Mr Trusten. I understand your point, however, when Plan A fails, one
can either give up and take comfort in the fact that since Plan A is
the best approach, no other plan is worthy, or one could resort to
Plan B or Plan C all the way to Plan Z if that is what it takes. What
if no slave ever protested? Ending slavery was a state-by-state
solution to a federal issue. What if no lesbian or gay person ever
sought equal rights? Gay rights is a state-by-state solution to a
federal issue. What if no person being burned at the stake every spoke
out saying "I am not a witch"? Yes, I agree that a federal approach is
the best plan, but that is not working despite all our efforts. A
state-by-state approach it certainly not the best approach, but I
think it is much better than doing nothing; at least we could be a
squeaky wheel that gets the grease.
David Pearl MetricPioneer.com 503-428-4917
----- Message from trus...@mygrande.net ---------
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 10:21:47 -0500
From: Paul Trusten <trus...@mygrande.net>
Reply-To: trus...@mygrande.net
Subject: [USMA:53268] Re: Hawaii and Oregon
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu>
Cc: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu>
David,
I am grateful for your zealous enthusiasm for U.S. metrication.
There are not enough of you. We are fighting an uphill battle in
terms of public relations because of a dearth of national leadership
on the subject and the stubborn anti-metric prejudice across the
country, and we need all good voices to speak for our goal. We need
YOU!
However, I cannot bring myself to write to my representatives here
in Texas and urge them to support a plan similar to Hawaii's HB 36.
It is certainly not because I do not support metrication, because I
surely do. It is because metrication must be a national process,
like issuing currency. That is why the authors of our Constitution
sought to grant the power over measurement and money to the
Congress, so it could be applied for all purposes within every part
of the country, not only with each level of government, but also
within each sector of the society.
Our quest for one U.S. standard of measurement includes UNIFORMITY
of measurement. If Hawaii and Oregon pretend to adopt their own
systems of measurement, their laws may very easily be struck down on
constitutional grounds, and from a practical standpoint, I say
rightly so. I was exciting about the Hawaii bill because, it being
an island state, metrication might succeed in some respects. Still,
non-physical commerce still has to occur between Hawaii and the rest
of the country, and And, how does Oregon go metric when California
does not? Not only does a patchwork of metric and non-metric states
disrupt the economy, but it would also add to the pre-existing
public resentment over yet another half-hearted attempt to
metricate. We experienced that on a small scale with the debacle
over voluntary metrication of highway design in the 2000s. I don't
think people would want to engage in that again, and on the even
higher scale by the intrastate use of metric for all purposes.
Yes, I know that we are all experiencing a lot of frustration, and
our instinct is to do "something." State metrication may only be
seen as a protest vote of sorts. I may be wrong--who knows what will
transpire in life and politics---but I don't think we can metricate
by local protest, but only by national action. It's just in the
nature of measurement: everybody measures.
Paul Trusten, Registered Pharmacist
Vice President and Public Relations Director
U.S. Metric Association, Inc.
Midland, Texas, USA
+1(432)528-7724
www.metric.org
trus...@grandecom.net
On Sep 16, 2013, at 14:42, cont...@metricpioneer.com wrote:
I met with Representative Kevin Cameron this morning who wrote a
note authorizing Oregon Legislative Counsel to introduce
legislation to the Oregon House in the 2015 Session. I spoke with
Legislative Counsel Dexter A. Johnson and handed him a copy of
Hawaii HB 36. Dexter will write up this Oregon legislation that I
introduce today based on Hawaii HB 36 but modified for Oregon with
a 2020 date (instead of 2018 for Hawaii). I strongly urge every
recipient of this email to do the same thing in your state; just
arrange a meeting with your government representative and do what I
did. It is not so difficult. Let's try to complete our metrication
state by state along with all the other methods we have been trying
for these so many years. Remember that the United States just needs
to complete metrication; we are not starting from scratch here. If
you think that you cannot do this, think again.
David Pearl MetricPioneer.com 503-428-4917
----- End message from trus...@mygrande.net -----
