Wally Hickel

OPINION: Wally Hickel Jr. argues that the oil tax regime in SB 21 spurs more development in Alaska -- a goal his father kept front and center.

Although I am slowing down at age 90, some of the deep beliefs that motivated my years in public life still inspire me. Two landmark events took place this month with regard to one of those beliefs -- that Russia and America will one day work together to build a better world.

China is in the midst of a transformation unmatched in the history of the human race. Their immediate goal is to improve the living standard of 1.3 billion people.

As the world awakens to the impact of changing climates on the Arctic, a typical reaction of those "down South" is to fear the North and to try to shut down human activity here.

Any day now, the U.S. Supreme Court will make a decision that threatens our very democracy. "Citizens United versus Federal Elections Commission" seeks to allow financial contributions by corporations to candidates running for federal office. The current ban has been in place since 1907.

"The trick is to live to be one hundred," said the late comedian George Burns. "Very few people die after that." Fortunately, Burns made it past the 100 mark, laughing all the way.

I commend the committees in Norway and Sweden who chose President Barack Obama and Dr. Elinor Ostrom as winners of Nobel prizes this month.

Both of my grandfathers left Southern Germany for America in the 1880s to escape what George Washington called in his Farewell Address "the toils of European ambition, rivalship and caprice."

At age 6 I came home from Sunday school and told my mother I was going to live to be as old as Moses. Mother laughed. And how she could laugh!

As Sean Parnell is sworn in today as governor, all Alaskans should wish him well. He has much on his shoulders that can determine the success or failure of Alaska's economy and our quality of life for years to come.

This coming August I will turn 90. I was 21 in October 1940 when I stepped off the S.S. Yukon in Seward. I had no money, no job and knew no one. With no place to stay the night, I slept on the floor of the lobby of a small hotel.

For 16 years, my son Jack worked in southern Africa as a medical missionary, mostly in Swaziland. When his mother and I visited, we discovered that, in spite of the dramatically different climate, Jack was facing challenges in rural Africa that were similar to those in rural Alaska.

Small may be beautiful in other parts of the country, but in the Arctic, big is beautiful. Of all states, Alaska's bounty comes from boldness.

Alaska is not just rich in resources. It's rich in ideas. And one of those ideas was celebrated last week at the premiere of a new film called "You Own Alaska!" The idea was born when we wrote our model constitution and won the fight for statehood 50 years ago.

We are teetering on the edge of a global depression unlike any the world has ever seen. The consequences threaten to be more serious than anything I have witnessed in my lifetime.