecosystems — as humans are wont to do — degrades their biodiversity and resilience, negatively impacting the world around them. Every ecosystem is an important component to the existence and health of our planet.
Thank you, OR-93, for your too-short, but incredible life. Your howls now join the voices of the ancient ones — voices to which all of Nature listens. If humans will listen and protect, rather than destroy nature’s fauna and flora, there is hope for Earth’s survival. If not, we doom ourselves along with the planet.
Thank you, special one, for having shown us the way.
Judith K. Berg, Eugene
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This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Letters: OR-93, campaign spending, and carbon emissions
