Editorial 5.6, July 2003, by Deirdre Helfferich Missing the Point Judge Savell’s recent decision in the Thomas case is on the mark: a law, even if popular, must conform to the constitutional guarantees provided in our state, and, since we actually have the right to privacy in Alaska, we do have the right to grow a little marijuana for personal use. The right to privacy is precious, precisely because it allows individuals to maintain their freedom of thought, freedom of action, freedom from the Big Brother that our society is increasingly becoming. It also means, of course, the privacy to get completely weird because there is no one watching over your shoulder, telling you that you can’t do this or that Or Else. Still, too much liberty is far better than too little, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson. Those who object to Savell’s decision have missed the point: our state constitution protects us all from the tyranny of the majority. Them’s the Breaks The Giant Cabbage recently reported that "the day after His Royal Highness Governor Frank Murkowski gave $50-$100 million in tax breaks to oil companies, he cut $138 million from the state budget. $68.5 mllion came from Health and Social Services, including support to the elderly and hospital/nursery home care for the terminally ill." (p. A-2, The Giant Cabbage, June 2003) Knowing Che Cavolo’s penchant for satire, I decided that I had better doublecheck the nursery homes—surely the story was as fictional as Murkowski’s gubenatorial campaign promises? But no, it wasn’t. Sean Cockerham in his June 12 story in the Anchorage Daily News describes how Murkowski is cutting taxes now in the hopes of revenues in a few years, say, 2009. "The hit to the state," says Cockerham, "will not start to be felt until fiscal year 2005, which begins next summer." Cockerham writes that Dan Dickinson, director of the state tax division, expects that this could provide the state $200 million, "if a big field is found." Yet, according to an earlier Anchorage Daily News story by Cockerham (5/25/03), Murkowski plans to cut another $250 million from the state budget next session. So we get to wait around for five years for possible revenues that may or may not pay for the cuts to services we get to experience this year and the next. That’s if the oil companies decide to explore, and if they actually find something profitable. Of course, tax breaks for exploration will make it easier for these corporations—but even finding oil doesn’t automatically translate to jobs and state inome, especially with no income tax. These service cuts ("tax breaks") mean investing an awful lot of money in industries with a limited future, and in companies that are owned, mostly, by people not only outside the state but even outside the country (these are not usually Alaska companies, they are multinationals, beholden to no one but the stockholders). Why isn’t Murkowski investing this money into industries that will still be here in twenty years? Perhaps he wants to break the bank—again. Independence & Dissent The Fourth of July coverage of Ester in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner revealed some interesting differences between Fairbanks and Ester, and brought home that some people just plain missed the point of the whole celebration. Take Dermot Cole’s column on July 4. He described Ester as a place "where independence is sometimes confused with quirkiness." I think Dermot’s the one who’s confused. Esterites understand very well the difference between simple eccentricity and independence, although they are related. To be independent in thought is valued highly in Ester, and to be unafraid to say what you think is respected here. Ester has a strong sense of community, and an equally strong sense of freedom of speech. We understand the difference, and value both. People may say things we disagree with, and loudly, but they are still part of our community. True, there are oddballs here, quirky folks, but what’s the fun in homogeneity? In some ways, Ester is quite dependent on Fairbanks. Most of us work there, buy our groceries, tools, and other supplies there, and get our news from Fairbanks radio and TV stations and the News-Miner. But we don’t live there, and we don’t identify ourselves with the Fairbanks mindset. Our voting record and our paper are quite different. We are not a "bedroom community" or suburb of Fairbanks. Our hearts are here in Ester. If anything, we retain the spirit that was present in old Fairbanks, but which has shrunk considerably in that city since the pipeline boom. Our history is as old as that of Fairbanks, and we are closer to our founding roots than is Fairbanks: there is still active mining in the village. The Fourth of July is also known as Independence Day, but in Ester, where the parade participants regularly take politicians to task for foolishness, we tend not to emphasize things like formation marching (although we have had a drill team, complete with power drills) and the tools of battle, such as tanks or guns or other instruments of death—unless we want to make a political statement. This year, there were three walking groups riffing on the theme of Weapons of Mass Destruction, but not a single machine of war was present in the parade. And I think that is as it should be—independence is what the Revolutionary War was fought for, not glorification of war. Those who fought then (and fight now) need to be remembered, not for their grisly deeds or the tools they use, but for their lives and the ideals they protect—and the best way to do that is not to abandon those ideals. So in our parade, we demonstrate our individuality, lampoon hypocrites, and celebrate both the absurd and the sublime. It’s a lot of fun—and it’s important. | ||
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