Letters to the Editor

Letter: Fearing for the future

Half a century ago, my husband and I saw the first live TV broadcast in Alaska when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. We watched, amazed, on our 13-inch black and white TV.

We arrived in Alaska just after the 1964 earthquake, welcomed by a community of optimists and enthusiasts who urged us to stay because everything was going to be better than before. Alaska offered a great future. Seeing Armstrong on the moon endorsed that prediction.

Now, half a century later, we hear despair in our daughter’s voice as she considers the future of the state. And we wonder if our grandchildren will experience that great education that could prepare them to walk on the moon. Or Mars. Or beyond. And what will they know of this slice of Alaska history that we experienced. Will they look to their future with the confidence that we once felt toward ours?

I fear they will not.

Before Prudhoe Bay, before the PFD, and for us personally, before sewer, phone and live TV, we shared our personal resources. Paid a $10 education tax each, and a modest income tax. We assumed that the American dream of a tomorrow that would be better for us and our future generations would be so promising in our great state of Alaska that we could prosper here for more than half a century, and beyond that our children and grandchildren, too. And their children after.

I fear they will not.

I urge legislators to ensure Alaska’s future by not giving a bloated Permanent Fund dividend to us. Do not accept the governor’s vetoes that guarantee a negative future, but assert your positive authority as an independent branch of government and restore funding to them all. I’m not asking for me. I’m pleading for our grandchildren. And theirs. And yours.

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— Donna Matthews

Anchorage

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