After last week's "events," it was a pleasure this week to travel to the heartland on business. I always love traveling in my job. For one thing, I get out of the office, meet new people. For another, I get to see life in America outside my elitist East Coast view.
To that end, last night, as I was awaiting my dinner at the hotel bar, I took the chance to read the local newspaper, specifically, the Evansville, IN Courier & Press.
I take particular interest in reading the opinion section, and the local letters to the editor. It opens an East Coast elitist's eyes to what is really going on out there. Here are some excerpts:
'Silly' gun incident endangering lives.
I wholeheartedly .... share in the disbelief and frustration over the comment made by an Evansville police sargeant in response to the pistol incident at Eastland Mall Food Court Saturday evening.
It seems some random person was legally carrying a gun in a crowded public mall's food court and it discharged somehow. The sargeant apparently called the incident a "silly mistake" and did not cite the person for the accidental misfire of a lethal weapon in public because....he had a permit.
When I read that article, my blood ran cold. My daughter often goes [to the Food Court] with friends. In fact, she was there that night...
...
I am sure [the misfire of the gun] was a mistake, but the lives of many others were endangered. A police officer is supposed to protect our citizens. Why didn't he just take that "silly gun" from that "silly person" before someone gets hurt.
This is coming from someone deep in Red Indiana. And not the blue part of Indianapolis either. No, this concerned citizen hails from a place that has a highway (Route 41) on which every other billboard either decries abortion or praises Jesus Christ as the savior. In other words, this is Red America. And this concerned citizen is voicing the anguish of many who want some sort of gun control. I find that interesting. The Democratic Party has largely abandoned any efforts at gun control in today's day and age, mostly because we have larger fish to fry, and also because we found a new respect for our Second Amendment rights when we found our civil liberties were being taken away. But this letter proves to me that the Democratic Party was never wrong in pursuit of sensible measures of gun control. We just got beat by the bigger pockets of the NRA who convinced anyone who would listen that we wanted to ban all guns.
Another letter to the editor that pigued my interest is totally unrelated.
Big Oil is being held to a different standard.
Why are people so adamant about oil companies using their profits to develop new sources of energy? Do we expect Ford to take its profits (Ed Note: What profits?) and develop new forms of transportation?
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Why is it that Big Oil needs to behave differently
There is something called a moral obligation. When you profit off the destruction of the planet, it is morally incumbent upon those profiteers to return something of benefit to those they exploit.
But this concerned citizen has a point: We cannot ever expect for-profit corporations to act out of the kindness of their heart and do anything that may affect their bottomline. Even if Exxon makes untold billions in one month alone, we cannot expect them to take a hundred million of those profits from that month and invest it into alternative energy research and development. And it would not be fair to have that expectation. The concerned citizen is right. We are holding Big Oil to a double standard.
That is why the Democrats are right in insisting on taxes, fines and fees being levied upon those corporations so that we force the aforementioned moral obligation upon them. If such corporations are making billions every month exploiting and damaging the planet, then surely the government can impose fines, fees and taxes to redirect a small fraction of those profits into alternative energy research and development to repair the damage done.
We cannot expect the corporation to do it willingly on their own initiative. That is why we need government. And the Democrats have been saying that for years.
So that is this week's disjointed dispatches from the Aventine. Your thoughts?