By Chris Powell
Ever since terrorism descended on the United States 21 years ago, government has urged Americans: “If you see something, say something.” A recent incident in New Jersey that extended into Connecticut suggests that keeping your mouth shut may may be a lot better.
In the town of Caldwell a 9-year-old girl went out walking along her street spraying something on trees and sidewalks. A neighbor saw her and was puzzled and concerned and so, in accordance with government policy, he called the police on their non-emergency line and reported what he had seen.
An officer responded and found that the little girl had been following government policy too. She was spraying spotted lanternflies, invasive insects that cause serious damage. Agriculture departments have been encouraging the public to eradicate them.
Confronted by the officer, the little girl was afraid she was in trouble. But having heard her explanation, the officer assured her she wasn’t, and the neighbor who called the police was told that there was no problem, for the little girl was doing a good deed.
So far, so good. Little girl, caller, and police officer all had done what they should have done.
But the little girl and her mother are Black, and the mother was offended by the call to the police and complained about it at a town council meeting, accusing the caller, who is white, of racism.
The accusation of racism caused the incident to start getting national publicity, prompting a Black professor at Yale University to invite the little girl and her mother to visit the university to learn more about science and see how the university welcomes Black students. The visit produced more publicity suggesting that a racist wrong had been committed.
But according to the lawyer for the man who called the police, the man twice apologized to the little girl’s mother and explained that if he had realized who the little girl was and what she was doing, he would not have called. The lawyer says the mother refused the apologies.
The less-reported angle of the story is that the mother is a local Democratic Party official and her target is a local Republican official. The Republican says he is being defamed and getting threats. But at least now he may realize that as racial politics convulses the country, if you see something strange involving someone of a different race, saying something can be dangerous. For some people today [ITALICS] want [END ITALICS] everything to be racist, seeing it as an opportunity.
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BAIT AND SWITCH: If Connecticut state government was subject to the rules it applies to others, it would have to prosecute itself for a big bait-and-switch. For during the recent election campaign Governor Lamont and Democratic state legislators promised to pay $1,000 each to employees of essential businesses who stayed at work during the worst months of the recent virus epidemic.
But state government didn’t appropriate enough money to fulfill the promise. Many more people applied than expected, so last week during a special session of the General Assembly the program was amended to reduce its payments, many of them by 80% or more.
No matter to the Democrats, since the election is over, they won big, and defaulting so heavily on their bribe saves money that might be used to buy more votes in the next election, when people probably will have forgotten about this year’s default.
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PRICE REGULATION FAILS: This year Connecticut’s Insurance Department played chicken with medical insurer ConnectiCare. Last week the department lost. So did the public.
ConnectiCare had requested an increase of 29% for its small group medical insurance policies but the department approved only 15%. So ConnectiCare has decided to leave the small group policy business. The company says it has lost tens of millions of dollars in the last year as demand for medical services and prescription drug prices soared.
Now about 20,000 state residents will have to find other insurance.
A few months ago Harvard Pilgrim also quit Connecticut’s small group medical insurance market, so now only four insurers covering small groups remain in the state.
State government does not seem to realize that vigorous competition is better than price regulation.
Chris Powell is a columnist for the Journal Inquirer in Manchester, Connecticut. (CPowell@JournalInquirer.com)
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Chris Powell column 