The strongest arguments for metrication are economic and bipartisan, aren't they?
Sent from my iPhone On Jun 4, 2015, at 4:07 PM, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: >> From an outsider, if I may: > > There is little hope that Chafee will get anywhere in his bid for US > President. BUT, he might well get some sort of position in a Clinton > administration, should she be successful. It seems to me that Chafee could > lay a lot of groundwork right now with Clinton regarding completing metric > conversion. > > Just my two cents' worth. > > John F-L > > -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] > Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2015 7:45 PM > To: U.S. Metric Association > Subject: [USMA:54727] An Opportunity for the USMA (or Chafee Could Do a Lot > of Harm) > > Paul (Trusten) -- A good response as always, Paul. The advantage of > Chaffee's statement is that it has drawn attention to the metric question > once again. BUT -- and it is a big BUT: > > Chafee did an absolutely lousy job in rolling out his policy. He claimed > (briefly) that metrication would be a boost to international commerce, but > he didn't give any argument for why that would be the case. He could have > talked about figures from the U.S. Metric Study (updated), he could have > talked about improving STEM education to get our students jobs, he could > have talked to the benefit to U.S. workers not having to buy two sets of > tools, he could talked about greater markets for U.S. goods. BUT -- he > didn't. > > Moreover, I would have hoped that he would mention that the U.S. is > already half metric and is paying a high price for not pushing the > conversion to completion, but remaining in limbo. He could have educated > people (briefly) about the fact that they are already metric in medicine, > pharmaceuticals, alcohol, lighting, electricity, automotive, and many > other areas. American still remain ignorant of this fact. BUT -- he > didn't. > > As a result, the press simply dredged up the old jokes against metric > instead of discussing the issue as an economic and educational one. I > noted that one of the hosts on Fox News said that Chafee was "thousands of > meters behind" in getting votes. It is of interest that Fox News, the > leading cable news company, is using meters more and more in its > broadcasts. > > It's going to be an uphill battle, but if we are to avoid metric being the > butt of jokes instead of the way to the future economy, I strongly urge > that you, Paul, or Dan, or someone of like metric knowledge and > credentials, make a real effort to get through to Chafee, educate him on > metric, and help him develop "talking points" for his speeches so that he > won't sound like the -- sorry -- fool that he came across on television > yesterday. > > If Chafee continues to play the fool, the result will be that candidates > back off any recommendation toward metric. And you know that every one of > the candidates in both parties will be asked the question -- if they > haven't been already. USMA needs to move fast. > > My recommendation would be to downplay the metric law and emphasize jobs > and commerce. The U.S. needs a lot of education about this, but if we can > get the message across that "Metric Means Jobs and Money" (how's that for > a motto!), we might be able to move the debate to our side. > > Martin Morrison > "USMA Today" Training & Education Columnist > > > > ----- > No virus found in this message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 2015.0.5961 / Virus Database: 4355/9939 - Release Date: 06/04/15
