OPINION
4A
T HE
D AILY A STORIAN
Founded in 1873
STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2015
The revenue-neutral gas tax
By CHARLES
KRAUTHAMMER
Washington Post Writers Group
puts money in his pocket.
This is nuts. If you
simply set a higher price
W
petroleum.
I’ve got as much chance this time
The point is exclusively to
SAMANTHA MCLAREN, Circulation Manager
But I shall tilt my lance once
more.
The only time you can even think
of proposing a gas tax increase is
when oil prices are at rock bottom.
years ago, oil was selling
C
Clatsop County has a chance
for vigorous self-examination
the pump has fallen in the
last three months by more
its overall health with a potentially big payoff.
As a result, some in
Congress are talking about
WAY TO WELLVILLE
chosen to participate in the Way
Tuesday
5:30 to 7 p.m. Seaside High
School library, 11901 North
Holladay Drive:
Wednesday
5:30 to 7 p.m., Warrenton
High School library, 1700
S.E. Main Court.
their own, choosing fuel
the maw of a government
Charles
Krauthammer
ciency remains, but the extra money
to consume gasoline.
them not only promotes growth but
The
average
American
buys
about 12
gallons
of gas a
week.
being a regressive tax that
ing classes far more than
the rich.
As for oil, we remain
sumer. We burn more
output, almost twice as
much as the next nearest
sumption in two ways.
occurs every time gasoline prices
plunge. A high gas tax encourages
healthy living in communities
high. The beauty of the
The average American buys about
Which is a geopolitical coup.
miscreants.
pollutants, though relatively minor,
global warming skeptics, there’s
no reason not to welcome a benign
unique opportunity to maintain our
the perennial price spikes that follow
We’ve blown this chance at least
places in Michigan, California,
mer French Foreign Minister Jean
microscope. Each will create a Tillamook counties.
Bonnie Thompson,
communities’ overall health. The
chief
ufacture acres of unsellable cars
again.
France, the Crucible of Europe
As well as employment issues,
Clatsop County will focus on:
By ROSS DOUTHAT
New York Times News Service
T
• Access to primary health
vicious terrorist attack last
the crucial test case. It has
Even without the prospect
as geography, that has to
All are areas where Clatsop
region’s selection is a giant plus.
Ross
Douthat
recent years.
lack, here’s a chance to enhance
our community in a positive way. globe, France has seen its relative
prove recovery is possible
Continuing to live with them requires
sophisticated wildlife management
D
Unless,
of
support for the Islamic
rival forces, from Britain’s navies to
where on the Continent.
Not surprisingly, the response to
might of American popular culture.
than elsewhere in Western Europe,
ies have been thrown into relief by
politically.
ect will fall apart or be completely
Either way, France’s star may rise
ty, Marine Le Pen’s National Front,
whose electoral clout is now likely
haunting contemporary France: fears
espite famous successes like
back from the brink of extinction, the environment for eons before
humans were on the scene.
species as suffering something
the ripples from French
economic stagnation, of
become increasingly necessary as the Continent’s elite.
at least an extremely tough path
for any human activities in their
proximity.
only will alterations in the climate France isn’t actually
coming more important,
more central to the fate
example of a more hopeful
will inevitably create even more
No, the age of the
Muslims are
regarded
more
favorably in
France than
elsewhere
in Western
Europe.
sion, it’s more likely to
thing more pervasive
more likely to happen
nomic patterns there’s an important
their birth.
return. But politically, culturally, even
for people. Washington state with this will not only take technical intellectually, events in France over
again the place where strong forces
expertise on the part of biologists,
the fringe to the mainstream, it will
they want public comments but political sophistication on the more than at any point since before
about taking them off the state’s part of agencies.
California sea lions, recovery
is not only gratifying, but also
ones might soon be born.
or any other actor, it’s in France that
future is unwritten. If there is real
state waters. They were taken off
healthy population, sea lions
make for problematic neighbors.
to Northern California grew from Keeping them robustly healthy
belle France.
Where to write
• U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici
of human animosity will require a (D)
state.or.us
• State Rep. Deborah Boone
(D)
Oregon, at least for now.
Although many coastal people
nature confront the problems
we’re causing will be one of
a noteworthy milestone. Careful
lion restoration hints that we’re up
be a meaningful intervention to the task.
• Port of Astoria
• U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D):
senate.gov
• State Rep. Brad Witt (D):
• State Sen. Betsy Johnson (D):
• Clatsop County Board of
Commissioners