Letters to editor of the Pahrump Valley Times

Our country is not ready for socialist society

I believe that the new “Democratic Socialist” members of the U.S. Congress have their hearts in the right place, but not their heads. Like them, I too believe that our federal government should do more and spend more to help make the lives of our citizens better just like our traditional allies do.

However, there has never been a truly “socialist” economy in the history of the world which was ever able to produce enough wealth to meet the survival needs of its citizens. It has never worked. So, it is foolish to call yourself a socialist. You are just giving conservatives a new insult and put-down to call you.

A lot has been said about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s proposal to tax the income of those earning over $10 million a year by 70 percent. The problem with this is that we need to start taxing wealth because that’s where we can get enough revenue to pass a Canadian-style national health insurance program to cover and greatly help 99 percent of Americans (except for the richest 1 percent). Her income tax won’t raise anywhere close to what a “National Wealth Tax” on all those individuals with a net wealth and net worth of $10 million and higher would raise.

It is possible that we might have a much more equal and a truly “socialist” society one day, but that day is at least 1,000-2,000 years away. We will all have to evolve and transform spiritually, emotionally, and mentally into much more loving, caring, empathetic, compassionate, and altruistic human beings before we are ready for that. Right now, we are simply too individualistic, too selfish, too self-centered, too self-absorbed, too “full of ourselves”, and too much into believing that we are “all that” for it to work.

Because, as the philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin observed, humankind is presently at the spiritual, emotional, and mental level of a 12-year-old child. Sometimes I think that it is more like a 7-year-old child.

And, I include myself in that because every day I fall short of being the kind of human being that I know that I can be and should be. And, I make mistakes every day of my life.

So, I am not judging anyone else here.

Sincerely,

Stewart B. Epstein

Rochester, New York

P.S. I am a retired college professor of Sociology and Social Work. I taught at West Virginia University, Slippery Rock University, and SUNY-Brockport.

Governor may not have Nevada’s interests at heart

Once again I “figuratively” take pen in hand to write, this time about the content of the OpEd page of the January 31 issue.

I find it amusing that Dennis Myers is complaining about the apparent inexperience that he sees in reporting from the state capital, when he say’s “It’s amazing how often reporters get things like this wrong…”

I guess he missed Ben Rhodes’ startling revelation:

“… The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns. That’s a sea change. They literally know nothing.”

I’d laugh, but it hurts too much.

Then, we drop down to Victor Joecks:

I must admit that he nails the new governor, and probably is Gob-smacking many of the people who voted for Gov. Sisolak with the revelation that much of what the governor wishes to implement can be seen across our western border in California - though I don’t think he mentions that much of our governor’s program was initiated by Jerry Brown over his split-shift terms as California’s governor.

A few examples:

Public-employee Collective Bargaining: Jerry did that back in either his first or second term;

Same Day Voter Registration: Jerry’s last term - and we see the result in the complete destruction of the GOP in Orange County, and the fact that Los Angeles County has a registration figure of around 106 percent of the eligible adult population;

Raising Taxes: Jerry again, on both sides of this split-shift - refusing to rebate excess taxes back to the voters got him Prop.-13 in ‘78, and his increased fuel taxes in ‘17 are “driving” California into a serious recession - one that he predicted on his way out the door.

So, as a California native who left after 75 years as the state evolved into a third-world ….hole, take my word for it that Gov. Sisolak does not have the best interests of the average Nevadan at heart in his proposals. He just wants to make Nevada another solid blue, two-tier state where the 1 percent prosper, and the middle-class/bourgeoisie leave to search for a life they can afford, leaving behind the lower classes to serve the 1 percent and the political elites.

Sorry, but that’s not what I was looking for when I came to Nevada, and I doubt that many other recent arrivals did either.

I yield back the remainder of my time on the soapbox.

Respectfully,

Drew Kelly, Proprietor

Goldfield Small Arms – Goldfield, Nevada

Letter supporting wall sent to D.C. representatives

This is a letter I emailed to Rep. Horsford, Sen. Rosen, and Sen. Cortez Masto on Sunday, Feb. 10.

I believe it is your patriotic and moral duty to support the president in providing proper security for the citizens of the United States, including your constituents in Nevada. A proper barrier along our southern border is an absolute necessity. Not having a barrier to stop the flow of people trying to enter our country illegally is like having a boat without sides to keep the ocean out. If we have proper physical barriers to thwart these illegal intruders, then we wouldn’t need as many ICE agents or as many border patrol officers or as many immigration court and judges.

We could then clear the backlog of cases waiting to be heard in our immigration courts and legal immigration could then take the forefront of our immigration process. Funding a one-time cost for proper border barriers will pay for itself in a very short time with the savings from reduced costs of apprehending, processing and detaining these intruders to our land.

I urge you to do the right thing and work with your colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support our president’s desire to fulfill the most demanding and priority obligation of his office – to keep the people of our nation (yours and mine) safe and free from the ills of illegal intruders. Please put aside partisan politics and do the right thing.

Sincerely,

Don Durbin

Reader says Republicans are now the ‘Trump Party’

So, Tina Trenner thinks “Republicans are independent people, unlike Democrats, who are herd animals.” Really Tina? Mitch McConnell won’t even allow the U.S. Senate to vote on a bill unless it has Trump’s approval.

Tina, there is no Republican Party. It has been replaced by the Donald Trump Party. The true believers never criticize their leader and faithfully follow the lunacy of our “Reality TV” president.

Look at the Trump platform and how these independent people stand on the issues. Terrorism: “Don’t believe the intelligence community because Trump knows best.” School shootings: “The NRA won’t let us do anything about that.” Immigration: “Build a 15th century wall.” Tax cuts: “Only the billionaires get permanent tax cuts.” Global warming: “We don’t believe in science.” Meddling in our elections: “Russia didn’t do it.” Is it any wonder why Republicans were hammered in the last election?

Tina, you live in a very blue state. Governor Sisolak and the Democratic majority are attempting to solve the problems affecting the good people of Nevada. Improving our educational system, modernizing the infrastructure and providing quality health care are just some of the tasks they face. Republicans who are truly independent will work with Democrats to find solutions to the difficulties we face.

Dennis Crooks