Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 21, 1994 TAG: 9411220031
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
However, the desired response to that message isn't implicit in the election results. Apparently, government will consist of a Congress lacking the political will to avoid deficit financing while it cuts taxes, and a president who waffles too much to be an effective deterrent.
The ``Contract With America'' touted by Republicans smacks too much of political hype to be considered a serious document. It ignores billions of dollars required to finance it, and it tries to pass off such items as the balanced-budget amendment and term limits as a necessary cure-all for certain public concerns.
Consider term limits: Why would we want to mandate out of office those whose priority is serving the public as opposed to politics as usual? John Warner, for one.
And the balanced-budget amendment is a transparent sham to avoid individual fiscal responsibility in Congress, which already has all the authority it needs to balance the budget and procedures in place to do so.
More than likely, the country is in for a revival of policies practiced during the Reagan years when the national debt quadrupled, something never before heard of in a peacetime era, and the income gap between the rich and the poor widened at an accelerated pace. If those policies are allowed to reappear, and left unchecked over a period of two or three generations, our nation will become as bankrupt as the former Soviet Union is today. There will also be the possibility that 90 percent of the wealth will become concentrated among 10 percent of the population.
No democracy has ever flourished without a vibrant middle class. The future for newborns and toddlers is in jeopardy. God grant your elders the wisdom to remain vigilant and active on your behalf.
EMERY A. WHITE SALEM
Thanksgiving isn't just about turkey
IN ALL my days, I had never heard of more than two kinds of turkeys: the one that's set before us on Thanksgiving Day; and the one that people call each other when they're mad. Like: You turkey!
But last year when my grandson was only 2 years old, I learned of another kind of turkey, one with feabers.
My son had killed a turkey, brought it home, and hung it up to drain. I asked this little guy: ``Zackary, are you going to eat some of this turkey?''
The look of amazement on his face told me he couldn't believe I was even thinking of such a thing. Then his eyes got big, and he said, ``No, Nanny, it's got feabers on it.''
Thanksgiving is a time of year for friends and family to reunite. This day seems to draw people closer than any other.
This year, open your hearts, feed someone who is hungry, give of yourself to some who are lonely, say a kind word, do a good deed, or forgive someone as God has forgiven you.
MAGGIE STEVENS ROANOKE
Conservatives' role has changed
I ALWAYS thought I was a conservative, but they changed the definition - which use to mean love, sharing, taking care of your responsibilities, and not tearing down the fence until you understood the reason it was built.
To be a conservative now, it seems as if you qualify by doing one or more of the following:
You hate all ideologies and religions except your own, and all people not as fortunate as you are. You want to be king of the mountain, regardless of who you have to climb over.
If these people are what life and love are about, count me out. For now, call me a liberal who is trying to follow Jesus. After voting for Reagan and Bush, I think my vote for Clinton will be the one I'm proudest of. Let's get behind this man of peace and compassion.
If we hate everyone and everything we don't agree with, and spend our lives claiming to be God's judge and jury, then he isn't going to be pleased because he's a jealous God.
Whenever politics and religion are mixed, Christianity always has and always will lose. It's like oil and water. You cannot make them mix unless you break down the ingredients of Christianity.
G. RICHARD RADCLIFF BLUE RIDGE
With the steam, goes area pride
THE NEWS article on Oct. 29 broke my heart (``Last run for NS steam train''). No more steam excursions out of Roanoke. How can this be?
Roanoke cut her teeth on the railroad. Our family trees branch out on silver rails. When native Roanokers breathe, black smoke rolls out of their nostrils. The railroad has given Roanoke its life - its the blood running through our veins. And now our heritage is being stripped away from us to be replaced by the operation of a ``modern railroad.''
Operate your modern railroad, but leave our pride alone. Members of the National Railway Historic Society, the Virginia Transportation Museum, and rail fans from around the world dedicate their time and money to these excursions.
We spend hours keeping the equipment in operating order, hours unending in planning and coordinating these excursions for the pleasure of a day enjoying our hearts desire.
Parents and grandparents explain the steam engine to a generation of little folks who will never have any other piece of history than this day. Eyes widen and mouths open in awe as this magnificent beauty thunders her way through the valleys and mountains of the Blue Ridge, cotton-white smoke belching, and her long, lonesome whistle echoing for miles, announcing her approach or saying, ``keep me in your heart 'til my return.'' How can anyone strike her down with just the stroke of a pen?
Is our Rail Festival dead, too? Are we going to entertain rail fans with a market, the Center in the Square, and a beautiful hotel-convention center overlooking a dead town?
We want our heritage. We want to stand beside the tracks and wave at history. We want our hearts to swell in our chests, and tears of joy to roll down our faces as she passes by. We want our rail excursions and our steam back!
SHERRY CHANDLER Member, Roanoke Chapter National Railway Historic Society ROANOKE
Dismissed teacher is no martyr
I'M WRITING in response to the public hand-wringing over the dismissal of Carol Bracciano. Many parents in the Auburn attendance area breathed a sigh of relief when the announcement was made that their children wouldn't be subjected to her teaching style.
After reading the Nov. 8 news article (``Fired Auburn teacher struggles for answers'') in your newspaper and hearing her discussion with Bob Denton on Channel 15 on Nov. 9, I was struck by one thought:
Throughout all the public comments regarding the matter, never has there been any concern expressed to or for the children involved.
I have yet to read or hear any statements that Ms. Bracciano misses the interactions and activities teachers routinely conduct with children in their classes. Judging from her quotes in the news article and comments on the Denton program, she seems to wear as a badge of honor the label of rabble rouser.
Did she speak of the overcrowding in the schools in the Auburn area? Were doubts expressed about the wisdom of continuing to have sixth-graders mix in the hallways on a daily basis with 10th-graders? No, since her rabble rousing and grievance filing covers no broader issue than her right (?) to show slides of nude adults to classes of 11- and 12-year-old children?
As the father of a sixth-grader who was in one of the classes where the slides were shown, I'm appalled that a teacher would choose to include such inappropriate material. Even worse is to watch her being made a martyr for being prevented from trying to force her private agenda into the classrooms of a public school.
MARK STEWART CHRISTIANSBURG
by CNB