Letters to the Editor

Letter: Support the common good

Our current budget crisis is the effect of a contest between two ethics: self-interest and the common good. The two are not mutually exclusive, but too much an emphasis on one damages the other, which is where we are now. In privileging self-interest through a full Permanent Fund dividend — without any sort of offsetting revenue-builders — the governor, his legislative allies and citizen supporters are proposing sharp harm to the common good through severe cuts to government services.

The decimation of education, health, public safety, and other “common good” programs will interlace our state in such a way that nearly everyone will be negatively affected in some way or another. And the immediate damage of lost jobs and services will be magnified and extended as expertise moves to better prospects and infrastructure degrades to worse condition.

We won’t all have the same needs, but we’ll all have some need, which is why “the common good” concept is worth supporting.

In short, Alaskans may all be a bit richer for the short term, but Alaska will be much poorer in the long run. If you want extra spending money, support Gov. Mike Dunleavy; if you want to invest in Alaska, it is imperative you contact your legislators and demand they vote to restore funding cut by his excessive budget vetoes.

— Clinton Holloway

Eagle River

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