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Wednesday, October 24, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
O
P
I
N I
O
N
The right person
for the job
By Jeff Mackey
Guest Columnist
Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer’s name, address and phone number. Let-
ters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor.
The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be
no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday.
To the Editor:
The October 10 Nugget featured an arti-
cle entitled, “Fire crews quell fast-moving
blaze.” A fire in the area of Sno Cap Lane and
Vista Ridge Drive came dangerously close
to destroying many homes. However, it was
stopped by, “quick and heavy response enabled
fire crews.”
What’s the lesson? Quick responses from
firefighters and putting the fires out imme-
diately saves lives, property and minimizes
the impact of smoke. It’s a lesson we should
be applying throughout the Sisters-Bend-
Redmond area!
Unfortunately, federal forest policy has
grimaced at the practice of putting out fires
quickly in favor of a wait-and-see approach
that allows fires to rage before action is taken
by firefighters. Perimeter containment only
magnifies the effects of smoke and results in
the burning of millions of acres of forest.
The impacts are unhealthy smoke, destruc-
tion of forest and property, loss of busi-
ness and spiraling costs to fight the fires
and repair infrastructure. Most costs are
borne by local communities, not the fed-
eral government. According to a Headwater
Economics’ Research Report entitled, “The
Full Community Cost of Wildfire,” nearly half
of all costs are paid for by the local community
in long- and short-term impacts. The national
cost in 1990 was $1 billion and increased to $4
billion in years 2000-2018. The forest service
spends 67 percent of their budget on fire sup-
pression, which accounts for only 12 percent of
the total cost of fires.
According to the Center for Disease
Control, one in three households are at risk
See LETTERS on page 25
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Donald J. Trump is the
right person for the job.
When I look back to the
Reagan years when Chrysler
was failing, a businessman
named Lee Iacocca worked
his genius and turned it
around. He was a blunt-
spoken, aggressive, and
results-oriented individual
with a wealth of experience.
Reagan and numerous politi-
cal leaders plus other senior
business leaders sought his
counsel on budget deficits,
military spending, industrial
policy, unemployment, job
training, and foreign trade.
I can even remember bum-
per stickers touting “Lee
Iacocca for President.”
When you think about
it, America is like one huge
complex corporation, with
the President as the CEO of
USA, Inc.
Obama, a political new-
bie, spiritually guided for
20 years by “GD America”
Reverend Wright, edu-
cated in the ways of neo-
Marxist Saul Alinsky and
Chicago politics, launched
his campaign in the home
of non-repentant terrorist
Bill Ayers. America’s new
CEO’s resume highlight was
as a community organizer.
If you need a heart sur-
geon you don’t hire a biology
student whose only experi-
ence was dissecting a frog.
CEOs are ultimately judged
on their accomplishments.
Obama’s included the Fast
and Furious scandal, the IRS
used as tool to silence oppo-
sition, Benghazi cover-up,
Hillary email scandal cover-
up; he traded terrorists for
an Army deserter, a horrible
Iran deal with attempted
secret transfer of millions in
cash, and Syrian “red line”
failure, among many others.
According to the commerce
department, during the eight
years of Barack Obama’s
presidency, the average
annual real GDP growth was
1.5 percent — the weakest
economic performance of
any post WWII president,
and the fourth worst ever.
And after eight years, much
to the horror of the elite lib-
eral press, stockholders (i.e.
voters) demanded a change.
In spite of the 24-7 hate-
ful FAKE news, complete
resistance by the Democrats
under Maxine Waters,
Nancy Pelosi, various
Republicans, and leftover
corrupt appointees from the
Obama administration at
the highest levels of the FBI
and Justice Department, our
new blunt-speaking, aggres-
sive, and results-oriented
CEO with a wealth of busi-
ness experience has accom-
plished more in two short
years for Americans than
the previous two presidents:
Lowest unemployment rate
since 2000; consumer con-
fidence at a 17-year high;
historic tax cuts, businesses
moving back to America,
unprecedented global cam-
paign to achieve the peace-
ful denuclearization of
the Korean peninsula; has
worked with international
allies to decimate ISIS;
leadership that has contrib-
uted to the return of over 17
Americans held overseas;
rolled back unnecessary job-
killing regulations beyond
expectations; followed
through on his promise to
move the U.S. Embassy in
Israel to Jerusalem; top cor-
porate tax rate was lowered
from 35 percent to 21 per-
cent so American businesses
could be more competitive
on world stage; signed legis-
lation to bring more account-
ability to the Department
of Veterans Affairs and
provide our veterans with
more choice in the care
they receive; and has con-
firmed the most circuit court
judges of any President in
their first year; and secured
Justice Neil Gorsuch’s and
Brett Kavanaugh’s confir-
mation to the United States
Supreme Court.
Promises made and met.
So the questions USA,
Inc. “stockholders” need
to ponder in the upcom-
ing midterms, with an open
and objective mind: Do you
want a continuation of win-
ning leadership and results
for USA, Inc., or do you
want a huge reversal back to
corrupt, divisive, and incom-
petent leadership for USA,
Inc.? Stockholders missed
a chance to select another
highly qualified business-
person, Mitt Romney, as
CEO for USA, Inc. after the
first four years of Obama.
This last time they got it
right and America is stron-
ger, America is respected,
American is wealthier,
America is safer, America
will be great again, and
the swamp will finally be
drained.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.