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Why you should vote “No” on Ballot
Measure 2
By Royce Snyder
Whalesong Contributor
What would you
say if next year you couldn’t get a student loan? How would
you feel when you looked in your mail and didn’t find a PFD
check? And wouldn’t most of you want to pay overly large amounts
of taxes when you are already living on cup-of-noodle soup and Tang?
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we have entered
into a very strange issue. I’m sure that some of you have heard
of this issue over something called Ballot Measure 2, sometimes
called other things such as ”impending doom” or “the
evil measure,” and I’m sure some of you have no idea or
interest in what it is and are more worried about paying off student
loans and/or getting your English paper finished before your class
starts in about five minutes. Well, guess what? This affects you
whether you know about it or not! After all, we all know that our
parents are paying for our education and our living expenses and
we have no reason to worry about our PFD not being there waiting
for us to use next summer, right? (For those of you who answered
“yes” consider your hand thoroughly slapped.) Wrong, most
of you are adults now and have to worry about paying tuition, purchasing
overpriced cafeteria food and text books, paying rent, student loans
and the thousand and one other things that will end up putting you
up to your wallet in debt until you are six-feet-under. Ballot Measure
2 affects everyone, even the invincible college student.
Here’s the deal. Back in the 1970s a bunch of old
people got together and started something called the FRANK Committee.
No, its not because the chairman was named “Frank” and
it isn‘t because it sounded cute. FRANK is an acronym that
stands for “Fiscally Responsible Alaskans Needing Knowledge.”
(I’m not kidding, that’s really what it means.) The problem
was that other, more rambunctious old people wanted to move the
capital.
The overly rambunctious old people wanted to move the capital, but
they didn’t want to have to tell anybody how much it would
cost. (About three billion American green in 1982.) Sort of like
handing them the wheel while they say “trust us.” (The
warning alarm in your subconscious mind should be making your ears
bleed by now.)
So these FRANK people got together and said, “Wait
a minute, isn’t that like signing a blank check?” Bingo.
Blank check. Exactly. In enters The FRANK Initiative. The FRANK
Initiative is basically a big fancy way to say “We have the
RIGHT to know how much this will put us in debt.” Hey, It’s
our money right?
The words used have changed, but the meaning stays the
same. Now they say “move the Legislature” instead. Don’t
be fooled, this is just like a Trojan Horse virus in your e-mail
or your friend saying “I only want one fry” and then ending
up eating the whole thing. It sounds okay at first, but leaves you
hungry, scared and utterly confused. It’s a trap. Anyone who
has lived here for more than a week will know that there are two
things that make Juneau the great place it is: tourism and the capital.
If all of the tourists knew that Juneau was not the capital, would
they still want to come here? Would you? Answer? Not on your tuition.
Scared yet? I am.
So what does all of this mean? Simple, it means that
those of you who are registered to vote should do so on November
5th. Remember, this affects everyone, from the little old lady next
door with her tiny retirement check, to the head of Key bank in
Juneau. (Win Gruening, our chairman.) Get out there, and Vote NO
on Ballot Measure 2.
Questions? Comments? Want to volunteer? Call the offices
of the Alaska Committeeat 463-4305 and ask for Elizabeth or Royce.
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