A18 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.MONDAY, AUGUST 26 , 2019
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[email protected]LOCAL OPINIONS
Join the debate at washingtonpost.com/local-opinionsS
EN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.) released a cli-
mate plan last week. In his characteristic style,
he excited a class of left-wing ideologues — and
elicited eye rolls from everyone else.
The proposal calls for $16.3 trillion in new spend-
ing over a decade to eliminate the use of fossil fuels in
electricity production and transportation by 2030 —
nearly 10 times the amount former vice president and
fellow Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden
has proposed spending. By 2050, the country would
no longer produce net greenhouse gas emissions. At
least this latter goal is right. So much else in the plan is
wrongheaded.
Mr. Sanders would spend more than $2 trillion to
build new wind, solar and geothermal electricity-
production infrastructure through government-run
utilities. He would spend another $2 trillion buying
people electric cars. Though he proposes totally
electrifying car and truck transportation, he also
wants to spend $607 billion linking U.S. cities with
high-speed rail, which, under his plan, would repre-
sent a major cost for meager carbon benefits.
Mr. Sanders insists that his plan would be paid for
through new taxes levied against fossil-fuel compa-nies, cuts in military spending and new income tax
revenue from the jobs he claims his plan would
create. The senator promises 20 million “good-
paying, unionized jobs.” Only about 6.1 million people
are unemployed in the United States. Though some
currently employed Americans could try to trade up
to the cushy gigs envisioned by Mr. Sanders, many of
them would not have the skills required to weatherize
homes or install solar panels.
Mr. Sanders also promises to make his plan
unnecessarily expensive by ruling out a long-
established source of carbon-free electricity: nuclear
power. Not only would he halt the building of new
plants, but he also would deny re-licensing to the
existing ones that now provide about 20 percent of
the nation’s electricity.
As with practically every grandiose program
Mr. Sanders proposes, we are left wondering what the
democratic socialist would actually do as president.
Nothing resembling his climate plan could pass
Congress, even with a strong Democratic majority.
Mr. Sanders typically retorts that he will lead a
political revolution. But he will not change the fact
that the nation is ideologically pluralistic.On climate policy, the key is to get the most bang for
the nation’s buck. The task is so large that direct
government spending on projects such as power
plants is a recipe for unconscionable waste. Mr. Sand-
ers’s promise to divert national wealth into proven
boondoggles such as high-speed rail is another red
flag.
No central planner can know exactly how and
where to invest for an efficient and effective energy
transition. That is why economists continue to recom-
mend that the government take a simple, two-pronged
approach: invest in scientific research and prime the
market to accept new, clean technologies with a
substantial and steadily rising carbon tax. People and
businesses would find the most effective ways to avoid
the increasingly high, tax-inflated costs of using dirty
fuels. Maybe that would mean building huge new solar
farms throughout the country. Maybe it would mean
massive energy efficiency gains driven by home retro-
fits or new appliances. Maybe it would mean continu-
ing to accept some role for nuclear power.
We do not know, precisely, what the most efficient
path looks like. We are also certain that Mr. Sanders
does not.A plan that goes nowhere
Mr. Sanders’s climate-change proposal is grandiose. But it’s also mostly wrongheaded.
On Aug. 16, my wife and I drove to Raleigh, N.C., to
visit our daughter, son-in-law and three grandchil-
dren. My daughter’s house is exactly 303 miles from
our home in Fulton. If we drove at an average speed of
60 mph, it should take us five hours
and three minutes to get to Raleigh.
This time, it took us nine hours and
20 minutes, all because of the
stretch of Interstate 95 from the
District to Richmond.
Virginia has been working on this stretch of I-95 for
more than a decade, and the state is no closer to
finishing the job. What are the major problems?
Mismanagement? Incompetence? Lack of financial
resources? What priority does this stretch of I-95 have?When I cross the American Legion Bridge and enter
Northern Virginia, I just shudder. Visiting Tysons for a
shopping trip is not on my agenda. It’s a road race for
the Mixing Bowl. If you drive at 60, you will be run
over. Whoever designed the Mixing
Bowl should be ashamed. Lafayette
is turning over in his grave.
In the middle of the worse con-
gestion on our recent trip, it took
one hour to go 19 miles. Virginia
should be really proud. Since we will not give up
seeing our daughter and her family, I’d like to know
when to expect improvement in the D.C.-to-Rich-
mond stretch.
Patrick Tunison, FultonWhat’s the delay on I-95 construction?
ABCDE
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
M
ONDAY MARKS the start of a new aca-
demic year for the District’s public
schools. Sadly, one school that won’t be
opening its doors to students is the Apple-
Tree Early Learning Public Charter. Thanks largely
to the indifference of D.C. government, the school is
without a facility for its highly acclaimed preschool
program. That means 108 children, mainly African
American and from economically disadvantaged
families, won’t be able to benefit from a program
that focuses on closing the achievement gap before
kindergarten.
We wrote previously about the plight of the
school: how it operated for the past five years inportable classrooms at a former tennis court next to
Jefferson Middle School in Southwest as part of a
temporary arrangement while it looked for a perma-
nent home. How it’s difficult for charters to find
space in the city’s high-priced real estate market.
How it finally found new space that won’t be ready
until next year. And how the city nonetheless said it
couldn’t stay.
We had hoped that Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) or
Deputy Mayor for Education Paul Kihn or Schools
Chancellor Lewis D. Ferebee — or any of the other
officials who profess a commitment to early-
childhood learning and closing the achievement gap
— would have come to the rescue. Surely, we thought,the D.C. government, with all its resources, would be
able to help. That didn’t happen, and the school was
forced to vacate the property at the end of July.
The issue has become much more than a dispute
about a small lease. Charter school advocates, as
The Post’s Perry Stein reported, saw the matter as yet
another sign of growing tensions between D.C. offi-
cials and charter schools — and emblematic of the
ideological debate over charters being waged na-
tionally. What gets lost in that political debate, and
what has gotten lost as the city doubles down on all
the reasons it wasn’t able to help AppleTree, is that
on Monday, there will be 108 children in this city
who need a good start in school but won’t get it.108 District children without their school
As the debate over charters rages in D.C., the children are the ones not thought about.
O
CCUPATIONAL AND physical therapists. Re-
ligious workers. Plant operators. Railway per-
sonnel. Construction workers. Maintenance
and repair workers. Firefighters. Social work-
ers. Nurses. Funeral workers. Truckers. That’s only a
brief sampling of the jobs in the United States for
which there are severe shortages of available employ-
ees, and way more openings than applicants.
A recent article in The Post detailed the heart-
breaking effects of a drastic deficit in just one employ-
ment category — home health aides — in just one
state, Maine, which has the nation’s second-highest
percentage of people over age 65. They and their
relatives who cannot afford private home health aides
(who charge roughly $50 an hour) are suffering.
Nursing homes, similarly, are closing for want of
workers. Even attempts to lure employees by raising
wages have hit a brick wall; there simply aren’t
enough job applicants in the state nor, apparently,
enough people willing to move there.
Maine’s problems in that regard will soon be a
national epidemic. Within a decade or so, at least a
fifth of the population in roughly 28 states will be 65
or older. The effects of aging baby boomers will be
compounded by a national fertility rate that has fallen
to its lowest level in nearly five decades. That means
younger people will not be available to replenish the
ranks of older workers as they retire.
A rational immigration system, one that meets the
labor market’s demands for workers in an array of
skill categories and income levels, is the obvious
antidote to chronic and predictable labor deficits.
Unfortunately, the Trump administration, heedless of
the pleas of employers, has implemented and pro-
posed measures whose effect will deepen existing and
future shortages. And it has done so even as the
unemployment rate, now 3.7 percent, continues to
bump along at near-historic lows.
A policy announced by the administration this
month would impede large numbers of low-income
legal immigrants from remaining in the United
States, or coming in the first place, if they are judged
likely to use public benefits to which they are entitled,
including noncash ones such as housing subsidies
and health care. The impact would be a dramaticreduction in newcomers, and in existing immigrants
eligible to become legal permanent residents, or
green-card holders, the final step before full citizen-
ship. By targeting low-income and low-skilled
migrants, the rule would perpetuate severe worker
shortages in a variety of sectors.
Earlier this year, the administration unveiled a
blueprint for legal immigration that, in a reversal,
maintained overall levels of immigrants. That recog-
nized that slashing immigration is a recipe for eco-
nomic decline. However, the Trump plan, by favoring
educated, skilled English speakers with strong earn-
ings prospects over relatives of current residents,ignored the reality that retail, landscaping, food
processing and dozens of other industries rely on
relatively low-skilled labor — and are desperate for
workers.
President Trump has leveraged nativist policies to
his political advantage. He has been indifferent to
their corrosive long-term economic impact. Far from
making America great again, the president’s policies
are likely to transform the United States into a second
Japan, where an aging population and barriers to
immigration have sapped the dynamism and pros-
pects of what was once one of the world’s most
dynamic economies.The answer to
worker shortages
Unfortunately, the administration’s
proposals would deepen deficits.ABCDE
FREDERICK J. RYAN JR., Publisher and Chief Executive Officer
News pages: Editorial and opinion pages:
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Executive Editor Editorial Page Editor
CAMERON BARR JACKSON DIEHL
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Managing Editor Deputy Editorial Page Editor
TRACY GRANT JO-ANN ARMAO
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SCOTT VANCE
Deputy Managing Editor
BARBARA VOBEJDA
Deputy Managing Editor
Vice Presidents:
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L. WAYNE CONNELL..........................................................................Human Resources
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The Washington Post
1301 K St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071 (202) 334-The Aug. 21 news article “Parkland students
release far-reaching gun-control plan” reported on
a sweeping gun-control proposal from student
activists from Parkland, Fla. I wish them success in
creating a voting surge by young people. Already,
in the short time since El Paso and Dayton, Ohio,
hopes for action are leaking away, even in the area
of background checks. To no one’s surprise,
President Trump is reneging under the “pressure”
of one phone call from the National Rifle Associa-
tion, and the Republican response is the usual
stony silence.
But young people are not the only ones who need
to be reached. I am 90 years old and am living in a
retirement community. I recently wrote and circu-
lated among friends a gun-control proposal,
enthusiastically endorsed, that was identical to
that of the Parkland kids. Guns should be licensed,
and there should be a mandatory federal buyback
of assault weapons. Until we have fewer guns,
nothing real will be accomplished. Both ends of the
age spectrum know this is true, and so does the
middle.
Jody Primoff, CatonsvilleA sensible plan for guns
The Aug. 21 Sports article “Heading off a con-
cussion crisis,” about Brittni Souder and her battle
with the effects of concussions, was informative
and important. However, looking for some way to
avoid this epidemic of head trauma misses an
obvious solution: Do not head the ball. Alternatives,
safer and often more effective, would include
taking a high kick off the torso, trapping it
underfoot or reducing the velocity by allowing the
ball to hit the ground before trying to control or
redirect it.
Most attempts at heading the ball off a high kick
do not achieve the intended result. Admittedly
there are many situations where using the head is
the ideal action. A strategic header in front of the
goal, the redirection of a weak pass or a bump off a
knee to a header do not present the same forceful
impact as heading a goal kick or a skied shot that
comes down full speed and is played off the head.
It seems like common sense to change tactics.
Bert Walker, ColumbiaWatch your head
The Aug. 21 front-page article “Democrats back
away from Medicare-for-all” neglected to mention a
key point: The distinction between “Medicare-
for-all” (a single-payer system) and our current
“multi-payer” insurance system is more than mere
semantics. Rather, a single-payer system not only
pays the bills but also oversees all health-care
spending to contain costs and ensure that every
citizen receives services without worries of the
ability to pay premiums, deductibles, co-pays and
other exorbitant out-of-pocket expenses.
Our multi-payer insurance system is a free for all
in which special interests — the insurance industry
and the pharmaceutical industry, for example — are
given free rein to skim off huge profits, reducing the
amount left to pay for actual health care for the rest
of us. In this respect, the United States is unique
among the community of industrialized nations
that place the importance of health care for citizens
above the interests of organized, wealthy groups
and that designate health care a right, not a
privilege.
The provision of health care in the United States
must — at long last — become equitable and just.
Members of Congress should understand that to do
otherwise, in the 21st century, is an embarrassment
for our nation and an insult to the American
people.
Nancy J. Herin, Silver SpringHealth care shouldn’t be a privilege
The Aug. 22 Thursday Opinion essay by Lisa
Monaco and Ken Wainstein, “Do your duty, Ameri-
ca,” hit a significant issue that seems to have been
lost in the bipartisan bickering to which the republic
had been subjected on a sadly increasing basis. Duty
is indeed a value that all Americans need to be
mindful of on a daily basis. I am not sure that the
United States is doing its duty. Just as many
schoolchildren across this land recite the Pledge of
Allegiance to the flag each school day, all of us need a
reminder that as citizens, we have an existential duty
to serve America.
Harry R. Marshall Jr., Chevy ChaseAn existential duty to serve America
George F. Will’s Aug. 22 op-ed, “A searing remind-
er of what’s not unthinkable,” ended with this
question: “Do you wonder how the Nazis managed to
find people willing to work as concentration-camp
personnel?”
My question is: In addition to Germany’s camps of
75 years ago, could he also have meant the camps in
the United States today?
Yes, history does repeat itself if its lessons are not
learned.
Jeanine Hull, WashingtonHistory does repeat itself
Regarding Ruth DeFries and Doug Morton’s
Aug. 23 op-ed, “The Amazon is on fire. But Brazil’s
history offers lessons.”:
Catastrophic wildfires are raging in the Amazon.
Does anybody care? What is the world’s reaction to
the devastating fires consuming the Amazon and
spewing black smoke over Sao Paolo that turns day
into night?
When Notre Dame burned, the whole world took
notice. Little children cried. Donations of millions
flowed in from wealthy donors. Working people
pledged their savings to rebuild their cherished
landmark.
The Amazon is an unrivaled gold mine of biodi-
versity. It has been called the lungs of the world for
its capacity to absorb greenhouse gases. It is at a
tipping point. Clear cutting causes loss of moisture
that leads to the fires we are seeing. If more forest is
lost to clear cutting and fires, the process will feed on
itself and the forest will be lost.
The fires consuming the Amazon are a far greater
tragedy than the horrific fire at Notre Dame. Where
is the international outcry to save this treasure?
Christen Kerr, McLeanA greater tragedy than Notre Dame
EDITORIALSTOM TOLESIt’s a road race.