• Rights under attack • Participate in KIUC elections Rights under attack Rick Goding (Letters: Jan. 22) is spot on about how our rights as U.S. citizens are under attack, and most of the current members of our government would
• Rights under attack •
Participate in KIUC elections
Rights under attack
Rick Goding (Letters: Jan. 22) is spot on about how our rights as U.S. citizens are under attack, and most of the current members of our government would have you believe that we need legislation like the National Defense Authorization Act to protect us from some external threat. But the real threat to American citizens is coming from within our own government.
Our government has simply degenerated into a left wing/right wing stalemated puppet show with each side beholden to the elite few with the financial resources to buy government positions.
The main priority of almost all who become elected seems to be doing the bidding of whoever financed their elections and not upholding the Constitution and working for the best interest of the citizens they are supposed to be representing.
If the founders of America were here today, they would put almost every current politician on trial for treason. All three branches are corrupt, and the only chance we have as a nation to fix the current system is to remove all money from the election process, ban lobbying (aka bribery), and enact harsh penalties for those found guilty of political corruption, including the death penalty.
America wasn’t founded on the idea of capitalist greed; it was founded on the principles of democracy. And there is nothing democratic about an elite group of mega-wealthy billionaires and corporate oligarchies controlling every aspect of our government.
We have an obligation as citizens to stand up to tyranny, especially when it is coming from within.
Jason S. Nichols, Koloa
Participate in KIUC elections
Our energy situation on Kaua‘i is undergoing two major transitions that, whether we are aware of them or not, matter in very significant ways to all of us.
The first is a transition away from imported fossil fuels to local renewable sources of energy. Historically, the impacts of fossil fuel consumption have been largely removed from our community — they have been “externalized” in the form of social and environmental costs that burden communities outside of our own.
Devastating oil spills, conflict over finite resources, corrupted governments, excessive corporate power and climate change are just a few of the insidious externalities of our reliance on fossil fuels.
While many of these things are finally starting to “hit home,” in the past we have been largely able to reap the benefits of cheap energy without having to face the repercussions of our own energy use.
All energy resources — even “clean” and renewable ones — have impacts and tradeoffs. The most equitable way to manage the impacts of energy generation is to rely on local energy resources, and to assure that the communities that are directly affected are central in the decision-making process.
The transition to local energy is not simple or straightforward, and requires major, lasting decisions to be made around technology choice, scale, ownership and financing.
Conservation and efficiency are the most important and easiest ways to lower all of the “costs” — economic, social, cultural and environmental — of our energy consumption, and we should be aggressively pursuing policies that incentivize “powering down.”
The second major transition that has been taking place over the past decade is in our electric utility — from a private, investor-owned company (concerned primarily with profit) to a community-owned co-operative (concerned primarily with member benefits).
KIUC has no doubt faced challenges in transitioning away from the status quo of its former days as a private utility. In particular, the convergence of these two major transitions — from imported fossil fuel to a local- and renewables-based electric system and from a private to a co-operative utility — requires an unprecedented level of transparency and community engagement.
The need for transparency and openness has not been adequately addressed by the KIUC board of directors, and has led to frustration on the part of many community members and notable directors.
Informed votes for KIUC directors can help to take our member-owned electric coop in the most equitable, sustainable and economical directions. Knowing what each candidate will bring to the board is critical, and forums are being held by several neighborhood groups around the island throughout February.
Scheduled candidate events include: the Hanalei School cafeteria at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 15, hosted by the Hanalei-to-Haena Community Association; the Kapa‘a Library at 2 p.m. on Feb. 25, hosted by the Wailua-Kapa‘a Neighborhood Association, and the Malama Kaua‘i radio show on KKCR (91.9, 92.7), from noon to 1 p.m. on Feb. 3 and Feb. 17 (where more events will be announced).
Your local participation can have global effects. If you care about the brutality of Shell Oil in Nigeria, destroyed ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico, or the sea level rise that is forcing our fellow Pacific Islanders from their homes, then it is your responsibility to vote in the KIUC elections and/or make sure that others do.
Ballots will be mailed to electric bill payers on March 4 and must be returned by March 24.
Andrea Brower, Anahola
