Don’t put firefighters, police in socialist system

In his Sunday op-ed about socialism “Free markets don’t work well without public oversight,” Professor Haynes Goddard showed the weakness of his position when he called police and fire services examples of socialism. By the definition he put in his column, socialism involves “production, distribution and exchange.” It has to do with the system under which the economy operates.

On the other hand, law enforcement (and the military) has been recognized as a legitimate function of government regardless of the economic system in effect. To call them socialist is a complete misrepresentation of what they are.

But given the history of socialism, this is hardly surprising. Outside of small, cohesive groups (the Shakers, for example), and usually for a limited time, socialism has an unbroken record of failure. Yes, some nations practice a form of socialism at the government level, but the economies are still capitalist.

Even Communist China had to go to a capitalist economy to survive (and might still fail).

Gerald Lien, Mount Vernon

Jobsohio’s model, team are boon for state

I respond to last Wednesday's excellent Dispatch editorial "Winning isn't everything when Ohio is still second." I agree that Jobsohio had a “banner year” in 2018, as evidenced by 266 job-creation projects that will yield 27,071 new jobs and $1.3 billion in payroll.

I also second the opinion that Jobsohio’s success can be witnessed not only in Ohio’s wins, but in the state’s ability to compete for projects such as Amazon, Apple and others. Ten years ago, Ohio wouldn’t have been in the conversation for developments like these.

Having spent more than 25 years in the publicpolicy arena, I have seen every state struggle to get economic development right. However, in the past few years, having heard policymakers from peer competitor states express their envy of Jobsohio and talk about the fact that Ohio has professionalized economic development, it is evident to me that we’ve clearly gotten it right.

Jobsohio is truly a best-in-class economicdevelopment model and its team and its regional partners have positioned Ohio as a leader in economic development on both the national and international stages.

Maintaining the Jobsohio model and its team will ensure Ohio’s new competitiveness well into the future. Pat Tiberi, president and chief executive officer, Ohio Business Roundtable

Daylight saving time change requires research

We have been reading a lot lately on the subject of daylight saving time versus standard time. Like many people, I don’t like switching back and forth, especially using the latest schedule put in place by George W. Bush.

Not one article I've read asked the opinion of an expert such as a sleep doctor or biologist or any other health scientist.

I am not an expert, but I do know that we animals and plants are hard-wired with a circadian rhythm, which means that we naturally arise and retire with the sun. Our bodies fight anything different such as an alarm clock waking us up in total darkness. Millions of people suffer from seasonal affective disorder when they don’t get enough morning sun and millions more suffer from insomnia due, in part, to too much light at night.

I agree that our present system needs fixing. My wish is that politicians would ask the scientific community for suggestions before implementing any more changes to our clocks. Sabrina Bobrow, Columbus

Eric Lang, Blacklick

Camp Chase awaits statue’s repair, return

Thank you for the Saturday op-ed “Those who would erase the past are often ignorant, arrogant" by Victor Davis Hanson.

He cited a number of protests, marches and vandalism on historical treasures, such as monuments and statues, across

I applauded when Gov. Mike Dewine proposed an increase in gasoline tax to help fund improvement in our transportation system. An almost immediate response from many Republicans in the legislature was to praise the goal and undercut it at the same time by proposing a smaller increase. Some have even suggested reducing other state expenditures to make

Joseph Flood, Columbus