Happy to see crops in Central Maui

There is a new look to the middle of the island, and I for one am very grateful for it. With the planting of over one million trees, there is finally a look of stability to the often dust-blown lands, which were at one time a sprawling complex serving sugar. Trees.

What a concept. Trees change the environment in fundamental and profound ways. Mahalo.

With almost all of our food flown or shipped in, we are on a very narrow edge regarding food safety. The stewards of the land in the middle of the island, Mahi Pono, will be producing two million pounds of local produce for Hawaii’s people this year along with their other crops. This is huge.

I grew up on a 140-acre farm in a rural area. Unbelievable hard work — work that takes a dedicated bunch of people who get up every day to face whatever nature and man can throw at them — only to keep returning to watch the soil and sweat produce what we put on the table.

I am happy to see stable, non-GMO crops on this land, and look forward to the next years of hard work it will take to develop and steward it into a mature resource for our islands.

SEAN LESTER, Kihei

Remember that citizens employ politicians

Living in our U.S. as a citizen is busy every day of every week. Living with an attitude to maintain our days happily and productively, combined with health of ourselves, family and others, can require our total attention.

The daily demands can distract us from close attention to OUR country’s government.

Our country history began with the “Declaration of Independence” written by our founders in 1776 and presented to Great Britain. The “Declaration…” was supplied by me, in correct segments, to Lahaina News letters so that everyone could refresh country government history.

The Declaration sent to Great Britain was followed by our originators creating “The Constitution of the United States of America.” Our country’s government was established with that document.

My reason now is to remind all of us that WE are the creation of OUR government. All the citizens that are government employees work for us. We, the citizens, are the employers. Our tax money paid by us supplies our employees with their income.

Election is the way we hire OUR employees. It is OUR job to control the employees from misusing, distorting or damaging the expectations for OUR country’s health and success. The employees abusing their jobs should be informed and corrected by us. Election time is not the only opportunity we have to tell OUR employees they are doing very bad work at the job we pay them. We can prevent them from their country-damaging actions.

BONNIE DeROSE, Lahaina

What are they afraid of?

There are many efforts ongoing to regulate or ban cryptocurrency. I have long been a critic of regulatory systems. My experience has been that they endow selected people with the right to reinterpret without any constraints the prohibitions of the enabling legislation.

The Revenue Bond Oversight Committee (SFPUC-RBOC) stands as a manifest example. A recent and unfortunate discovery was that the assisted dying industry lacked viable regulatory oversight. The illusion of regulatory oversight is often worse than no oversight.

Money is that commodity that enters into an exchange matrix and has the least overall variance in value. In an unregulated prisoner-of-war camp, cigarettes have emerged as money. The U.S. has a long and varied experience with various forms of money. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 created a system to stabilize economic and employment goals by being the central bank. A key feature of the new monetary system was its Ponzi (ability to create money out of thin air) construction and charging Americans for their cash.

This is not an essay supporting cryptocurrency. It is an essay against outlawing it.

Gresham postdated Aristophanes by many centuries; however, the statement made by both that good money chases out bad money has shown historical viability. The threat of imposing a government-controlled digital currency hangs heavy on the minds of many.

This new fiat “currency” would add a level of government monitoring and control not seen in the U.S. If it is a superior currency, it will chase out so-called inferior currencies such as crypto.

History tells us that governments have nothing to fear if the proposed digital currency is superior. Why not let the invisible hand decide versus the managed hand?

Adam Smith v Karl Marx. Which currency will show it has the least overall variance in value when placed unfettered into the market?

BRIAN BROWNE, San Francisco, CA

Act now to reduce carbon emissions

The Hawaii House voted for HCR24 and HR125, asking our Federal Government to address climate change by adopting a national carbon fee and dividend.

This benefits low- and middle-income households, and reduces fossil fuel use without costing the government.

Also this will protect U.S. businesses in the global marketplace. The fee on these fuels gets returned to U.S. citizens. Since Hawaii has declared a climate emergency, it is clear we need to reduce emissions right now.

Let’s hope that our Senate branch adopts these resolutions as well.

BOBBIE BEST, Wailuku