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4A Daily News – Thursday, December 29, 2011 Opinion 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 Republicans have a gambling problem 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 We like risk and reward. The gold rush was as much a motivation to be a pioneer as was the more noted religious freedom. Poker is actually consid- ered a sport. Yes, poker play- ers are athletes according to the U.S. government. It's the one sport you can train for while chain smoking in a tracksuit. But like every wine con- noisseur will think they have nothing in common with a wino; we celebrate gamblers but not degenerates. We don't like people who lose and continue to place bets only to lose again. But here is the Republican Party wrapping up their year as unapologetic gamblers with America's fate in their greasy hands. And they're on a losing streak. "Ten thousand bucks?" proposed Mitt Romney to Rick Perry on a debate stage earlier this month. Romney couldn't have said: "You are lying, Rick." Couldn't have said: "There you go again." Couldn't have countered with the fact Perry seems to get basic civics wrong and can't list more than two things at a time. No, Mitt Romney had to make a wager; a wager for nearly a year's pay for a min- imum wage worker. But this is what you do when you have a problem with gambling. This is what happens when you pass that invisible line from "risk taker" to "intervention sub- ject." When you lose – instead of contrition or reassessing your philosophy or re-thinking your lifestyle - you double down and hope to win. When your policies fail you prescribe those same policies as the solution. It's like a homeopathic remedy; put a hot compress on a burn. Sell your ideas as a remedy for the turmoil your ideas cause. For example: The housing bubble burst the entire world's economy because there were too few regulations. The GOP double down? Fewer regulations. There are Americans who live with dirty air and water. It's been widely documented that fracking has caused earthquakes and tainted well water. GOP double down? Kill the Environmental Pro- tection Agency. The rich have never been richer. Wealth inequality is worse in the U.S. today than that of the slave-own- ing Roman Empire. GOP double down? Protect all tax cuts for the wealthy and pro- pose new ones. Unemployment plagues America. Long-term unemploy- ment is becoming acutely painful. GOP double down? Cut the federal workforce. America is losing Call us." faith in their govern- ment. Republicans say government can't do anything right. GOP double down? Be the most ineffective Congress you can be. Currently Congress' approval rating is just above the margin of error. When you double down – you lose twice as much – twice as quickly. Tina Dupuy "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for Presi- dent Obama to be a one-term presi- dent," famously said Senate Minori- ty Leader Mitch McConnell at the beginning of the lowest rated Con- gress in the history of the institution. Which to me is the biggest gamble of them all. It's the notion that politics is a Zero Sum game. That if Obama loses – the GOP therefore wins. It's just not true. Who loses are the people And that sums up Speaker John Boehner's tenure just perfectly. If Congress were an actual casino they'd be required by law to at least have Gamblers Anonymous pamphlets available. "Did you ever gamble until the deficit was $15 trillion and still vow to keep the Bush Tax Cuts? who always lose when it comes to Republican policies: the poor and the middle class. That's who's bearing the brunt of the first gambling losses – and now the double down. It's us. Tina Dupuy is an award- winning writer and fill-in host at The Young Turks. Tina can be reached at tinadupuy@yahoo.com. Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 6031 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319-2102 STATE SENATOR — Doug LaMalfa (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 3070 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, 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), 2595 Cean- othus Ave., Ste. 182, Chico, CA 95973; 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; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224- 0454. America's strength is found in her families Commentary I write this final column for 2011 during a momentary and much-needed reprieve from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. When your family is spread across the country like pinpoints on a map, during holidays, your vehicle and body seem to be in a competition with each other as to which one will wear out first. Presently the score is tied: my vehicle is in dire need of cleaning and an oil change and I'm in need of a shower and an attitude adjustment. Family is a lot like praline candy - extremely sweet with a few nuts. No matter how crazy some of them make us feel or how crazy we make them feel, when it is all said and done, our family remains the most basic source of strength for our country. Win- ston Churchill once said, "There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human society are created, strengthened and maintained." Churchill could well have been describing America, once upon a long time ago, when divorce and unwed preg- nancies were not normal, and two-parent families helped children to establish a moral compass by teaching them right from wrong and self- reliance by way of hard work. "Once upon a time" seems light-years removed when one takes into account Holly- wood's interpretation of "fam- ily" plastered across prime time television time slots. Most telling are statistics found at the Childstats.gov website, including a graph showing the percentage of births to unwed women from 1980 through 2009. The peri- od experienced an increase in unwed births in every age cat- egory, and overall, the num- bers doubled. Another study, completed by the Pew Research Center in January 2010, exhibiting the "values, attitudes, behaviors and demographic characteris- tics" of young people ages 18 to 29 of the "Millennium Gen- eration," uncovered that only 60 percent of this age group were raised by both parents, and in the year 2006, this group far-exceeded earlier generations in unwed birth percentages. Before you roll your eyes and succumb to your holiday break slumber, please humor me for a moment. Before you discount what I'm saying, think about the last time you poured yourself a much too hot bath. You suffered through what would otherwise be intolerable until your body adjusted, or the water cooled, whichever came first. In the same way, this trend of not-so- normal families did not happen overnight; society has become so desensitized that shows like Leave it to Beaver are considered strange and danger- ous, and Family Guy is classic. The decrease in the tradi- tional families Churchill alluded to has also led to a decline in values like self-reliance (ver- sus government reliance) that once strengthened this nation. The 2010 Index of Depen- dence on Government report prepared by the Heritage Foundation found that govern- ment dependence in America grew by 13.6 percent in 2009 and by a jaw-dropping 49 per- cent since 2001. What has also increased, according to the Pew poll, is that young Americans are relatively sup- portive of letting the govern- ment fill the economic gap created by single parent homes. Susan Brown While it is true that a whole lot of great kids can come from single parent homes and some downright crummy kids can come from a two- parent home, it is both reasonable and fair to conclude that America is paying the price, good and bad, for each gener- ation's choices. No matter their flavor, it cannot be denied that one of our most precious commodi- ties is found seated around America's holiday tables, be it that Great Depres- sion grandparent who eats what's left on your plate or that disgusting at her age, bra- less peacenik aunt. With that said, this nut is signing off for 2011 and hit- ting the road in my dirty SUV for another round of family. Susan Stamper Brown is an op-ed columnist, motivational speaker, military family advocate and grief counselor who writes about politics, the military, the economy and culture. she can be reached at susan@susanstamperbrown. com.