Would the Iowa caucuses be of importance if the media did not promote them?

Would the candidates do heavy campaigning if every move they made and word they said was not reported by all means of media? And why exactly is Iowa, an inconsequential political state, set up to control who is chosen leader of this Democracy?

And then we are to believe New Hampshire is the second State of Authority.

In the final decision, who will be the next president lies in the hands of the media that predicts the winner from East Coast poll-watching.

So what is new, with corporate control of the media; is the United States becoming a failed Democracy?

Avoiding empire

The dawning of the New Year invites a longer look at where we have been and where we are going. You hear the word “empire” these days, especially from the left, implying that we are resembling more and more the ill-fated Roman Empire of old.

True, we have become the world’s only superpower. True, our military budget exceeds those of all other nations combined, friend and foe. But on its face, isn’t it quite a stretch to compare the U.S. to the ancient Roman Empire?

There are, however, two rather striking parallels that caught my attention recently. One has to do with the internal situation during the decline and fall of the Roman Empire; the other with its external situation.

Most of us remember being taught in school that in its declining years, the Roman Empire became “complacent” internally and externally vulnerable to the marauding hordes of northern barbarians.

What I wasn’t taught was that this internal complacency was the complacency of the ruling class, principally the result of an unfair tax policy that increasingly burdened the poor and benefited the privileged and rich.

This growing disparity between rich and poor fueled a resentment among the lower classes and led to a subsequent weakening of the empire’s political and military fabric.

The other thing I wasn’t taught in school was that Rome’s external affairs were stressed mainly by its immigration policy. The poor and uneducated people of the northern tribes envied the relative prosperity of the Empire and desired to become a part of it. For many years they simply slipped across the borders as “undocumented” workers seeking a better life.

Only when their numbers were perceived as a burden were they forcefully excluded by harsh laws, militarized border patrols and high fences. In time their growing resentment with such treatment gathered strength and exploded in the bloody barbarian invasions and the sacking of Rome.

One can only hope that history doesn’t repeat itself, at least in this respect.

Board not bored

In response to Mr. Steve Kaplan’s letter on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008:

Thank you, Mr. Kaplan, for providing me this opportunity to thank the Hood River County School Board’s decision regarding the make-up of snow days.

I thought the idea was very clever by eliminating the unknown at the end of the school year when parents are contemplating family plans for summer. In addition the ECM days have been on the calendar since it was approved well before the 2007-08 school year began, allowing ample time for parents to contemplate alternate plans if needed.

Do you get this upset on an actual snow day where we don’t get a two-week notice? Hopefully you’ve taken advantage of the Hood River County School District’s Web site to review the minutes of the meetings held every other week by our volunteer board members. You will clearly notice that they are not bored.

Sign with care

Anne and Bernard Lerch: regarding your letter Dec. 22, 2007, “Questioned Ballots.” There are four election workers that process all of the ballots coming into Hood River County for each election.

We are your County Election Board and take that job very seriously. By law, we are of mixed affiliation, but that would make no difference in the responsibility we feel to the voters.

We are not regular county employees and do not depend on this for our income. When we receive your completed ballot, still in its green envelope, it is our responsibility to check the signature of each and every voter returning his or her ballot. We are under pressure of time accuracy.

We have on record your original voter registration card; your signature for the current election is compared with that card for every vote returned to the county. In a vote-by-mail system this is the only method to safeguard against signature fraud.

If your signature, your name, or your address has changed your ballot will be challenged.

If you were in a hurry, did not use your full signature, or changed writing style, when you signed your ballot, we may not be able to verify that signature as yours.

It is very important that voters keep their voter records current and sign as closely as possible to that on record.

The county will always accept new signature cards if you feel updates are needed. We are more than happy for you to make arrangements with the County staff to observe our process at any election, to see for yourself that there is not and could not be any personal reason for challenging a voter’s signature.

Ballot gratitude

I am glad that my signature was verified on my vote. It makes me feel like someone is actually doing their job!

My voting envelope was signed, but I signed it incorrectly. Someone actually noticed it was signed incorrectly — gee. Someone was doing their job! I was notified promptly — all I had to do was go to the courthouse and re-sign a ballot.

I think it is silly to believe this is some type of political plot to undermine the voting process. It’s just employees doing the job they were paid to do — verifying the votes so your vote counts!

I also have been voting for decades; I have voted Republican, Democratic and Independent.