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Monday, Dec. 28, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Some of the brightest students from around Southern Nevada attended the Sun Youth Forum. Facts, figures and quotations were commonly voiced in my group, and extensive knowledge of geography and geo-political history was constantly echoed.
Our moderator began our discussion by asking if the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will ever come to an end. Going around the room, one student said that President Barack Obama has announced a 2011 deadline for the withdrawal of troops in Iraq. In response, a student claimed Obama cannot put a deadline on the war in Iraq that has continued with unpredictable changes, and that Iraq lacks a solid and legitimate government.
As we began to talk about the war in Afghanistan, a student who has dual citizenship between the United States and Pakistan said the U.S. government must invest in education. From living in Pakistan and visiting Afghanistan, she contended that the population is heavily illiterate and uneducated, allowing for Islamic fundamentalism and regression.
Many other students at the Sun Youth Forum agreed that a troop increase will not solve the root of conflict in Afghanistan and acknowledged that the U.S. must also heavily invest in the Afghan economy and infrastructure.
After 30 minutes of discussion on this issue, a student asserted that whatever our perspective is on the war, it will not affect Obama’s policy regarding the Middle East. He continued to state that by looking at poll results, the majority of Americans favor withdrawal from Afghanistan, but Obama has discounted this perspective.
We moved on to address the question: If standardized health care is successful in other industrialized democratic countries, why don’t we have it in the United States? The most prominent answer was that health insurance lobbyists have in the past blocked legislation from the Truman period to the Clinton presidency and have been trying to block legislation more recently.
Yet no student identified the American people as responsible for not taking action in the past 50 years, nor point to the fact that the American people’s actions and opinions are what actually move Congress to act.
A recent CBS poll showed that 49 percent of Americans think the U.S. government should cover all medical expenses, while in 1979 only 28 percent of Americans agreed with this position. Thirty years ago there was little debate over this issue and there was not a strong movement from the American people. In the present day there is popular support for health insurance reform, suggesting that the American people are responsible for the prospect of health insurance reform.
It is an undeniable fact of history that only when the people act on their wishes and assemble to push the government does the government respond to the governed. The women’s suffrage movement, the civil rights movement and the anti-Vietnam War movement illustrate this truth.
Through these two topics, and many others, students generally placed the responsibility of America’s problems in the hands of those with money or position.
I walked away from the Sun Youth Forum not with new political knowledge but rather the impression that if these brilliant students do not see that their actions have an affect on their government, then any discussion of politics is meaningless. I may be part of one of the smartest generations of Americans, but this nation will not be changed by our insights unless we take action and acknowledge that we have an effect on our world.
The bold truth is that our elected officials don't care what we think, and don't really listen.
Unless, of course there are hundreds of you standing in front of them. Then they listen, but their vote still goes the way of the contributions.
Attend a meeting of the Interim Finance Committee, or the Board of Prison Commissioners sometime, and tell me they are listening?
The board of Prison Commissioners votes on items before the public even has a chance to comment. So much for "we can make a difference".
The only way we can make a difference is to vote them out. But who will fill their seat? Another career politician. Why? Because people don't pay enough attention to who they vote for.
If you haven't done your research into your candidates, don't vote. We MUST stop voting for people who have the most signs on the side of the road (political contributions buy those, you know), and start voting for citizens who are looking to serve their state or country.
That's how we effect change.
This appeared in the Sparks Tribune on Sunday.
Dear Editor,
I'm writing this letter in an effort to bring to light the injustice that is being perpetrated by our public officials, four of whom are now up for re-election: Justices James Hardesty and Ron Parraguirre, Attorney General Masto and our governor, Jim Gibbons.
In May, Judge Brent Adams ordered Washoe County District Attorney, Dick Gammick to turn over the entire file in Mr. Nolan Klein's case. On June 10, newly discovered evidence was found. On June 24, I appeared before the Nevada Pardons Board to bring it to their attention the acts within in the Washoe County District Attorney's Office. I presented to the Pardons Board dozens of documents, including the hand-written notes, that a former assistant district attorney made on our motion for discovery that he was not going to turn over any of the materiality or exculpatory evidence despite a 1988 court order to do so. The Pardons Board knew that this attorney violated Brady v. Maryland by withholding all of the materiality and exculpatory evidence that showed another person was responsible for the crime in which my innocent brother, Nolan Klein, was convicted of 21 years ago.
On Nov. 19, the Pardons Board knew that the assistant district attorney had defied a court order to turn over all of the evidence in the case. They also knew that the newly discovered evidence that was found in the file that would not only clear Mr. Klein of the crime but newly discovered evidence was found that supports Mr. Klein's claims in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that our AG Masto is trying to get dismissed because of Mr. Klein's recent death.
One would think that they would have placed Mr. Klein on the November's Agenda for an exoneration, but, no they would rather cover up the acts of the Washoe County District Attorney's Office for the last 21 years. How many more innocent people will die in prison because they want to condone the bad acts of officials under the color of law? Could your loved one be next? We need transparency in government not more cover-ups. We, the voters, need to be heard. We must send a message that we are not going to condone their actions and vote them out of office. For those of you who were considering running for office, here is your opportunity to make a difference.
Tonja Brown
Carson City