It’s not God’s work
Re “Anti-gay marriage clerk is freed,” Sept. 9
Rowan County, Ky., is a lovely rural area nestled in the Appalachian foothills, crowned by a quiet but thriving county seat encircling Morehead State University. I know; I used to live there. How sad that one of its public officials refuses to serve the people in the way she swore she would.
If Kim Davis, the county clerk, feels she can no longer fulfill the duties of her office as defined by the current laws of our nation (local, state and national), including issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, she could prove her faith by simply resigning and joining the other protesters. But resigning would cost her the $80,000-ayear salary paid by a job she inherited from her mother. Even her few days in jail for contempt of court involved nothing really arduous and a chance to read her Bible.
While she was reading, I hope she spent some time studying Romans Chapter 13 to learn what Jesus really says about obeying civil laws and authorities.
Santa Ana
The problem with onesize-fits-all policies is that in practice the policy fits no one very well. So it is with California’s requirement that every public school student demonstrate the ability to perform collegelevel work.
The justification appears to be the belief that, because those who have a college education are more likely to be economically successful, failing to prepare every student for college is tantamount to condemning him or her to penury.
But for students whose academic potential is limited by life’s realities, school becomes an endless series of failures and college is not possible. For the majority of California’s public school students, this standard for high school graduation is heartbreakingly unattainable.
How much better it would be for everyone if the curriculum were tailored to the abilities and interests of the student, and the goal of education were to support and motivate the student in becoming the best individual possible.
The Times’ endorsement of the governor’s proposal to fix California roads effectively demonstrates the sorry state of affairs our car-dependent society has fallen to.
The best anyone is ever able to propose on this problem is to continue to scurry around for more money from everyone except the auto manufacturers. Without our public roads, private car companies have a useless product.
As long as scant alternatives exist for transportation, we remain hostages to automobiles, lovely but dangerous things costing us billions extra long after we have left the dealerships. Let’s bring the automakers into these discussions; they should not be allowed to drive away with all of the profit and so little of the cost of making cars.