Begging government to curtail freedom

Nothing like opening the paper Saturday morning and reading with dismay that some of my fellow citizens want the government to tell everyone what to do (Review-Journal letters to the editor).

First, letter writer Nicholas P. Gartner wants us to get serious about terrorism by having the government “force” all citizens to own firearms. But he doesn’t stop there.On top of that, he wants the government to subsidize the buying of firearms and ammo for all citizens.

I’m sure the issue of “forced” firearms will be embraced wholeheartedly by the anti-2nd Amendment crowd.

Good luck with that.

Then, letter writer Barbara Gurley doesn’t like the fact that, for a couple weeks out of the year, citizens celebrate the birth of our great nation by setting off fireworks. This scares her little dog and is a fire threat. She wants the government to ban this practice because she doesn’t like it.

I’d venture to say that leaving her iron on poses a bigger fire risk than a few weeks of fireworks. As for the little princess, turn up some music or the TV. It works for my dogs.

It’s no wonder that the federal government has grown to the point where it spends more than $3.9 trillion per year — and runs huge deficits while doing so. The majority of people in this country want the government to interfere in their lives and curtail their freedoms. It boggles my mind. Nothing says “anti-freedom and ant-liberty” more than people begging their government to tell them what to do.

Please think about that as the Fourth of July approaches, Maybe read a little about how we escaped the oppressiveness of King George III to form this incredible country. It could give you a different perspective.

J.D. Moses

Henderson

Homophobic killer

In his Sunday column, “Political distractions,” it seems Jonah Goldberg left out one rather important political distraction. While the headline kicker says “Blame Islamic Terror,” Mr. Goldberg conveniently omits that the Orlando attack was specifically targeted against a single group of people: the LGBT community.

Mr. Goldberg and the rest of the right-wing media want to distract people and concentrate on Islamic terrorists rather than on homophobia. Perhaps this probably plays better to members of the Republican base, who pretend to fear foreign religious fanatics more than their own party’s traditional religious fanatics.

Let’s not forget the Orlando shooter was raised in a homophobic home, with parents who are religious fanatics and clearly afraid of gay people. No doubt they made their gay son feel so ashamed of being gay, he turned into a self-hating homosexual.

The results of that “upbringing” were his deadly actions in Orlando.

People shouldn’t act so surprised that homophobia has consequences.

James Fuhrman

Las Vegas

Expensive dream

Michael Schaus’s “Make green energy compete” in Sunday’s Viewpoints section highlighted the real costs of alternative energy. The debate over how much rooftop solar owners should be reimbursed for their excess power is just a sideshow. The real issue is the real cost of all the subsidies and mandates supporting these industries.

According to the analysis, renewables will add 15 percent to Nevada energy bills this year alone, significantly reducing jobs and economic growth. This is crony capitalism at its worst, created by our politicians and their alternative energy investor friends.

It’s time to eliminate the subsidies and mandates, delaying the expansion of renewable energy until it can stand on its own two feet. Reducing worldwide greenhouse gas emissions may be is noble pursuit, but thinking Nevada can make a significant contribution to it is simply an expensive dream.

Tom Keller

Henderson