CABPRO Report

Harry S. Truman ~ on political offices

"It doesn't matter how big a ranch ya' own, or how many cows ya' brand, the size of your funeral is still gonna to depend on the weather."
 -- Harry Truman.


When President Truman retired from office in 1952, his income was
substantially a U.S. Army pension, reported to have been $13,507.72 a
year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps and personally
licking them, granted him an "allowance" and, later, a retroactive
pension of $25,000 per year.



When offered corporate positions at large salaries, he declined,
stating, "You don't want me. You want the office of the president,
and that doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the American people and
it's not for sale."

Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing,
"I don't consider that I have done anything which should be the reason
for any award, Congressional or otherwise.

"

We now see that other past presidents, have found a new level of success
in cashing in on the presidency, resulting in untold wealth. Today, many in Congress also have found a way to become quite wealthy while enjoying the fruits of their offices. Political offices are now for sale. Was good old Harry Truman correct when he observed, "My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference. I, for one, believe the piano player job to be much more honorable than current politicians."

Imagine what he'd think of todays politicians....
 
 

Your Right to Vote

Before the Civil War the United States Constitution did not provide specific protections for voting.  Voting qualifications were not covered by the Constitution or governed by federal laws.  At that time, although a few northern states permitted a small number of free black men to register and vote, slavery and restrictive state laws and practices allowed this privilege to be exercised almost exclusively by white males.  Shortly after the end of the Civil War Congress enacted the Military Reconstruction Act of 1867, which allowed former Confederate States to be readmitted to the Union if they adopted new state constitutions that permitted universal male suffrage.  The 14^th Amendment, which conferred citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, was ratified in 1868.  In 1870 the 15^th Amendment was ratified, which provided specifically that the right to vote shall not be denied or abridged on the basis of race, color or previous condition of servitude.  Congress then enacted the Enforcement Act of 1870, which contained criminal penalties for interference with the right to vote, and the Force Act of 1871, which provided for federal election oversight.  The next major piece of voting legislation was the passage of the 19^th Amendment in 1920 giving women the right to vote.  The Voting Rights Act, adopted initially in 1965 and extended in 1970, 1975 and 1982, is generally considered the most successful piece of civil rights legislation ever adopted by the United States Congress.  The Act reinforced the 15^th Amendment’s permanent guarantee that, throughout the nation, no person shall be denied the right to vote on account of race or color.

For over 150 years our right to vote has been protected by amendments to the Constitution and enforced by the Federal Government.  Much blood of our citizen soldiers has been spilled to protect these rights but yet as time goes on, it appears that fewer and fewer citizens are exercising their right to vote.  Why is this?

A statewide survey found a variety of reasons why people say they don’t vote which are listed below with some common sense answers you can use in motivating folks to get off their duff and get out to vote.

• “Tired of changing polling places; inconvenient polling place” – Vote by mail or vote early at the county elections office.

• “Can’t find polling place” – Look at your Sample Ballot, or call your county elections office.
• “Disgusted by negative campaigns” – Many campaigns do not want to increase voter turnout; you play into their hands when you stay home.
• “Can’t read or write very well” – You can have someone help you fill out the registration form and your ballot.
• “My one vote won’t make a difference” – Every vote counts!  We know just a handful of votes sometimes makes or breaks a candidate or ballot measure.
• “Takes too much time” – Vote by mail and/or choose just to vote on a few things.
• “I’ll end up on jury duty” – The list for jury duty is taken from several places, including the DMV; besides, jury duty is a civic duty.
• “No interest for politics; Don’t care” – What are the issues in your community that you care about?  They are affected by voting.
• “ No candidate I care about; Don’t agree with candidates” – Elections have propositions in addition to the candidates, plus, you can vote against a candidate you disagree with the most.
• “Can’t get away from work” – Vote by mail or to/from work since polling places are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

You have a right to vote…. So exercise it!

"School History Lessons"

by Willard Schoellerman
President, Forest Lake Christian School

In the September issue of the CABPRO News there was an excellent article on the Bill of Rights and its background. What caught my attention was the statement below the article title which said “Warning: it’s no longer taught in schools”. While it is true that it is no longer taught in public schools, students at Forest Lake Christian School are extensively trained about our nations founding starting with the Mayflower Compact, Colonial government, the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist papers, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Forest Lake Christian School believes that young people need to be taught the truth of our nations founding and being so informed, will become more responsible and productive citizens. Being so informed, as voters they will be able discern which candidates will uphold the Constitution and not be fooled by rhetoric of candidates who will change or ignore it.

The obvious question is, why do public schools no longer teach these facts of our nations founding documents and the thought processes that went into these documents.

Election Office Observations

So, there we were in the middle of September standing at the counter of the Nevada County Elections Office in the Rood Center making sure our recent change of address made it into the system so as not to delay getting our Absentee Ballots for the upcoming November Presidential election. This past week our ballots arrived and after a quick glance we noticed that one of the ballots had the correct name however the post office box number was missing. The only way it seemed that the Post Office knew it was destined for someone in our family’s mail box was after comparing last names.

Grass Valley Managed Growth Initiatives: BAD MEDICINE for Everyone!

On Thursday, September 18, Patti Ingram, former Mayor of the City of Grass Valley, presented to the CABPRO membership and other concerned citizens the guts of the two “Managed Growth Initiatives” appearing on the November 4 ballot.  What was learned from Patti’s presentation was that these Managed Growth Initiatives will:

Increase Rates:  The initiatives may prevent the City of Grass Valley from properly growing the sales tax base.  As a result local rates will need to increase to pay the cost of critical city services such as first responders (police and fire), sewer and infrastructure such as roads.  In addition, the initiative will lead to many legal challenges that will cost taxpayers potentially millions of dollars that should instead be spent on critical city services and not lawyers.

Reduce funding for fire, police and other emergency responders:  The initiatives are a threat to public safety because the revenue received from development will be spread elsewhere instead of concentrated around the existing road networks and inside the city infrastructure.  As a result, Grass Valley’s sales tax revenue will not grow at teh rate needed to cover the future cost of emergency service responders.

Destroy the character of Grass Valley and its’ vibrant town center:  Grass Valley has a unique and vibrant historical downtown which the Managed Growth Initiatives threaten to destroy.  Developers will be fearful of having to go through a costly and time consuming citizens’ vote on their project and will be less likely to offer creative projects.  Planning officials will also have less ability to influence the final outcome of any designs.  Furthermore, a well-funded developer may pay for advertising to push forward slick persuasive arguments convincing uninformed voters to support a project that is not in the long-term best interests of the town and region.

Circumvent California environmental law:  The Initiatives do not require a CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) review or analysis and prevents public comment on its impact.  Without a CEQA analysis there is no way to gauge the long-term impact the initiative will have on the environment.  A CEQA review would take into consideration, fiscal impacts, traffic, global warming, and other public safety issues.

And, what the backers of these “Managed Growth Initiatives” don’t want you to know is that critical organizations like Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital will have to spend millions of dollars on lawyers instead of developing new programs and facilities to meet the healthcare needs of a growing elderly population and that of the population it serves throughout the Sierra Foothills.  The Grass Valley Managed Growth Initiatives are BAD MEDICINE for Everyone!

CABPRO asks all Grass Valley citizens to vote “NO” on both “Managed Growth Initiatives” on November 4th.