Letters for Friday, June 15, 2007

• Road prais

• Enforcement needed

• Anti-personal attacks

• Republican leadership?

Road praise

Just a big mahalo to the hard workers who labored fixing up our Kuamoo Road in Wailua. Long days in the sun working with the hot tar. What a sweet ride now and so smooth. Big big mahalo to you folks.

Sherry Lynn French

Kapa‘a

Enforcement needed

I would like to thank whoever put up the sign at the beach in front of the motocross saying, “No vehicles beyond this point.” Too bad there’s nobody to enforce it. I sat right by the sign and watched several trucks and quads drive by. And yes, they’re still driving on the beach.

Daniel Renaud

Kapa‘a

Anti-personal attacks

If only because some of the residents of Kaua‘i might actually believe the misinformation and innuendo in Mr. Dennis Chaquette’s personal attack on me (“From the Heart,” Letters, June 13), I feel the need to provide some points of clarification.

I do not work for The Garden Island newspaper, which Chaquette implies is a “right-wing, second rate rag.” Nor did I title my guest commentary; that is likely done by the paper’s editor, who also appears to attempt to balance right and left with articles by William Rusher (who makes my blood boil) and Morton Kondracke (tolerable) on right of center and Gene Lyons and Cokie and Steven Roberts leaning left.

Of greater seriousness is the implication that I am a fascist. A fascist is a believer in a government system marked by stringent social and economic control with a strong, centralized government that considers individual and other societal interests subordinate to the needs of the government. That sounds more like the direction some current office holders appear to want to see us go. To the contrary, I share the belief of Thomas Paine, as repeated by both Thomas Jefferson and Henry David Thoreau “that government is best which governs least” and could best be described as a Libertarian. I believe in private property rights, live-and-let-live, and the Golden Rule, as they apply to individuals. I also believe that large corporations driven primarily by bottom-line profits are the cause of many, if not most, of the ills of the world. I’m a 21 year resident of Kaua‘i, a loving husband and a devoted father. Along with my ohana, I sustained a massive personal tragedy when the Ka Loko Reservior Dam breached. I’m an organic farmer who cares greatly for the ‘aina. I’m an active amateur actor and I referee basketball games at the Kilauea Gym. I’m a licensed Realtor and I manage a number of long term rentals in Kilauea and Princeville for absentee owners.

I’m somewhat surprised that The Garden Island would want to stir the pot by publishing a letter as vitriolic, hateful, and uninformed as Mr. Chaquette’s. I encourage those who wish to make their views known in what amounts to the best public forum we as Kaua‘i residents have access to, to get their facts straight and avoid personal attacks. We are all people and mostly lovers of our beautiful island home. We can agree, disagree, even agree to disagree, but however we go, we ought to use reason, empathy, and understanding in getting along with our neighbors, our guests, and our fellow residents, regardless of when they, or their ancestors, landed on these shores.

Bruce Fehring

Kilauea

Republican leadership?

Let me first say Ron Agor is one of my favorite people.

He commits time, money and energy to many community non-profits and should be considered one of our finest citizens.

However, his letter extolling the virtues of the Republican party leaves me shaking my head. Perhaps these are the words of someone frustrated by the historical mismanagement of the local ruling class looking for a second party to keep the first one honest, but what passes for Republican philosophy at the moment is intellectually bankrupt from this Independent’s viewpoint.

At the national level, the party that believes “government is not the solution, it’s the problem” has proven since 1994, when they took Congress, and 2000, the White House, that their approach leads nowhere. Blind belief that “the market” will swoop in to solve all problems like a caped super hero ignores the obvious. Markets are only interested in problems that can generate a solid profit. Problems such as affordable health care or housing/education for the weaker among us get ignored, magnifying the divide between haves and have nots. Enriching insurance companies is more important to the Republicans than helping mom and pop buy their pills. Helping students pay for college has lower priority to making the lenders’ wallets fat. On social issues, the blue nose wing of the Republicans is very happy to use government to control our private lives so I guess government can be the solution if you want it to be.

Even worse, with the attitude that government is just a cash cow, Republicans have taken budget busting earmarking to new heights. They’ve enriched their cronies like Jack Abramoff and his bought-and-paid-for-Congressmen by gutting fairness rules and allowing a revolving door between lobbying and the bureaucracy — not to mention outright corruption. The “grownups” turned out to be grifters.

We’ve had political appointees to important posts such as FEMA made based on college fraternity linkages instead of competence. We have billions missing in Iraq in part because the people appointed to run projects were subject to tests of their political beliefs instead of the necessary skills. A Supreme court position was offered to the laughable Harriet Miers who even the Republicans couldn’t stomach. And now, the Justice Department is being used as patronage with past appointees whose ardor at executing political operations was insufficient fired and replaced by true believers. Our government is a laughing stock around the globe and deservedly so. There’s a reason 70 percent of our population thinks we’re on the wrong track and it stems from Republican rule. Those who love our country need to find the courage to speak out against this situation.

At the state and local level, Republicans are as scarce as hen’s teeth. Even the few we have in high office such as Gov. Linda Lingle or Sen. Cynthia Thielen have beliefs so far astray from the Republican platform they’d be forced to be Democrats in a real “Red” state. Why they share a platform with extremists like Mr. Gabbard is beyond me. Others swap to the other party in a heartbeat when it’s time to run for higher office. Giving credit to the any successes we’ve had of late to Republican leadership (sic) is pretty laughable given how little power the Republicans actually hold and more so given how little effect political wind shifts have on the overall economy.

So thanks Ron for all you do in the community, but I have to pass on supporting your party.

Dave Camp

Aliomanu