Contemplating GOP's
conservative headache
Chuck Muth's Aug. 14 commentary accurately depicts Nevada Republicans' quandary in which Nevada is a microcosm of a national macrocosm.
Democrats, for their part, seem absorbed with overthrowing the U.S. Constitution for an American form of Soviet or Chinese Marxism where bureaucracies could be the masters of the general populace, taxing deteriorating businesses to dole out to and secure the votes of the masses.
Republican grassroots long dominated by old guard party militants cared little for ideology and much for power. They focused on dominating state politics and controlling state money, taxing and spending freely to buy votes to stay in power. Former Gov. Kenny Guinn and certain senators come to mind.
Amid jokes about neighboring Socialist Republic of California, we quietly became a Socialist Republic of Nevada. Greed drove growth at all costs. Thousands of low-wage workers constructed towering condos and hotel-casinos and fields of patio homes and apartments, replacing cattle-raising ranchlands. Government employment expanded to keep pace. Thousands of low-wage jobs morphed into no-wage government dependencies. Voters all.
And so to the conservative Republican headache. Maintain Republican principles of limited government and low taxation? Limit handouts to the masses? Party leaders promoting individual ingenuity, initiative, education fundamentals, personal thrift and private investment in inventiveness? Or a party competing with Democrats to grow government and exploit the poor in exchange for votes?
Republicans need leaders to express (the fact) that individual freedom, risk-taking and fundamental education unleash creativity. They need to dwell less on governmental safety and security and goodies.
Jack Van Dien
Minden
Health care proposal
creates questions
I have watched the TV news, which showed the hue and cry regarding a government health care plan, and I'm left with questions.
Many of the very vocal (screeching) protesters appear to be of Medicare age (65). If these same individuals have benefited from the Medicare program, don't they realize this is a government program?
The sad part is that the young working person has a deduction from his or her salary that goes directly into the Medicare fund which, in turn, pays for medical care for those older protesters. Is it fair for the young to help pay for the old, and yet they can't afford health care for their own families? I think not.
As to the absolutely ridiculous comments regarding euthanizing the elderly - please. That's an insult to the medical community. Just get a living will.
Joyce C. Brown
Carson City
So you know, liberals
not ignorant folks
Rarely do I read the harangue of Dr. Eugene Paslov, but for some unknown reason, I could not help myself recently.
It was with great interest that I read of the evils of the Republican Party placing plants in the town hall meetings, the tea parties and the right-wing radio commentators.
According to Dr. Paslov, the liberals on the left side of American politics is the only side that states their side of the issues in a fair fashion.
It wasn't that long ago that I saw portraits of then President Bush with Hitler-like mustaches and swastikas painted on him. Acorn and Black Panther members standing in front of polling places in Philadelphia, a heckler that almost was able to attack the then-secretary of state Condi Rice. The list goes on, but one would assume that most of the saboteurs of all the things listed and much more might have been registered as Democrats.
So, let me see if I get this one right Dr. Paslov, do as I say not as I do? Is that the type of leadership that you instilled and are instilling in our youth? It's OK for us, but not for those evil conservatives.
Sir, I submit to you a statement by the greatest president of the 20th century, "It's not that our liberal friends are ignorant, they just know so much that isn't so." (Ronald Reagan)
Roy Hutchings
Minden
Comparing RR ticket
prices in the West
V&T Railway round-trip ticket prices: Adults $48, seniors and vets $40; children 12 and younger $36; toddlers and babies free.
Checking the Web sites of the following trains, I found:
Northern Nevada Railroad in Ely: Adults $24, children 4 to 12 - $15; younger 3 free. For a combination ride on two separate trains on two different routes: adults $37; children 4 to 12 - $20.
The 1880s steam train in the Black Hills, S.D., 20-mile round trip: Adults $22, children 3 to 12 - $12; younger than 3 years free.
Need I say more?
Mary Bangert
Carson City