Senate Majority Caucus

The Maui News recently published the following op-ed by Senate Majority Leader Gary Hooser on the state’s “economic vitality and long-term sustainability”:

by Senator Gary Hooser
District 7

On August 2, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman on “This Week with Stephanopoulos” cautiously affirmed what Newsweek announced on its front cover: The Recession is Over. For all those people still struggling to make ends meet in the aftermath of foreclosures, bankruptcies and job losses, this may be hard to swallow. The lack of clarity as to what lies on the horizon makes navigating the troubled waters of recovery all the more difficult. As the Newsweek story points out, it will be a “pokey, painful recovery.”

It is time to lift our heads, put our shoulders and our brains to the task and move past the siege mentality that currently hobbles both our state government and the private sector. It is time to refocus and confront the new reality.

Gov. Linda Lingle and our leaders in labor need to strike a quick and fair bargain. And we all need to turn our attention to the task of revitalizing our economy, re-energizing our education system and building a sustainable future – all while replanting the seeds of hope and optimism in our community. We live in one of the greatest places on this planet and we have within ourselves the power and the ability to reinvigorate our economy and our people.

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Senator Gary Hooser will appear on KITV4 tomorrow morning at 6:30 a.m. to discuss the current situation facing the Superferry.

The Superferry is halting ferry services to the island of Maui after the Hawaii State Supreme Court ruled Monday that Act 2, which allowed the Superferry to operate while conducting an environmental impact statement, was unconstitutional.

by Senator Gary L. Hooser

District 7

One of the duties of our elected officials is to stand as the voice of minorities in ensuring that all of our citizens are treated equally. The very fact that our society relies upon our state and federal constitutions in defining the rights of our citizens demonstrates that we must be more concerned with fundamental policies and core values than with the momentary stance of the majority. The rights of minorities cannot be defined solely by the sanction of the majority; they should instead reflect the ideals of our nation and our state in ensuring equality for all.

There are few among us who do not represent a group that once suffered discrimination at the hands of a well-intentioned majority. Our history is littered with examples of what happens when rights are defined solely by the majority view. Majorities once argued for the propriety of segregated schools and universities, the internment of Japanese-Americans, the exclusion of Chinese immigrants, and the denial of women’s right to vote. In each instance, the majority that withheld rights from the minority believed they were acting from the purest of motives: preserving established ways of life, protecting the weaker sex, economic stability and national security. Today we look upon those events as societal failures and historical embarrassments.

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