The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1014770
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, August 15, 2018 B-5 OPINION Submit Letters to the Editor: Letters must be signed and received by noon on Mondays. Email: editor@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg Apple has become the first U.S. company in history to attain a tril- lion-dollar valuation. Here are a few thoughts about the relevance of this to our country today. The story of Apple is the story of Steve Jobs. He co-founded the company in 1976 at the age 21, was fired from this same company at age 30, and then returned 11 years later, as it teetered on the edge of bankruptcy, to restore it and set it on the path it has arrived to today. First thing to think about is that Jobs was born in 1955. His biolog- ical mother, an unwed graduate student, gave birth and arranged for his adoption. This was 18 years before abortion became legal in America by way of Roe v. Wade. If Jobs was conceived 18 years later, or if Roe v. Wade had become law of the land 18 years earlier, there is some chance that there never would have been a Steve Jobs. The life that would have be- come Steve Jobs could have been another in the vast sea of abor- tion statistics. There would be no Macs, iPods or iPhones. Another thing worth contem- plating is the vitality of freedom and capitalism, not just to us, but also to the whole world. By the end of the third quarter of 1997, when Jobs had returned to Apple, the company had lost more than a billion dollars and, by his estimate, they were within 90 days of insolvency. Jobs reviewed Apple's whole product line, and out of 15 prod- ucts, he eliminated 11. Three- thousand workers were immedi- ately laid off. By 1998, Apple was once again It is vital as a church that we embrace definable core values. Without some agreement on what it means to be "the faithful," it is impossible to have a dialogue with like-minded people, for far too of- ten misunderstanding comes through using the same words, but attaching different meanings. There are at least four core val- ues that come to the forefront: Godliness, Biblical Authentici- ty, Love and Community. Each of these values helps to establish a meaningful and spiritual relation- ship with one another. Community is the church! It is impossible to do the work of God without a community of likemind- ed disciples. There are those who will disagree and argue that they can "worship God under a tree," but worship and dynamic minis- try are different activities. The church at Corinth was a hotbed of activity, excitement, and discord. The Apostle Paul wrote to them in chapter 12 of the impor- tance of the body of Christ, which they were as a group and not indi- vidually: "Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." The Apostle Paul's corrective letter to the Corinthians admon- ishes them for their schisms, fighting, lack of unity, errone- ous teachings, and sin. The problems that besieged the church at Corinth re- main with us and are evident in the church today. The Body of Christ is the community that arises from active interaction of each person in the local church. Community is the active minis- try of the church [Body of Christ], and those who have abandoned the church claiming it is unre- deemable are delusional. The church cannot be defeated by evil. Jesus told the Apostle Pe- ter, "And I tell you that you are Pe- ter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it." Jesus died for the church, and Paul makes this clear to the church at Ephesus, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave him- self up for her." The church receives the guid- ance of the Holy Spirit through ministry, and Paul makes this clear to the church at Ephe- sus, "So Christ Him- self gave the apostles, the prophets, the evan- gelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ [the church] may be built up." It is evident that the scriptures place great emphasis upon the church and community. A healthy congregation strives for unity of purpose and direction. This is not to suggest that there are not dis- agreements among members. It suggests that each person within the local church sets his/her ego aside for the common goals of the church. The church is not about any one person. The word church means group, and a unified group creates a community that has an attitude and "spirit" that others can detect. The community of believers Heritage Viewpoint by Edwin J. Feulner Lessons from Apple at a trillion dollars Trump should push bilateral Switzerland trade pact Points to Ponder by Rev. Ford Bond Community: The Body of Christ Sombody's Place: An amazing resource My Point of View by Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. I have been focusing a little bit more on this amazing resource we have in our community. I'm re- ferring to Somebody's Place also known as the Pike County Chris- tian Assistance. Since I started volunteering for this outfit, I am truly amazed by the many great things I have seen. First and foremost is the dedica- tion of all the staff who give their time and energy to keep the place going. From the dedicated front desk crew, to the volunteers who sort out donations, to the men who unload many heavy items from the delivery truck, to the kitchen staff who prepare meals, to the volun- teers who give out the groceries and goods. There is so much har- mony, gladness and cooperation amongst these group of wonder- ful people I cannot say enough to praise all of them. I wish I could name all of them but they prefer to remain humbly anonymous. I am also so surprised by the amount of goods donated by dif- ferent churches and individuals who sometimes overwhelm us with their generosity. We have re- ceived vegetables, starter seed plants, dry goods, boxes of food, monetary donations that help us pay bills for electricity, heating, air-conditioning, utilities, fuel for the truck that hauls the goods, in- surance, office supplies, and so many other hidden costs. Continued on page 6 Continued on page 6 Continued on page 6 The Weekly by Alden Heuring Don't sleep on it Minority View by Walter E. Williams Colleges: A force for evil Continued on page 6 Continued on page 6 Many of the nation's colleges have become a force for evil and a focal point for the destruction of traditional American values. The threat to our future lies in the fact that today's college students are tomorrow's teachers, professors, judges, attorneys, legislators and policymakers. A recent Brookings Institution poll suggests that near- ly half of college students believe that hate speech is not protected by the First Amendment. Of course, it is. Fifty-one percent of students think that it's acceptable to shout down a speaker with whom they disagree. About 20 percent of stu- dents hold that it's acceptable to use violence to prevent a speak- er from speaking. Over 50 per- cent say colleges should prohibit speech and viewpoints that might offend certain people (http://ti- nyurl.com/yayxt45u). Contempt for the First Amendment and other constitutional guarantees is prob- ably shared by the students' high school teachers, as well as many college professors. Brainwashing and indoctri- nation of young people has pro- duced some predictable results, as shown by a recent Gallup Poll. For the past 18 years, Gallup has asked adults how proud they are to be Americans. This year, only 47 percent say they are "extreme- ly proud," well below the peak of 70 percent in 2003. The least proud to be Americans are nonwhites, young adults and col- lege graduates. The proudest Americans are those older than 50 and those who did not graduate from col- lege. The latter might be explained by their limited exposure to America's academic elite (http://tinyurl. com/y8wapel5). Johnetta Benton, a teacher at Hampton Middle School near At- lanta, was recorded telling her sixth-grade students, "Ameri- ca has never been great for mi- norities." In a tirade, she told her class: "Because Europeans came from Europe ... you are an immi- grant. You are an illegal immi- grant because you came and just took it. ... You are an immigrant. This is not your country." To ex- ploit young, immature young peo- ple this way represents an act of supreme cowardice. The teach- er should be fired, but I'm guess- ing that her colleagues share her sympathies. At the same school, students were given a homework assignment that required them to write a letter asking lawmakers for stricter gun control laws. One might be tempted to ar- gue that the growing contempt for liberty and the lack of civility stem from the election of Donald Trump. That's entire- ly wrong. The lack of civility and indoctri- nation of our young people have been go- ing on for decades. UCL A history profes- sor Mary Corey told her class: "Capital- ism isn't a lie on pur- pose. It's just a lie." She added that capi- talists "are swine. ... They're bas- tard people." An English profes- sor at Montclair State University, in New Jersey, told his students, "Conservatism champions racism, exploitation and imperialist war." An ethnic studies professor at Cal- ifornia State University, North- ridge and Pasadena City College teaches that "the role of students and teachers in ethnic studies is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." The Universi- ty of California, Santa Barbara's school of education emailed its fac- ulty members to ask them to con- sider classroom options concern- ing the Iraq War, suggesting they excuse students f! rom class to attend anti-war events and give them extra credit for writing about it. Rodney Swan- son, a UCL A economics professor, Pursuit of the Cure by Star Parker By a stroke of providence, Jill and I were able to snatch a week- end for ourselves to celebrate our anniversary. There's a gorgeous bed-and- breakfast in the middle of a ranch, in the middle of nowhere, in about a five-minute drive from family who could watch the kids for a night. (That last one is the most impor- tant, because the proximity was the only way we could justify leaving Amelia overnight. Location, loca- tion, location!) We booked a modest room at this tucked-away ranch and were fully prepared to ignore the rustic set- ting completely in favor of squeez- ing as many hours of sleep as pos- sible out of the weekend. But for- tunately, our plans were derailed. It started with a cat. I had popped down to the car to grab some lug- gage we'd forgotten while Jill drew a bath. We soon realized I'd also for- gotten to leave the door unlocked or bring a key, so for the sake of Jill's bath, I decided to enjoy the front deck of the es- tablishment, where I'd seen an old black cat lounging before. I got comfortable on a wooden bench and watched the clouds redden with the set- ting sun. Before I knew it, the cat had made himself at home snug- gled against the side of my lap. In his old age, some of his fur had turned white, and his purr was full of phlegm. He was a good kitty. Jill and I did indeed sleep all through the night, but woke up about three hours earlier than we planned. We enjoyed coffee togeth- er in the early morning, and shared breakfast with a dog named Quincy and an elderly couple from Pennsylvania, who kept the grounds for a nursing home. Rather than go back to sleep, we decided to change plans again. Jill cross-stitched while I explored the ranch: the cow-pens, the blackberry bushes, the garden. A fter all was said and done, and we'd taken the girls back home (with a bit more enthusiasm than usual), we decided two things: first, we were definitely going back to that little ranch; and second, we were glad we didn't spend the whole time sleeping. When it comes to trade deals, the big ones such as NAF TA tend to grab headlines. But our inter- ests are also well-served by one- on-one agreements between indi- vidual countries and the United States. In fact, the more bilateral deals we forge, the better. The White House seems to agree. As the Trump administra- tion stated in its latest trade re- port to Congress, "The United States remains committed to work- ing with like-minded countries to promote fair market competition around the world." Case in point: Switzerland. The Alpine country's strong commit- ment to free-market capitalism makes it an ideal trading partner. Switzerland is clearly a prime can- didate as one of the "like-minded countries" with which the United States should work more closely. Mind you, Switzerland and the United States are no strangers to mutual trade. They've already made great strides in deepening economic and business ties. Swit- zerland is America's 12th-largest trading partner with a roughly bal- anced exchange of goods and ser- vices amounting to some $100 bil- lion annually. American and Swiss companies produce cutting-edge pharmaceu- ticals, aerospace components, ma- chinery, and equipment that flow in both directions and make the two economies more productive and competitive. Their relation- ship also includes business and fi- nancial services, such as banking and insurance, and licensing fees for intellectual property. These commercial ties support high-paying jobs in both countries. According to the latest data, a com- bined 725,000 American jobs were supported by the U.S.–Swiss trade and investment relationship. Swiss affiliates in the United States ac- counted for more than 460,000 of those jobs, followed by almost 200,000 American jobs from ser- vices exports to Switzerland, and 75,000 U.S. jobs supported by goods exports. Indeed, we can learn from the Swiss. They have one of the most advanced and capable free-market economies in the world. According to The Heritage Foundation's an- nual Index of Economic Freedom, which measures the entrepreneur- ial environments of 180 economies across the globe, Switzerland is the world's fourth-freest economy. So what is Switzerland's se- cret? It lacks natural resources ex- cept hydropower, so it has had no choice but to innovate to compete on a global scale. Its judicial system is indepen- dent of politics, which ensures ef- fective and transparent enforce- ment of commercial contracts within a fully institutionalized le- gal framework. It also has strong property rights, including protec- tions for intellectual property. So what can the U.S. do? For one thing, as I argued in a recent Heritage report, the Trump administration ought to grant Switzerland tariff exemp- tions on steel and aluminum prod- ucts. Swiss companies export- ed about $ 80 million in steel and aluminum products to the Unit- ed States in 2017. Switzerland has sought these tariff exemptions, but the U.S. hasn't yet responded. That needs to change. Another wise step would be to build on the Trade and Invest- ment Cooperation Forum (TICF) the United States and Switzerland established in 2006. We should ele- vate the TICF to a genuine free and open trade pact based on the prin- ciples of economic freedom. Take President Trump's "no tar- iffs, no barriers" proposal at the recent G7 meetings in Quebec. Why not pursue this? Zero tariffs would be the ultimate achievement for more open and free trade be- tween the United States and Swit- zerland. It's time for the U.S. Trade Rep- resentative and the White House National Economic Council to fast-