ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, October 28, 1996 TAG: 9610280104
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
IN THE TWO debates, President Clinton said that the purpose of government is to provide tools for people to succeed. Begging his pardon, but I already have all the tools I need. And none came from the government.
Historically, no one knew more about the purpose of government than those who threw off an oppressive tyrant and established the United States of America. Thomas Jefferson wrote that all men "are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights," and the purpose of government is to protect these rights. Further, governments derive "their just powers from the consent of the governed." Lincoln eloquently declared that the U.S. government is one "of the people, by the people [and] for the people" in his Gettysburg Address.
Such a government doesn't inherently have any power, wealth or tool beyond what governed citizens bestow upon it. It's impossible for government to give you anything you don't already have. We have seen a bureaucracy develop that puts a dollar in your right hand while slyly taking $2 out of your left pocket. Yet, the chicanery continues: Clinton has pledged $100 million to improve Internet, $75 million for transportation of ex-welfare recipients to get to jobs and the V-chip. Who is going to pay for it?
Spending continues to rise while waste isn't broached. In 1994, ``welfare'' cost us $350 billion - that's $70,000 apiece for 5 million recipient families - more than twice the average working family's income! But the middle guy, the bureaucracy, ate up 72 cents of every dollar, which left only 28 cents for actual benefits.
But that's just the tip of the iceberg. If the U.S. Department of Education has no students, why does it exist? We're told that public schools now need more money to hire volunteers to teach children to read. I suppose the teachers are too busy looking for sexual harassment. Meanwhile, Clinton and Al Gore send their children to private schools, but refuse to allow school vouchers that would allow any parents, regardless of income, to send their child to the school of their choice.
If Clinton truly believes that the era of big government is over, then he should step aside and take his hypocritical, arrogant cronies with him so that once more this will be a government of the people, by the people and for the people.
ROBERT G. COLLINS
ROANOKE
It's not an attack to point out facts
I HAVE a question for you pointy-headed liberal journalists: If Bob Dole tries to remind people about some of the things that you journalists have reported about, how come that's an attack instead of, well, `` just the facts, m'am''?
I'm too dumb to understand, and I must rely on you journalists to tell me the truth.
JAMES F. GABBERT JR.
BLAND
Give prosecutors the right of appeal
VIRGINIANS will decide on Nov. 5 whether to approve five proposed amendments to our state constitution. Because each amendment has passed both houses of our General Assembly during each of two different sessions, their proponents certainly have strong arguments in their favor.
Those of us engaged in law enforcement are committed to ratifying proposed amendment No. 3, involving the commonwealth's right of appeal. The need for it has become evident over the past 10 years, since the Virginia's Court of Appeals was established to review criminal convictions throughout the state.
When convictions of criminals are upheld by the Court of Appeals, the convicts can petition Virginia's Supreme Court in a second effort to have their convictions reversed. This procedure provides them access to our state's highest court. The problem is, our state constitution was drafted when there was only one appellate court and it doesn't provide that same access to the rest of us.
In other words, when the Court of Appeals reverses a conviction, thereby releasing a criminal or requiring that he be tried again without important evidence the trial judge has approved, the people of Virginia - through the office of the attorney general - are forbidden to ask the Supreme Court to review the decision. This lack of access to our highest state court is unfair to law-abiding citizens, and is contrary to the American Bar Association's ``Standards Relating to Appellate Courts.''
Help give our prosecutors the same right enjoyed by prosecutors in other states with two levels of appellate courts to seek review of intermediate court decisions that are adverse to the law-abiding public. Vote ``yes'' on the issue of the commonwealth's right of appeal.
RICKY W. GARDNER
Investigative sergeant
Bedford County Sheriff's Office
BEDFORD
Dole isn't due the trust he seeks
IN SPITE of what some would have us believe, most of us know that we are better off than we were four years ago. If not personally, we know the economy, interest rates, inflation and the deficit are much better.
Do we really trust Sen. Bob Dole to be our president when he voted against Medicare, family leave, education and more policemen on our streets? He promises a tax cut, but refuses to give details. Do we trust him to give us a tax cut and protect the very things he has voted against?
None of us likes to pay taxes, but we like safe food and water, like to live in a safe society, like to educate our children, and like to have some security in our old age. When most of us put pencil to paper to see exactly what a 15 percent cut in our federal income tax would give us, we realize that only high-income people would see a substantial savings. And even they could lose things a lot more important than money.
Dole said many times that tax cuts had to be paid for. I think we should believe what he said and did as a senator, and not what he promises as a presidential candidate. We should trust the record.
BOBBIE R. JACKSON
DALEVILLE
Material wealth isn't the goal
VICE PRESIDENTIAL candidate Jack Kemp has been quoted as saying, ``Everyone can get rich in America This is the Grand Opportunity Party for America in 1996.''
Is this what will make everyone happy - to be rich? Does everyone feel the need for material wealth to lead a good productive life?
I believe most families wish for a quality education they can afford, a healthy environment with clean air and clean water, well-paying occupations, proper medical care, etc. We should not have to be rich in order to afford these.
RICHARD MITTMAN
BLACKSBURG
Boucher wants to spend us blind
WE HAVE the most liberal congressman representing the 9th District in Southwest Virginia. He brings pork to his district, hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. In effect, he's buying votes with your tax dollars. Get people to depend on government handouts, and pretty soon you control them. Soon, there are more hogs at the trough than there are people to carry slop. This man doesn't care about the national debt. All he's interested in is his liberal agenda and getting re-elected.
John F. Kennedy once stated, "Ask not what your country can do for you but, rather, what you can do for your country." Rep. Rick Boucher has reversed this by asking what can your country do for you. For practically every problem that arises, his stock answer is that the federal government is the solution. Today, the federal government is encroaching into every aspect of our lives. I would like to be left alone to enjoy my declining years, free from Big Brother.
Boucher voted against: the balanced-budget amendment, term limits, overhauling welfare, anti-crime legislation (more prisons and police), limiting government growth, reducing regulations on families and business and reforming the legal system to reduce frivolous lawsuits. He voted for the partial-birth abortion bill.
Boucher is the perfect Clinton clone. He has supported the present administration more than 90 percent of the time.
Liberals don't think we have the intelligence to handle our money wisely. They insist on handling it for us. We're now working more than four months each year to pay taxes. This is our money. Boucher will be happy to relieve us of it.
I urge everyone to do some soul-searching before casting a ballot. A large moral issue is involved. Think of the burden being placed on future generations by the growth of the national debt each year. The bridge to the future will have many toll booths.
CHARLES M. OLD
NEW CASTLE
Dole has no lock on ethical values
I HAVE been reading where Bob Dole is attacking Bill Clinton's ethics. Just how can one politician attack the ethics of another? No politician has any ethics as far as I'm concerned.
During the 35 years Dole has been in Washington, the deficit has gotten worse and government has become more corrupt. So, how can he perform a miracle now and make it all better? The man is getting desperate because his mind is getting too old to come up with what is best for the country. Made a mistake there: No politician does what is best for the country. They always do what is best for themselves.
Dole talks ethics. But isn't this his second marriage, and isn't it true he has a daughter by his first wife that he barely recognized until this campaign started? Some ethics and family values!
CARL R. PADGETT
ROANOKE
Many voters don't want Clinton blocked
IN RESPONSE to William E. Johnson's Oct. 18 letter to the editor, ``Don't let Democrats retake the House'':
Yes, it makes sense about holding the Clintons in check. Let's keep the president from doing things, like his job!
Does Johnson realize that people may want these liberal programs? That might have been why Clinton was elected in the first place.
To many people, myself included, having Congressman Rick Boucher support the Democrats sounds like a good idea - definitely better than the prospect of having him support someone like Sen. Bob Dole.
I hope Patrick Muldoon appreciates that plug in Johnson's letter. Maybe he will get lucky and Johnson will invite him to dinner. Next time, however, he might want to mention something that Muldoon might actually do. I'd like to think that a legislator would get something done, rather than spend his entire term cracking skulls with the Clintons. Or do you see that as the purpose of a Republican in Congress - simply to oppose anything further left than your viewpoint?
WENDY ROSS
ROANOKE
Boucher supports a deplorable act
RECENTLY, a friend contacted Congressman Rick Boucher's office asking him to vote to override the president's veto of the partial-birth abortion bill. He apparently received many calls concerning this matter. I tried to reach his office for several hours and continually received a busy signal. At any rate, Boucher responded to my friend's call with a letter that was very patronizing, but failed to clearly state his position on the matter. We later learned that he voted against overriding the veto.
Our country is in a sad state of affairs when elected leaders will not stand against such heinous crimes as partial-birth abortion. This deplorable act is nothing short of infanticide. Facts prove that partial-birth abortion is seldom used to save the mother's life. In most cases, it causes her greater risk. Therefore, it can never be justified.
As November approaches, I hope people of the 9th District will make a conscientious effort to discharge Boucher from his duties in Congress. After all, if he will not be a voice for an innocent, unborn child, we certainly cannot expect him to be a voice for the people.
CONNIE W. SEAGLE
RURAL RETREAT
We must restore a true democracy
THERE WAS a time when democracy in America indicated that a majority of people were represented in their government.
But what was once a democracy became an aristocracy. It was no longer a government of the people, by the people and for the people. It became a government of the wealthy, for the wealthy and by the wealthy.
Lobbyists for powerful corporations and special-interest groups control and dominate our government's operation. Re-election campaign contributions bring special favor for certain corporate groups. Government listens to the wealthy and powerful segment of our society. This has been going on for years while the needs of the majority have been ignored.
Recent outcries from the people have demanded change. Was the voice of America heard? We will soon be marching once again to the polls. Let us pray that our devotion and efforts will be rewarded this time.
WILLIAM STALLARD
ROANOKE
Spending more is not a cure-all
THERE IS a concept in our country that all we have to do for any problem is throw enough money at it and it will go away.
Today's young parents feel obligated to vote yes on anything related to their children's education. Believe me, they don't love their children any more than the generations before them.
Among our people are those who will study the will of the people, and then use this knowledge for their own profit or benefit. You can see it all around you. We're told what we want to hear and then - oh, so convincingly - informed that we must tighten our belts and accept new taxes to provide for a noble cause. In this case, education!
Sending money to Washington is the worst thing we can do.
If we Americans do not recognize the difference in our choices for this election, we will deserve what we get.
WILLIAM E. BROWN
SALEM
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