‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ is vulgar, but the real problem is its victim mentality | Opinion

‘Rich Men’ song doesn’t impress me

I am probably the target demographic for Oliver Anthony’s viral folk song “Rich Men North of Richmond”: white, conservative, of Appalachian descent. (Aug. 31, 2A, “Anthony’s ‘Rich Men’ remains No. 1 song in US”)

But I have to say I am not impressed. I don’t like the vulgar language in the lyrics. But more fundamentally, the song’s message that it’s other people’s fault that you’re underpaid comes across as envious. People tend to get paid what it costs to replace them. And while we’d all like to get more, no ethnic group has a monopoly on feeling undervalued.

- David Jackson, Keller

I know: Water tax is needed

Regarding Brian Byrd’s column, “This isn’t time for Fort Worth to raise taxes,” about city budget increases, (Aug. 27. 5A): The water department is one of the few city departments operating on a cost-of-service basis. It gets no tax money. Its main source of funding is payments from water users. It must walk a tightrope of predicting the water demand, anticipating the annual rainfall, providing for maintenance and upkeep of facilities and planning for expansion as the city grows.

The budgeting process begins almost a year before any impact on ratepayers begins. Remarkably, the water department has recommended a raise in rates only once in the last five years, which the City Council approved. I can think of very few things that have gone up in price that infrequently in the last half-decade.

As a citizen member of the Retail Rate Advisory Committee, I assure you any increase is thoroughly vetted.

- Daniel Haase, Fort Worth

Corn pudding a delicious quiet

I made Gretchen McKay’s corn pudding recipe featured on the front page of the Aug. 16 Life & Arts section. (1C, “Corn pudding a classic side dish”) When I saw the recipe, I thought of the silly Apple TV+ show called “Schmigadoon!” Reading it made me smile, and the pudding is tasty, too.

It was nice to have something fun to read besides all the terrible doom and gloom, revisionist history and more banned books.

- Gabrielle Gordon, unincorporated Tarrant County

Our taxes shouldn’t feed schoolkids

The decision by Fort Worth schools to offer free meals to all students with money from the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program is ample evidence how wasteful the federal government is with our hard-earned tax dollars. (Aug. 23, 1A, “All Fort Worth ISD students will eat free this year”)

There is no constitutional authority for the feds to be involved in education at all, let alone throw millions of dollars away feeding kids whether they need financial help or not. This is also proof of how wasteful the Fort Worth ISD and so many urban districts are. They should refuse this money and behave financially responsibly.

- Mark Carter, Benbrook

Is the internet our kids’ real problem?

While I agree that something should be done to protect children from harmful content on the internet, engaging the state as arbiter in the debate over what is and what is not harmful is nothing short of Orwellian. Every time this topic is revisited in our Legislature, it seems that nobody, state resident or politician, is willing to stand for parental responsibility as a primary means of accomplishing goals.

Parents of children so accustomed to the continuous stream of connectedness that mobile devices provide seem reluctant to give control to anything that would remotely strike dissatisfaction or discomfort (psychological or otherwise) in their children.

Which is the greater evil: the internet at large or parents who shun their responsibility to society by refusing to raise their own children?

- Jake Hawkins, Dallas