Where would this country be without its tradition of anonymous political speech? Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay published “The Federalist Papers” under the name Publius to force critics of the Constitution to attack the ideas behind the document rather than the authors of the essays. The ideas won.
Today is Veterans Day in the United States, a holiday to thank our living veterans, who bravely took on the job of defending freedoms we sometimes take for granted. There are about 22 million veterans in America today, one for every 14 residents, so it shouldn’t be difficult to find somebody to offer a handshake.
Less than a year ago, the idea of opening a UNLV medical school was a political nonstarter. Today, an agreement to create one is in writing.
As recently as a week ago, the purchase of NV Energy by Warren Buffett’s MidAmerican Energy Holdings was looking like a very bad deal for the utility’s customers. On Friday, ratepayers received word that the acquisition was taking shape under far more favorable terms.
Too often, elected officials have their minds made up about a particular issue before they get a chance to vote on it. And the work government staff puts into recommending and drafting a bill or ordinance can create a climate that favors approval regardless of the public’s concerns.
Demand for alternatives to neighborhood Clark County public schools continues to exceed the valley’s supply of them. Thousands of students are on wait lists for charter schools and Clark County School District magnet programs.
The Affordable Care Act has had myriad well-documented failures over the past month on the national front, from the massively flawed rollout of the federal exchange website to the eye-popping increases in premiums, deductibles and co-pays. There’s also the ever-growing reality that, despite President Barack Obama’s repeated promises, millions of Americans will not be able to keep insurance plans that they like and, more importantly, can afford.
As late as Tuesday afternoon, on the official White House website, the very first subsection of a page devoted to the Affordable Care Act — under the heading, “Title I. Quality, Affordable Health Care for All Americans” — still read as follows: “If You Like the Insurance You Have, Keep It: Nothing in the proposal forces anyone to change the insurance they have. Period.”
The country’s two major political parties are dirty words to a growing number of voters across the political spectrum. And the more elected Republicans and Democrats put themselves and their parties before their constituents and their country, the more voter backlash can be expected.
As the long-since-departed “South Park” character Chef would say: “There’s a time and place for everything, and it’s called college.” Indeed, the latest protest by the Culinary union smacks of a bunch of college kids rallying for the cause du jour, thinking it will be really cool to get arrested.
