Letters to the editor: Vaccines, legislature, climate change
Vaccines
Representative Lickley is playing with words when she claims that vaccine requirements for public school are not “mandatory” but are only strongly suggested. She cites the ease with which exemptions can be obtained as evidence that vaccinations are not mandatory. However, the need for an exemption is itself clear proof that vaccination laws are mandates. The definition of “mandatory” matters—denying the meaning twists the truth and lays the groundwork for future mandates.
Without supporting evidence, Rep. Lickley claims vaccines are necessary because they protect immune-compromised children. This is how further vaccine mandates will be justified. In California and New York, tens of thousands of children have already been kicked out of schools. Mandatory vaccines for school attendance have been the law for decades. What is new are laws that revoke exemptions, using the protection of immune-compromised students as justification. Ironically, these laws ensured that most immune-compromised children are now unable to obtain an exemption to attend school.
California and New York pushed through harmful laws, unsupported by science, because lawmakers twisted the truth. Representative Lickley is taking a dishonest step on the incremental path toward those unjust laws when she tells you that vaccine requirements are not mandates.
Susan Lang, Boise
Legislators
Time to check in on those lovable scamps, our Republican state legislature. Let’s see what’s up, raise the sales tax again, check. Affect our local services by freezing property taxes, check. House Republicans on the Education committee throwing out the Education Standards, check. Same Republicans walking out on a presentation for a small funding to help teachers help our children with emotional, social problems to lower youth suicide rate, check. Waving their fear mongering divisive anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion flags, check. Waiting for the pro-gun flag, check, but about all that is left is to legalize minors conceal carrying in schools.
We can ease property tax burdens in many ways, some proposed by the Dems. Another way is to pass the initiative that raises slightly taxes on businesses and those making over $250K per year to fund education. We can ease property taxes and fund education, pre-K through college, by getting rid of 75% of the exemptions to our sales tax. That would add over a billion dollars in revenue per year.
Election day is getting closer. Let’s change out some of these lovable scamps for legislators who care about our health care, better wages, fairer taxation, and our children’s education.
Dallas Chase, Boise
Climate change
Extreme weather and climate action failure lead the most likely risks of the coming decade in the World Economic Forum’s latest Global Risk Assessment. Weather and climate events cost the U.S. 306 billion dollars in 2018. The world is responding with initiatives from businesses and governments. Renewable energy is becoming cheaper and storage challenges are being solved.
How will we keep fossil fuels in the ground and speed the build-out of alternatives? With coal plentiful and cheap worldwide, and a well-developed fossil fuel infrastructure, the status quo will continue far too long without policies to change our direction more quickly.
Over 3500 US top economists from both political parties support a keystone policy framework. It consists of a gradually increasing price on fossil fuel pollution with the monies collected from fossil fuel companies returned to all Americans in equal shares. Critically, a carbon border adjustment will also apply the fee to carbon intensive imported products unless they come from countries with an equivalent price on pollution. This brings the whole world along on the low-carbon energy train.
The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act contains all these principles. If you think it’s time for big solutions, let your representatives know.
Nancy Basinger, Boise