The Washington Post - USA (2021-11-23)

A18 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23 , 2021

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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RESIDENT BIDEN announced Monday that he will renominate Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell to lead the central bank for a second four-year term. It is the right move. Mr. Powell, a Republican appoin- tee, has been a steady, thoughtful leader through challenging times. His reap- pointment is in keeping with precedent and signals that Mr. Biden respects the independence of the Federal Reserve. That is key today as rising inflation provokes understandable anxiety. The nomination came later than it should have as a group of progressive lawmakers c ampaigned against Mr. Pow- ell. Their indictment of him was as unfair as it was unwise. For his renomination, Mr. Powell may have Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and other more sensible Democrats to thank. Still, he might yet face a bumpy road as the Senate consid- ers whether to confirm him for a second term. Though many key Democrats re- acted positively to Mr. Biden’s announce- ment — including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), who does not get a vote on Mr. Powell’s confirmation, and Sen. Jon Tester (Mont.), who does — Sen. Eliza- beth Warren (Mass.) vowed to oppose

him, meaning he will need Republican support to clear the Senate. Ms. Warren has called Mr. Powell “a dangerous man” because his views on bank regulation do not align with hers. Her overheated criticism prompted former congressman Barney Frank ( D-Mass.) and former senator Christo- pher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), authors of the landmark banking regulation bill the Fed is implementing, to defend Mr. Powell’s performance. Mr. Biden on Monday fur- ther deflated these concerns by tapping Fed governor Lael Brainard, the progres- sives’ preferred alternative, to be vice chair — that is, the person directly responsible for overseeing banks. Anti-Powell activists also complained that the Fed chair failed to act on climate change. This is, at best, a tangential issue for the Fed; the fight against global warming will be won or lost in Congress, which sets top-line spending and regula- tory policy, not at the central bank. The Fed’s most important task is promoting economic stability and employment, which will enable the nation to reform the energy system and address other pressing needs. Mr. Powell’s most important job, at

least in the near term, will be managing rising inflation. As the pandemic forced an economic shutdown, the Fed chief rightly oversaw a reorientation of central bank policy toward emphasizing job growth, enabling a faster recovery than many economists had predicted. But prices have started rising quickly, in large part because of pandemic-related supply bottlenecks. If the Fed ignores inflation, expectations might get out of hand, leading to an inflationary spiral. On the other hand, if it acts too aggressively, the Fed could crush economic growth. Adding to the challenge are the in- creasing political stakes. Republicans blame rising prices on Mr. Biden; Mr. Biden might in turn blame big corpo- rations, according to recent news re- ports. These simplistic explanations ob- scure the real culprits. Mr. Powell must tune out the rising political pressures. In situations such as these, Fed independence is indispensable. Mr. Powell deserved renomination, and it was important for Mr. Biden to underscore that picking a Fed chair should not be a partisan decision. Thankfully, he resisted the calls from within his party to erode that norm.

Respecting an independent Fed

The president’s decision to renominate Mr. Powell was the right one.

O

CEAN CITY, Md., is a beach community of roughly 7, residents whose summer population swells with sun-and-surf seekers. Town officials say it welcomes nearly 8 million visitors every year, but here’s the thing: A pair of incidents last summer suggest it doesn’t really welcome all of them, particularly Black teenagers who might be caught vaping on the boardwalk. That’s a civil violation, of course, pun- ishable by a fine, not a criminal offense. Still, in a town where all but a handful of the year-round population is White; where just three of the 116 full-time sworn police officers are Black; where African Americans were long denied access to the beach; and where a White city councilman recently posted a bla- tantly racist comment on Facebook, somehow Black kids were the ones who ended up Tasered and thrashed by the Ocean City police, then arrested, after they were encountered vaping on the boardwalk last summer. The videos of separate incidents in June are deeply disturbing. One portrays White police officers whose hair-trigger

deployment of a Taser subdues a Black teen who seems to pose absolutely no threat; in fact, he appears submissive. In another, a Black teen encountered while vaping struggles on the ground as he is violently kneed in the ribs by a White police officer — five times. Remember: The original encounter in these incidents involves vaping, which the Ocean City council banned, along with smoking, on the boardwalk effective in 2015. At the time that ordinance was enact- ed, then-city manager David Recor said police would by no means “haul people off to jail for smoking” on the boardwalk, and that officials expected “visitors to self-police themselves.” The Ocean City police seem not to have gotten the memo. What’s more, their decidedly heavy hand has been enabled and all but ap- plauded by various local elected officials. Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan absolved the police of any wrongdoing just days after the incidents, telling The Post that the officers “haven’t done anything wrong.” State Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R-Worcester), whose district includes Ocean City, said she had seen police video

of one of the incidents, in which four teens were arrested, and attributed their arrests to their own “follow-up actions” after being confronted by police. Ms. Carozza had nothing to say about Officer Daniel Jacobs, who, in a video posted online, is shown five times violently kneeing Brian Anderson, 19, on the ground as officers try to handcuff him. The video the senator says she watched has not been released by the police. Nor have the police been forth- coming about other aspects of last summer’s incidents. Despite a new state law that in many cases requires law enforce- ment agencies to release records of inter- nal investigations into alleged police brutality, the Ocean City force refused to reveal documents requested by The Post, insisting there was no actual investiga- tion — just a routine review that found no cause for disciplinary action. That kind of stonewalling amounts to a “nothing-to-see-here, just-move-along” act of official arrogance. The question now is how the Ocean City police force will handle such incidents in the future. Judging from its conduct to date, the department is hostile to reform.

A hair-trigger hand in Ocean City

A pair of incidents suggest the Maryland beach town doesn’t really welcome all.

results — a runoff between candidates of the far right and far left — show that outright dictatorship is not the only threat democracy faces in the hemi- sphere. Since the restoration of democracy in 1989, after 16 years of military rule, Chile has stood out in the region as a bastion of economic progress and moderate politics. Yet a national uprising in October 2019 showed that much of the public had grown impatient with Chile’s continuing economic inequalities and that the country of 19 million was susceptible to the same tensions — including rising crime and the need to incorporate a wave of migrants fleeing from Venezuela’s crisis — that have destabilized other societies in South America. On Dec. 19, Chileans

will choose between José Antonio Kast, a right-wing populist often compared to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who finished first Sunday with 28 percent by running on an anti-crime, anti- m igration program, and 35-year-old leftist Gabriel Boric, a leader of the 2019 protests, who got 26 percent at the head of a coalition that includes Chile’s small Communist Party. As in nearby Peru, where a presidential election’s first round produced simi- lar divisions earlier this year, Chile’s centrist parties, and their voters, now hold the balance of power in the runoff. Their influence on the eventual winner might help determine the future course of democracy in Chile and, by extension, Latin America as a whole.

E

LECTIONS ALONE do not a democracy make, as the results of Venezuela’s less-than-free ballot- ing on Sunday show. The ruling Socialist party of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro controls the media and major institutions such as the National Electoral Council, and holds more than 200 political prisoners; many opposition leaders have fled the country. So Miguel Díaz-Canel, the president of Venezuela’s close ally — Cuba — was only being realistic when he tweeted congratula- tions for Mr. Maduro’s party’s “convinc- ing” victory before the polls had even closed. The Socialists won all but three of 23 state governor offices as well as most of 3,000 local government positions. There were European Union observ- ers present; it’s unlikely that their re- port, due Tuesday, will change the official U.S. position, which is to recognize opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the country’s legitimate president. Still, those opposition politicians who decid- ed to participate were justified in doing so, even at the risk of legitimizing the exercise. The tiny foothold they gained may — as they hope — re-energize a demoralized people, the vast majority of whom are suffering extreme poverty, ahead of scheduled 2024 presidential elections. Certainly the U.S. strategy of recognizing Mr. Guaidó and tightening sanctions on Mr. Maduro’s regime has not worked so far. Nevertheless, there should be no surrender of that leverage unless Venezuela makes irreversible democratic reform. Venezuela’s was this month’s second pseudo-democratic exercise in Latin America, the first being Daniel Ortega’s repression-marred reelection in N icaragua. Mr. Ortega celebrated by vowing to withdraw from the Organiza- tion of American States, a two-year process that, if completed, would leave his regime, Mr. Maduro’s and Cuba outside the pan-American system. In Chile, meanwhile, there was another election on Sunday. This one was indeed free and fair, but the polarized

Challenges to democracy in Latin America

The elections in Venezuela and Nicaragua cannot be called free and fair.

Regarding the Nov. 18 Metro article “ODU professor on leave after research draws fire”: The “cancellation” of Old Dominion University professor Allyn Walker fol- lowed the usual pattern. A student discov- ered that Professor Walker had written a book, to which the student took offense. She launched a petition to have the professor fired. In less than a week, the petition had more than 5,000 online signatures. On-campus protests erupted, and “out- rage spread on social media.” ODU’s president, Brian O. Hemphill, could have defended the professor, whose book was published by a well-respected university press. Its thesis has support among other social scientists. The phrase “minor-attracted,” to which the student strongly objected, is merely a translation of the Greek “pedophilia.” Mr. Hemphill could have committed to the societal value of freedom of speech and academic freedom and affirmed his confidence that ODU students had the skills to critically assess the professor’s ideas. Instead, he placed the professor on administrative leave. Why are we spending taxpayer money to graduate students in sociology and criminal justice who are afraid to hear new ideas on sex and crime, and why are we employing administrators who lack the courage to confront those who would restrict the robust exchange of ideas for which universities were established? John J. Duffy, Bethesda

In the Nov. 18 Metro article “ODU professor on leave after research draws fire,” Old Dominion University President Brian O. Hemphill equated pedophilia with sexual offending. These are not equivalent. People with a sexual attraction to children often recognize the harm of child sexual abuse and commit to an offense-free life. Understanding and supporting these people with effective interventions are criti- cal to a comprehensive approach to ad- dressing abuse. Many researchers, including myself and Allyn Walker, have dedicated our careers to preventing child sexual abuse. Supporting research on all aspects of child sexual abuse — and the investigators who engage in this research — is essential if we are to reduce rates of abuse in this country. Child sexual abuse is preventable, not inevitable. Elizabeth Letourneau, Baltimore The writer is director o f the Moore Center for t he P revention of Child S exual Abuse.

Overreach at Old Dominion

I doubt very much that Karen Attiah would want libraries to stock works such as Richard Cohen’s “Coming Out Straight: Understanding and Healing Homosexuality,” Kenneth Zucker and Su- san Bradley’s “Gender Identity Disorder and Psychosexual Problems in Children and Adolescents,” Jeffrey Satinover’s “Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth,” and Robert Reilly’s “Making Gay Okay: How Rationalizing Homosexual Behavior Is Changing Everything.” Nei- ther, sad to say, would the current heads of the American Library Associa- tion. Contrary to what Ms. Attiah explic- itly said about “identities” in her Nov. 18 op-ed, “A battle for the right to read,” feel- ing isn’t being. Public libraries should have standards. But the public should continually be discussing what those standards will be and why. If public libraries are just going to be leftist indoctrination centers, they should be fully privatized and de- prived of the taxpayer dime. Sharon Kass, Washington

Libraries need standards

In his Nov. 17 op-ed, “Unintended con- flict with China is on Biden’s mind,” David Ignatius opined that future discussions between President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping regarding strategic stability could reduce the risk of a crisis over Taiwan. The sobering reality that the Biden administration and both parties in Congress must come to terms with is that the United States is now deep into cold war 2.0, 21st-century version, with both Russia and China. Regardless of the “discussions” our president has with Mr. Xi or Russian President Vladimir Putin, the ball is in their court, not ours, to de-escalate. They are the ones conducting the harassment in international waters and international airspace aimed at restricting our freedom of access to the Baltic Sea, Black Sea and South China Sea. Neither Mr. Putin nor Mr. Xi has the slightest interest in tamp- ing down their aggression, and Mr. Xi has the most ambitious plan for worldwide political, economic and military domi- nance undertaken by any nation in mod- ern history. The most important thing we can do for our own national security and future pros- perity is to come together as one nation, stop the hate and rediscover the meaning of moral character and self-respect. Until then, our disunity and political paralysis will continue to strengthen the influence of leaders who wish to do us harm. Reg Mitchell, Bethesda

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charge.” This should be our main focus: Initiate vigorous negotiations among the nine nuclear-armed nations to concur- rently eliminate their nuclear arsenals under extensive, intrusive, enforce- able continual inspection and verification protocols required to assure one another and the world. This will require strenuous diplomatic efforts by the Biden administration, meaningful support from Con- gress and strong support for such a bold effort from the public. If we don’t eliminate these weapons, it is only a matter of time until they are used. We have been astonishingly lucky to date. A hope for continued good luck is not a reasonable security policy. Peter Metz, N eedham, Mass. The w riter is a member of the Massachusetts Peace Action Nuclear Disarmament working group. Ira Helfand, Leeds, Mass. The writer is past president of International Physicians for t he Prevention of Nuclear War.

Former senator Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and former energy secretary Ernest J. Moniz were right to raise the alarm about the growing risk of nuclear calamity in their Nov. 19 op-ed, “We must prevent the acci- dental launch of nuclear weapons,” but we respectfully dissent from their conclu- sion. Rather than concentrating on better securing the nine nations’ nuclear arsenals from unintentional use, we should be concentrating our efforts on eliminating those arsenals and ensuring that nuclear weapons are never again built. This can be done, and now is the time to do it: The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ nuclear doomsday clock again stands at 100 sec- onds to midnight — closer than it was at the height of the Cold War. When he was vice president, Joe Biden declared, “If we want a world with- out nuclear weapons, the United States must take the initiative to lead us there.” And, he added, “as the only nation to have used nuclear weapons, we bear a great moral responsibility to lead the

No nuclear weapons

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