TNT letters: Inslee sounds like Trump; a price floor for oil; power of the minority
Inslee mimics Trump
Donald Trump refused to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election, fabricating numerous lies regarding purported fraud. He simply could not accept that the electorate had rejected him for a second term.
It appears Gov. Jay Inslee has reacted similarly to the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade. Though the decision was lawfully entered, striking down a precedent which he and many other people thought should continue to be the law of the land, he has stated, loud and clear, from the Capitol steps no less, that he does not agree with nor accept the court’s decision and will order all departments under his control not to enforce it.
Did Trump influence the Governor in his response to this matter? And, is it wise or even lawful for a governor to order or encourage disobedience by the State under these circumstances?
Kendall Warren, Lake Tapps
Price floor for oil
Oil and natural gas prices are high, but drillers aren’t ramping up production at a pace commensurate with their current profitability. This is understandable. Prices collapsed from high levels during fierce price competition between U.S. shale drillers and OPEC in 2014, and prices plummeted again in 2020 in response to COVID-19.
Now the Federal Reserve is warning that it’s willing to make credit scarce enough to cause a recession in the U.S., so it’s easy to see why an oil or gas firm would be reluctant to spend many millions of dollars to bring a product to market with such uncertainty about that product’s eventual price. Price supports were a big part of the Green Revolution of the mid-20th Century that overcame predicted shortages of food in countries like India — when farmers knew that their crops would have some protection from boom and bust cycles, it was more feasible to plant enough, and for lenders and suppliers to grant them credit.
The Biden administration should buy futures or sell options to oil producers to mitigate uncertainty and stimulate more near-term production.
Dawson Allen, Tacoma
Minority rule
Paul Waldman writes, “Republicans have so effectively engineered minority rule . . . to stop nearly everything they don’t like.”
When I taught 4th grade, 17 boys and 13 girls voted daily — in accordance with our American democratic system — deciding how we should spend our P.E. sessions. With 17 boys voting for “baseball,” and thirteen girls voting for “anything else,” the results were: Consistently happy boys, consistently unhappy girls.
My lesson — then and there — was, and is this: Thomas Jefferson warned us of democracy’s unavoidable flaw — The “Tyranny of the Majority.” Whomsoever constitutes the majority block holds sway over the opinion of the minority. Sometimes more or less continuously.
Currently, most polls indicate a majority of Americans favor abortion rights and gun restrictions, but the voice of the minority prevails. Some states are requiring a supermajority in order to pass referendums; meaning “Yes” votes totaling 59% of the total can be overridden by “No” votes totaling only 41% of the same. Donald Trump failed to secure the majority of the nation’s 2016 votes, yet still “won” the election.
Want the latest? Here’s the news: Losers win, and winners lose.
Tyranny of the minority. Jefferson’s head would have spun right off his shoulders.
J. Michael Wall, Puyallup
