The Providence (R.I.) Journal, Jan. 9:
The Enlightenment’s legacy of free speech has transformed the world. Ideas exchanged freely without fear have promoted freedom, justice, science and the arts, leading to an explosion of wealth, the lengthening of lifespans and the growing empowerment of women and minorities, while undermining totalitarian states that benefit elites through brutality.
The civilized world has a very high stake, then, in making certain that terrorists and murderers are not permitted to substitute their values of hatred, killing and censorship for freedom.
On Wednesday, two masked gunmen burst into the office building of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The attackers, apparently brandishing Kalashnikov rifles, reportedly called out the names of their victims. They gunned down at least 12 people, including the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Stephane Charbonnier, a cartoonist and two police officers.
As they headed to their getaway vehicle, the killers reportedly shouted, “We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad, we have killed Charlie Hebdo.”
French President Francois Hollande properly characterized the assault as “a terrorist attack, there is no doubt about it.”
It was immediately apparent, though, that France was not the only target. The killers were trying to send a message to men and women everywhere who would dare to challenge Islamic extremists. British Prime Minister David Cameron aptly tweeted, “The murders in Paris are sickening. We stand with the French people in the fight against terror and defending the freedom of the press.”
Like other publications in history, Charlie Hebdo, roughly analogous to America’s The Onion, used satire to make a point. It reprinted the Jylland Posten’s controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2006 ”“ and had the prophet “guest edit” a 2011 issue, which was renamed “Charia Hebdo.”
These decisions inflamed the passions of France’s Muslim community, and led to street riots and death threats. Charlie Hebdo has also been critical of Christianity and Judaism, resulting in no known violence.
Three years ago, Charbonnier said he intended to use the freedoms guaranteed under French law to make his points. “Our only limit is French law; it is that … we have to obey. We haven’t infringed the French law; we have the right to use our freedom, as we understand it,” he said.
In the wake of this despicable attack, the world’s greatest democracies must support France in making sure the killers are tracked down and brought to justice. Leaders should also strongly defend and protect the right to free speech, including speech about religious figures, rather than seek to limit it, something that would give the killers a victory.
France, of course, was a cradle of the Age of Enlightenment. It should stand up for the values that have done such good in the world. The bright light of intellectual freedom must not be dimmed by savagery.
The Republican of Springfield (Mass.), Jan. 8:
Highways offer a perfect opportunity for bipartisanship. At least they ought to. They run through red states and blue states, through urban areas and rural America, on the liberal coasts and across the conservative South. They’ve even got, by their very design, a literal middle of the road, a median, a place for a kind of meeting of the minds.
In an era where so much is virtual, highways are tangible, concrete things. For business, for pleasure, for our daily commutes, we drive along real highways and across real bridges that cost real money to build and maintain.
And so it is that the new Congress has some Republicans ”“ yes, Republicans ”“ talking about the need to increase the gasoline tax in order to secure enough money to ensure that our roads and bridges are maintained and kept up to speed.
The new chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., has said that an increase in the gasoline tax will need to be considered. A few of his GOP colleagues have made similar statements.
Funding roads and bridge projects with the gasoline tax effectively creates a user fee. You drive, you pay. You drive more, you pay more. You drive a gas-guzzler, you pay more still.
The federal gasoline tax, which provides money for the nation’s Highway Trust Fund, stands at 18.4 cents per gallon. And there it has stood since 1993. Had it been indexed to inflation, it would be roughly 30 cents today. But it wasn’t indexed to inflation, hasn’t been adjusted, and as a result, the trust fund is always running on empty, in need of emergency cash infusions. What happens is this: The fund is allowed to come perilously close to dry, road and bridge projects in states across the land are threatened, and Congress provides a last-minute fill-up from the general fund. This hinders planning and fosters instability.
It’s so sensible that even some members of today’s often-intractably anti-tax Republican Party think it is good public policy. Except that it’s not 1993 any longer. And the tax needs to be adjusted.
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