Plastic bags, school lunch edicts … think about the level of government in our lives
Dear Editor,
For years I have been fighting the fight against a bigger, more oppressive and tyrannical government.
While I am a registered Republican, I am probably more of a libertarian. I met Ron Paul in 2004 and found him fascinating – if not a little cracked. In many ways, he is a purist in his libertarian beliefs – almost uncomfortably so. However, maybe he is on to something. Just look at the news.
Every day there’s another story about government run amok. Just in the last few weeks, there are many examples of the insanity. Lawmakers at all levels are in the game to limit your liberties all with, of course, only the best of intentions.
There are telltale catch phrases and descriptions used by proponents of legislative insanity such as; “for the children”, “Green”, “protect the environment”, “overall good of the people”, “global warming” and, since that is hard to prove, “climate change”, “public safety”, “public hazard” … etc., etc.
When these do-gooder efforts clash with the Constitution, look for, “The Constitution is a living breathing document” – code for, “we can do whatever we damn well please because we are the government.”
Here are some recent examples of a government gone mad:
n It used to be a choice between paper or plastic when it came to shopping bags at the store. If you happen to be at the Valley Fair Mall and buy a sweater at one store they will neatly fold your sweater and put it in a nice sanitary bag for you. Since the borders of San Jose and Santa Clara bisect the mall, the store five doors down will look at you and say, “where is your bag” because the knuckleheads on the San Jose City Council passed a ordinance that requires the store to penalize you if you want a bag to be provided by the store!
n In Los Angeles County, the knuckleheads on the Board of Supervisors decided that they need to “protect the public” by fining any person who dares to throw a football or a Frisbee or dig a hole in the sand deeper than 18 inches at the beach $1,000 fine. No joke.
n Now you may hate smoking and smokers, well fear not, the government is hot on the task to put you in the closet. A recent letter to the Dispatch editor, by knucklehead Roger P. Kennedy, the co-chair of the Tobacco Free Coalition Santa Clara County, talks about 50 known cancer-causing chemicals, and no safe level of exposure. Moreover, comparisons to kids getting killed at railroad crossings are made, all the while pontificating the danger of allowing me to smoke a cigar at Christmas Hill Park. That’s right, even in the wide open spaces of parks and sidewalks, it is dangerous to expose children.
There’s that catch phrase again, to even the greatly diluted smoke in the atmosphere. What about car exhaust? That’s another story.
n Just today in North Carolina, a mother went to the press with a story that shocked even me. A school lunch inspector, yes they apparently have those, “told the girl she couldn’t eat her turkey sandwich, banana, potato chips and apple juice. Instead, providing the girl with a USDA-approved lunch with the following guidelines: one serving of meat, one serving of grains, and two servings of fruit or vegetables.”
It gets worse, “When the girl returned home from school, her unopened lunch contained a note from the school saying that her lunch didn’t meet the guidelines and a $1.25 bill for the replacement lunch.”
This is just a short list of the government stripping us of our rights. Even if you agree with some of the assertions made by these do gooders, it should frighten you at the level to which government control over our lives has risen. Speak up and tell your politicians to stop the insanity or sooner or later they will come for you.
Mark A. Zappa, Gilroy
Taxpayers simply can’t afford any more public transit fiascos
Dear Editor,
Blended, straight, or on the rocks, the taxpayers cannot afford more government subsidized transit, rail, lite rail, heavy rail, bus, rickshaw, or lunar escalator.
We’re maxxxxxxxed-out with the boondoggles already hung around our necks. If Leninism-Marxism failed in the USSR, what makes the transit boondogglists think that they can make it work here?
Privatization is the only viable option for transporting passengers. We make motorists pay 102 percent of their costs, and truckers, too. So, why don’t transit riders pay full costs? Why do our elected officials rob gas taxes to subsidize socialist boondoggles?
Joe Thompson, Gilroy
Hey, Rick, guess what – married women use birth control, too
Dear Editor,
Many right wing religious zealots like presidential candidate Rick Santorum, who believes birth control is evil, might find it shocking to find out that married women use birth control, too.
Even though he has seven children I’d bet there are times when his wife tried to avoid getting pregnant. How can anyone be so out of touch with reality? But what I find even more shocking than that is … Santorum for president? Seriously!
Marc Perkel, Gilroy
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