Letters to the editor for Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014

Reid ensures more Senate gridlock in ’14

Ultra-partisan Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s most lasting legacy will be the damage he is doing to the U.S. Senate. In November 2013, Reid led a partisan power play to break Senate rules on filibusters. This action was transparently hypocritical for Sen. Reid, who back in 2005 vigorously resisted any change to the filibuster rules when Democrats were in the Senate minority. At that time, Reid said, “To change the Senate rules is a raw abuse of power and will destroy the very checks and balances our founding fathers put in place to prevent absolute power by any one branch of government.”

While threatened by other Senate leaders in the past, Reid actually detonated the so-called “nuclear option” which will limit the minority party’s rights, make the Senate even more partisan, further reduce the role of political moderates and the need for bipartisanship and compromise. Three Senate Democrats voted “No” on Reid’s power play, and the move was fiercely opposed by all 45 Senate Republicans.

The usually mild-mannered Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) railed about Reid, “He has become the obstructionist in chief and is destroying the U.S. Senate.” The Senate is certain to see even more bitterness, fighting, and gridlock in 2014.

Jim Hartman

Genoa

Good luck in 2014 to WNC’s softball team

I just want to say to the Western Nevada College softball team, good luck in the 2014 season. You are the best. I mean it from the bottom of my heart. You practice hard and play hard.

Anyway, good luck. I will always support you.

Kevin Marcella

Carson City

Patterns show scary future for democracy

I have just finished a book by Andy Andrews titled “The Heart Mender.” A true story, circa 1942, which takes place on the Florida, Alabama Atlantic coast and tells about the Nazi U-boat activity in that area. A paragraph in the book by one of the two main characters really struck me, and I would like to share this thought.

“In 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, noticed a continuing pattern in the advance and decline of the world’s democracies. He stated then that a democracy would continue to exist until such time that the voters discover that they can literally vote themselves gifts from the public treasury. From the moment that revelation is made, the majority proceeds to vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury. The final result is that every democracy finally collapses due to loose fiscal policy. That collapse is always followed by a dictatorship. Every single time, these nations progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from great courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; and finally from dependence back to bondage.”

God Help Us!

Dennis D. Miley

Carson City

Good news is aplenty; kind helpers proved it

I would like to thank Michael and his wife who flagged me down to tell me that my tire was flat. They also made phone calls on my behalf. They went out of their way to find someone to put my spare tire on for me. Sammuel made it possible for me to get home and make arrangements to get a new tire.

With all the negative things going on in the world, there are still people out there who go out of their way to help others. May their lives be blessed. You are truly appreciated.

J.T. Cooksey

Carson City

‘Bubble’ prevention could hurt economy

Your friendly national government has developed yet a new way to suppress successful business. It is called “macroprudential.” In the future, the Federal Reserve will use its computers to locate “hot spots” in the economy. These would-be areas where business is doing too well (in their mind) and was in danger of causing a “bubble.” Not to worry, the Fed will simply raise local interest rates and/or use other tools to suck money out of the area. That area might well be Northern Nevada. Businessmen might think that it was in the best interest of the community that they do well; they would, of course, be mistaken.

If you do not think that “macroprudential” is real, Janet Yellen, in her Nov. 14 testimony before the Senate banking committee, said “Macroprudential is a first line of defense against bubbles.” And that when the Fed detects “asset price misalignments in specific areas that they will move against it.” This means that if the Fed thinks that your business, investments, or profession is doing too well, you will be targeted for a correction.

Local businessmen and the Chamber of Commerce might want to contact their congressmen and senators and tell them that it is not the government’s job to put a lid on their level of success. And tell the Fed to back off of this practice. I did.

David Swain

Wellington