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6A – Daily News – Monday, November 22, 2010 Opinion Papa’s got a brand new bag – do you? D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer’s home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. 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How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" is widely considered the first recording to showcase what later became James Brown's signature musical style, and marks the beginning of the development of funk. In this R&B hit song of 1965 he praises an old man brave enough to get out on the dance floor, as I some 45 years later praise the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors for being brave enough to ban plastic grocery bags in unincorporated areas of the county. The ban will significantly reduce the 6 billion plastic bags that are used in LA County every year that account for 25 percent of the litter picked up there. Although the tune amid heavy and costly lobbying by plastic bag manufacturers. The LA ban, which covers over one million residents countywide, is to the point: "No store shall provide to any customer a plastic carryout bag." An exception is made for plastic bags that are used to hold fruit, veg- etables or raw meat in order to prevent contam- ination with other gro- cery items. Richard Mazzucchi Positive Point was recorded on the way to a per- formance in under one hour the grocery bag measure took signifi- cantly longer to materialize after environmental groups suffered a major defeat in Sacramento last August with the state Senate failing to pass a sweeping plastic bag ban after winning the support of the state Assembly and the governor Just as the people of California beat back the effort of Texas oil com- panies and other pol- luters to suspend the Global Warming Solu- tions Act, the LA super- visors have overcome the efforts of plastic industry profiteers to satisfy the people’s desire for cleaner communities. "Plastic bags are a pollutant. They pollute the urban landscape. They are what we call in our county urban tumbleweeds," Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said. And as any- one visiting our north state rivers, lakes, and popular wilderness areas can attest, plastic grocery bags become lasting eyesores if irre- sponsibly disposed. The LA supervisors also address the wasteful nature of paper grocery bags by requiring grocers to charge their customers 10 cents for each paper bag they provide. Although the revenue will be retained by the stores to pur- chase the paper bags and educate customers about the law I’m sure Tea Party members and other ultra- conservative groups will grumble loudly that the plastic bag ban is excessive government regulation and the paper bag fee is just anoth- er way for tree-huggers to take their hard earned money. True to form the American Chemistry Council, one of the chief opponents of the ban, warned LA County leaders that the pro- posed ordinance and fee on paper bags fall under the voting require- ments of Proposition 26. The initia- tive, which passed this month, reclassifies most regulatory fees on industry as "taxes" requiring a two- thirds vote in government bodies or in public referendums, rather than a simple majority. Much to their cha- grin the surcharge on paper bags is not a fee covered by Prop 26 because the revenue is not directed to a government agency. It seems we cannot recycle our way out of the plastic bag problem since government figures show that just 5 percent of plastic bags are recycled or reused, leaving the bal- ance to clog our landfills and despoil our planet. It stands to rea- son that the cost of convenience should not be at the expense of the environment, and those that choose to use new paper bags each time they go to the store should them- selves pay, rather than have the cost reflected in higher food prices for those that bring their own bags. Progressive thinkers believe that government regulation and policy are appropriate and efficacious to protect our environment and encourage the citizenry to make better choices. Widespread adop- tion of practices like the plastic bag ban and paper bag fee can signifi- cantly reduce resource depletion, environmental damage, and cost to put food on our tables. I hope the next time you are asked "paper or plastic," the lyrics of the king of funk come to mind and you reply "Papa’s got a brand new bag of the re-usable variety" to live more sus- tainably and help preserve our planet. Richard Mazzucchi can be reached at living-green@att.net. Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R), State Capitol Bldg., Room 4164 P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento 94249; (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319- 2102 STATE SENATOR — Sam Aanestad (R), State Capitol Bldg., Room 2054, Sacramen- to, CA 95814. (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: gover- nor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2635 Forest Ave. Ste. 100, Chico, CA 95928; 893-8363. U.S.SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (415) 403-0100. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Pilgrim lessons on free enterprise Commentary Results and messages from the election call to mind some timeless lessons from the struggles and tra- vails that informed our distant pil- grim past. You see, much of the electorate made an historic, emphatic statement rejecting the leftward, some would say social- ist/collectivist, lurch of the Obama/Pelosi/Reid liberals in power. Local lefties, enamored of the redistributive powers of govern- ment mandates, lecture us to change our mindset and accept a welfare/unemployment check future paid for by higher taxes on the rich. Hence, we need, once again, to be reminded of the true economic meaning of Thanksgiv- ing. The traditional history is accu- rate regarding the hardship, sick- ness and death visited upon the English settlers at Plymouth during the bitter winter of 1620-21, their struggle to grow the seeds they brought, and how friendly Indians taught them to plant corn. This modest harvest, together with fish and game they were fortunate to acquire from the land, was indeed shared with Indians at a feast pro- claimed by Governor William Bradford after the summer of 1621. However, history might have left us without America’s Thanks- giving celebration, if the settlers had not abandoned collectivism. Though surrounded by nature’s bounty, they would surely have starved and faded into the mists of oblivion along with the cause of their demise. Like many before and after, the Pilgrims sought a utopian ideal: "From each according to his abili- ties, to each according to his need." Communism, pure and simple, is what the Pilgrims established with rules that strictly enforced shared ownership and provision of needs. Their signed agreement said "All profits and benefits that are got by trade, traffic, trucking, working, fishing, or any other means" were to become part of "the common stock." In addition, "all such persons as are in this colony are to have their meat, drink, apparel, and all provi- sions out of the common stock and goods of the colony." It sounds appealing and idealistic to have no "private ownership" — everyone works for everyone’s benefit and no one reaps rewards greater than another’s. But someone decides what "rewards" each one "needs." Harder work gains nothing. Governor Bradford wrote about the predictable results, as the sys- tem "was found to breed much con- fusion and discontent and retard much employment. For the young men that were most fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children without any recompense. "Attitudes declined as the strong, for their greater work, received no more than the weak, and wives found themselves resent- ful over working, essentially, for other men’s wives, regarding it as tantamount to slavery." Crops, without which they would no doubt starve, were not only inefficiently produced, but "much was stolen both by night and day," Bradford wrote of the 1622 harvest. Unlike more recent totalitarian communism, they were free to change their course so in the spring of 1623 they tried…capital- ism! "And so assigned to every family a parcel of land … This had very good success, for it made all hands very industri- ous, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise …." The acreage planted, and har- vested, increased seven- fold from 1621 to 1623. Bradford wrote of that next harvest that "instead of famine, now God gave them plenty, and the face of things was changed to the rejoicing of the hearts of many, for which they blessed God" and shared with their Native American neighbors. No one would have remem- bered that first meager Thanksgiv- ing if the colony, tethered to a fail- ing economic model, had starved and faded into historical oblivion. The feast of abundance that they shared remains testimony to the superiority and efficiency of private enterprise to provide for individual needs. (With credit and thanks to Jeff other nations, many of whose citi- zens continue to dream of coming to America. The Pilgrim lessons we need to remember and pass on to children are simple but profound: Thank God for our abundance, share it, and acknowledge infallible economic prin- ciples, learned through hardship by those early settlers. Don Polson The way I see it These lessons from our Pilgrim past should guide us as politicians start seducing us with appealing ideas like "universal health care for all," or "spread the wealth around." We’d best remember that any system that depends on everyone’s labor to then Jacoby, Boston Globe, 2002, and economist Judd W. Patton, Belle- vue University) I think it’s important to remem- ber that even in our current eco- nomic difficulties, our abundance would put Americans from prior eras in awe. We remain the envy of provide everyone’s needs, is des- tined to fail for the same reasons those Pilgrims nearly starved over 380 years ago. "A democracy is always tempo- rary in nature … and will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote them- selves generous gifts from the pub- lic treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democra- cy … is always followed by a dic- tatorship." (Alexander Tyler, 1787) Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@yahoo.com.