And then there were facts
Dear editor:
As a former resident of California (46 years) and an educator (40 years California and Arkansas), and as a union president and negotiator, I think I can speak with experience to a few comments I read in a letter to the editor on Sunday in response to a letter Mike Nunn had previously written. Both California and Mike were rather seriously trashed for a variety of reasons. I must take issue with a few of those.
I was taught from an early age at home, at all the schools I attended in California and in negotiation training that facts matter when arguing points. Secondly, and maybe more importantly, persuasion is more effective when issues are attacked instead of people. It’s how gentlemen work together to find solutions. Now for the facts that need to be cleaned up.
Workers in states like California and Illinois are not necessarily showered with big benefits by Democrats. A bipartisan Congress voted to prohibit civil servants and teachers from being able to collect their full Social Security benefits if they receive a pension from another source, even it was earned prior to their service as a civil servant or teacher.
As for California Democrats taxing everything that isn’t nailed down, the current combined sales tax rate in my last California residence, Apple Valley, Calif., is 7.75 percent. The current Arkansas Republican current combined sales tax rate in my current Arkansas residence, Hot Springs, Ark., is 9.5 percent.
I can’t speak to the religious affiliation of the political leadership in Arkansas and I don’t believe it should matter, but since it was brought up, the current governor of California, Jerry Brown, spent several years of his youth studying to be a Jesuit priest.
Arkansas does run a balanced budget and does attract many beneficial businesses and can brag of an extremely low unemployment rate. I would point out that California has an emergency budget surplus of $8 billion, is the sixth largest economy in the world and has an unemployment rate under 5 percent. You got me on the cost of living …
In conclusion, I would only say that there are both benefits and detriments to living in any of our United States. Certainly, we could all ask for our fellow citizens to better themselves through more education, especially if it could help prevent teen pregnancy and generational poverty. I thank you for your time. John Zubro Hot Springs