RE: Carol Adams’ letter [Alibi v28 i18]:Thank you for educating the poor liberal/progressive readers of Alibi with your insightful suggestions from the conservative think tanks (like Fox News?) on the problems of migrants and guns in America. You claim that it is progressive and radical organizations intent on busting US immigration law, yet you failed to mention any names of such organizations, or how they are doing such busting.You did ask why there are so many immigrants on our border? It’s probably not for your first-rate education system, nor for your excellent health care. Not self-imposed, as you say. More likely it is as they have found themselves without hope and impoverished as their countries are overrun with criminal gang violence and corrupt governments that aren’t doing anything about it.And why do you suppose that has happened? Most of the criminals learned their trade here, smuggling guns in exchange for drugs, to support your Big American Party lifestyle, yah? I wonder who their government officials model their policies of graft and greed after. Those poor people have no more control over their own lives than we had electing the latest POTUS. If they are in our state, it is because they passed the rigorous tests for asylum. You should look up what that means. Heaven forbid some immigrant’s sick child should need medical care and interfere with your kid’s T-ball registration. What’s next?On the other foot, you also have a gripe with legislation wanting to tighten gun control. While you damn sure know your 2nd Amendment, perhaps you aren’t aware that amendments are a means to change or modify laws for the better of all citizens, or that we have more deaths by guns in this country than any other civilized (or not) nation in the world. The job of the government is to protect its citizens; that is no longer happening here since Citizens United allows great American sponsors like the NRA to lobby our representatives. More guns is what we need, right? Yeehah! Let’s bring back the Wild West and make a movie, or a better first-person shooter video game. No worries, it’s only the news.Civilized countries employ police, not vigilantes. But just like climate change, it won’t ever affect your life. Guns don’t kill people, but they sure make newsworthy body counts. It’s becoming like the idea that War is necessary for the Peace, or that women’s maternal health is all about killing unwanted babies. I find it all as repulsive as your suggestions, so why don’t you go preach to the choir of your alt-right organizations, because we know what you are about, as the title of your article states.You might want to remember the only natural-born people of this country are Native Americans, and they too probably wish you would go back to where your DNA report says your people came from.
Letters: Should Govt. Fix Problems? Should Govt. Fix Problems?
Albuquerque, New Mexico, is the latest municipality to enact its own ban on plastic grocery bags. The Clean & Green Retail Ordinance (sponsored by City Councilors Isaac Benton, Pat Davis, Diane Gibson, and Cynthia Borrego) passed into local law last week with a 5-3 vote albeit with amendments to the original text which included exempting Styrofoam from the ban and making plastic straws “available upon request” in restaurants.The councilors who voted for the ordinance called it “a step in the right direction” but is it? What if businesses simply raise retail prices as a result? What if consumers simply buy more plastic trash bags to make up for the lack of small grocery bags? Many people repurpose those plastic bags in other areas of their home. A new law may direct consumers down a new market path but will it solve the underlying issue (the amount of plastic we use)? Perhaps the key to this issue lies in individual initiative regarding our personal habits rather than a simplistic ban on a particular product.Modern human societies have brought individual humans closer together amid intricate networks of dependency and this new reality has relative advantages and disadvantages for our species. For example: Most people do not manufacture their own food as our ancestors did, rather we are dependent on an outside source (a grocery store, a restaurant, etc.) and that source is probably dependent on another source for their supply (a food distributor). The initial sources are more concentrated today, under the control of large organizations, while the products are distributed over a much wider area. These multitiered distribution systems are necessary for larger population centers but they also are more difficult to hold accountable for inevitable mistakes since there are more steps in the process and more people handling the process.When discussing our society’s issues, government regulations are often the first potential solution brought to the table as if governments are these perfect organizations that can only do good things. Perhaps solutions to societal issues lie within ourselves and our own actions rather than the actions of an outside force. I think every person could benefit from some self-reflection regarding our individual carbon footprints. Let’s look at the issue of dirty environments and think about how each of us can make an impact on the individual level.I will let the late but great Michael Jackson drive my point home here: “If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change.”
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