More Important Issues to Resolve

As of Thursday, April 19, 2012

When I read the words “Wake Up, Americans” heading a letter to the editor (April 13), I was compelled to research the reasoning why I’ve been seemingly asleep and in need of awakening.

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 was signed into law by President George W. Bush on Aug. 14, 2008. While I’m not a fan of the Bush presidency, the driving force behind this bill was largely due to several high profile recalls in 2007 and 2008 of toys manufactured in China.

Nowhere in the text of this bill does it say that it is illegal to sell children’s books printed before 1985. However, it does mandate a phased-in reduction of lead content in books and toys of children’s products down to 100 parts per million by August 2014.

This bill deals with many safety issues such as banning the three-wheeled ATV, improved control of non-safety-compliant exports and imports. Other safety protections, too many to mention, focus primarily on child safety.

This bill did not “sneak through” Congress, but was a high profile piece of legislation. While there may be controversy concerning the accuracy of currently published history books, this bill, HR 4040, had nothing to do with it.

I struggle to understand the deep-seated anger so often vented at our government in recent years. It should be smaller, larger, can’t be trusted, likened to communism and Nazi Germany. We still remain the freest country in the world today.

This nation has many issues to resolve. We need to look elsewhere for the loss of freedoms in recent times. The elected officials in office today are there because we voted them in.

Effective change comes when everyone exercises that right.

Frank Lally

Pinehurst

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jdekornfeld 1 year, 1 month ago

Good letter and absolutely sensible. The screamers shouting "Take back America" lost an election due to 8 years of horrible misrule and a pitiful record in almost every area. That's why their guy lost and a black guy with a funny name got elected. Move on and if you come up with good ideas that don't disenfranchise people and help the republic you'll win elections again.

Easygoing 1 year, 1 month ago

Good letter, the far fringes of the political spectrum are trying to drive this country into ruin with their hysterical rantings. Let's ignore them, listen to each other, respect each other's opinion and work together for a better country.

Courseaire 1 year, 1 month ago

and I thought they were getting rid of those old children's books because the heavy reading was putting too much of a strain on the kids.

The_AnonymusProfit 1 year ago

If we were to ask a group of 3rd grade children what is the foundation of our federal government is and what the role of the federal government set out in the United States Constitution is what do you think the answers would be?

I would hope that they would say that the role of the Federal government is to satisfy the peace of our country IE maintaining a military, overseeing foreign treaties, and regulating interstate commerce to a point.

Anything falling outside these areas are to be left to the state and local governments.

Yet today we have a federal agency to maintain, regulate, monitor, and issue rule and regulation for ever facet of our lives. The DOE, the DOTres, the EPA, DOI, etc etc.

Since when did we as American citizens decide that we wanted a burdensome government controlling every aspect of our lives? I dont ever remember authorizing a government to do that.

A few hundred years ago hysterical rantings from fringe nut jobs such as Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, Jay, etc etc, were the basis for what we know call the USA. It is said to think that such a promising start would end in the largest socialist experiment in current history.

Take back our country is not a slogan, it is something that we will either do, or we wont. If we do we might be able to give our children a country they can live free in, if we dont, well, our children will learn of freedom from the feet of their grandparents reminising about a time when they owned their own land and were free to travel anywhere they wanted, to pursue careers of their own choice.

JimHeim 1 year ago

Here's the Republican/Teabagger philosophy: It's not the government's responsibility to protect your children from deadly toys. It's yours. So if your kid dies from a poison toy from China, just chalk it up to experience and have another kid.

No problem.