Dear Mr. President
Vermonters offer their thoughts to Barack Obama
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President-elect Barack Obama listens as Vice President-elect Joe Biden and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., not shown, talk about their recent trip to Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait and Pakistan, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009, at Obama's transition office in Washington. AP Photo |
Toolbox
Published: January 18, 2009
The Times Argus and Rutland Herald invited readers to address an open letter to President-elect Barack Obama in advance of his historic inaugural. Here are some of the responses we received:
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I totally agree that we need change if we are to survive. We must change those things that make us an unfair and unloving society. We need to start the changes at the most fundamental level.
Change our abortion laws! Thirty-six years of legalized abortion have eroded our core values, fouling our whole society. We need to drastically change our attitude toward life. Life must become something precious, something we need to protect rather than destroy. The Declaration of Independence says it clearly: People have inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Life comes first. If there is no right to life, then there are no rights at all.
Gesualdo C. Schneider
Middlesex
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Congratulations on your victory, historic in so many ways. As you receive advice from countless corners on numerous issues, let me add to that chorus when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict. While this issue has many elements in play, I am writing about one of them: the role of Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian grassroots nongovernmental organizations in mitigating the conflict.
One of the reasons that we are still in a stalemate, for far too long, is that both trust and hope have been deflated. We know that the vast majority of Israelis and Palestinians want peace, and understand that difficult yet necessary concessions will need to be made. Yet when they look around they ask themselves, "Is this really possible?"
Under the radar screen, not because they are ineffective, but because success and cooperation between the parties is not what is highlighted, the aforementioned grassroots organizations have been working across the divide to keep the soil fertile for the peace we all desire and desperately need there. In the ebb and flow of diplomacy and the ups and downs of the peace process, these organizations have been modeling for years what the political leaders have failed to achieve – a vision of what peace can look like. Their actions are saying that such a peace is no mirage, but a reality.
The efforts of these organizations need to be accentuated to help break through the psychological walls of despair and the all-too-familiar patterns and cycles of violence and failure.
To give prominence to these organizations will not only remind the vast majority of Palestinians and Israelis what is possible, but will strengthen their voice against the radicals in both camps who will do whatever they can to derail a peaceful solution to the conflict.
I write not wearing the glasses of panacea, but knowing full well that as an agreement is reached between the parties there will be blood. This is even more of a reason why the majority needs to be fortified and emboldened to take them through that difficult period. If they are strengthened this will help marginalize (though not completely eliminate) the radicals and weaken their influence. Finally, as in all good grassroots organizing, this is about the dynamic of power from the bottom up, which in this case can be used to bolster the political leaders to do what they have failed to do to date.
To allow these organizations to play the larger role, the following five points should be considered:
At the Arava Institute we have recently established within our research branch the Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation, directed by Dr. Tareq Abu Hammed, a Palestinian. We are well positioned as Israel wants to make the Arava Valley the Silicon Valley of Renewable Energy. One project that the center is involved with is the study of turning the agricultural fields of the regional kibbutzim into massive photovoltaic fields — enough for 5 percent to 10 percent of Israel's electric needs, as well as similar efforts on the Jordanian side of the border.
The bottom line here is that these grassroots organizations have an important role to play in moving the peace process forward. The points outlined above will help them create the conditions needed for peace in the Middle East.
I wish you the best of luck in this area as well as in all areas of your work.
Shalom,
Rabbi Michael M. Cohen
Director of Special Projects
Arava Institute for Environmental Studies
Manchester
There is a dire need to address the longstanding affordable housing and homelessness crisis within our nation.
The National Housing Trust Fund might prove to be an empty promise and not enough to address the need, not only because, as I understand it, the program would not begin drawing down monies until around 2010 or so, but now that the funding source was dependent on a stream from Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, and those programs are in peril and have basically been taken over by the government, it remains to be seen if the funding will be there for what is required for building and growing the trust fund. This is neither good nor soon enough to address the problems at hand, either in the short or long term.
It is crucial not to make the errors of previous administrations, as well as Congress, and allow these problems to continue to be ignored. Nor it is enough to simply throw money at it in the manner as has been the case thus far.
What is required to address homelessness among all those in need is affordable housing. Due to the serious need and also limited resources, considering everything else the government needs to address during this time of economic crisis, and not being able to do everything needed, what helps most in helping people get and stay housed is affordable housing, as well as offering a menu of "voluntary" supports (i.e., without strings attached). Homeless shelters and transitional housing are not what works best and are only poor Band-Aid solutions, ones which cost lots of money and help only relatively few people.
Affordable housing needs to be understood as a crucial infrastructure need within the local community, county, state and nation as important and vital as roads and bridges are to the economic engine and vitality of our communities, counties, states and nation.
It is also important to keep in mind there is a dire need in rural areas, as well, and not just in urban areas. In fact rural areas have been seriously neglected for far too long.
Instead of going to Mars or worrying about the space station or other such boondoggles, let us prioritize housing as a fundamental right rather than either a privilege of those who can most afford it or a limited entitlement with never enough to go around to meet the need.
Both training and putting people back to work in building and repairing existing housing, including making it energy-efficient in all regards, would help provide needed jobs as well as the housing many are in need of, including those most in need as well as those whose incomes make it tough if not impossible to own their own or even rent an affordable residence.
With all this in mind, it might be good to also consider newer and better means of housing, including building various types of housing along the lines of what is termed as Katrina cottages, depending on the housing needs and family size. This sort of housing would be more energy- and cost-efficient, as well as take up less land, etc.
Rather than depending on the type of huge apartment or housing complexes that either the private or public housing community have long relied on, which are usually very expensive as well, housing along the lines of the Katrina cottages in the mix would also help lend to homeownership options, particularly for those like myself who subsist on limited incomes and are Section 8 housing choice voucher eligible, if only there were the affordable housing available to use such a voucher with.
One last thought on the subject is that people who live or formerly have lived homeless are not the problem, we are part of the solution. Thus one of the things that need changing is for programs and providers to stop doing stuff to or for us and to instead work with us at all levels and stages, including by having those who are or formerly were living homeless to be at the table in an equal and full manner as experts as anyone else from planning to implementation, whether it be at the systemic level or during the process of a person seeking help to address their needs. We often know best what works and what does not, although we are not usually used to being included in meaningful ways, except maybe merely as tokens whose opinions and input are typically ignored or dismissed.
With everything else your new administration will be duly focused on, please do not forget those of us in serious need of real, affordable housing opportunities sooner rather than later.
Thank you in advance for any consideration given to these concerns.
Morgan W. Brown Montpelier
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