Readers Write (Feb. 19): Federal regulations, bags, Alzheimer's, voter ID

The thought-provoking commentary on the role of government regulation prompts my response ("From housing crises to environmental disasters to food safety, there's one solution: Regulation," Feb. 12).

Mike Meyers cites a litany of examples where insufficient regulation or oversight in a wide array of essential industries, from food to financial systems, resulted in catastrophic and intolerable losses to individuals and society at large.

I would use a sports metaphor to underscore the importance of well-understood rules and regulations in order for the public to have confidence in the way the game is played and for victory/success to be meaningful.

Everyone accepts the fact that a win in any game is meaningless if you didn't play by the rules. The same applies to building trust in our financial system.

We have learned that wholesale deregulation of the financial industry unleashed greed and deception at an unprecedented scale at huge cost to our society.

MYRON JUST, ST. PAUL

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This year we are seeing more of the same, with three committee hearings just this week on bills that would weaken protections. Minnesota Environmental Partnership asked voters what they think about laws that protect our environment, in a statewide poll conducted by a professional bipartisan polling team last month.

A tiny minority -- only 12 percent -- of Minnesotans want to reduce the protections we have; a convincing 67 percent want tougher environmental laws or better enforcement of the laws we have, and 19 percent think laws and enforcement are at the right levels.

The majority of Minnesota legislators are out of step with the voters who elected them. We need a plan to restore Minnesota's great outdoors legacy -- not roll it back.

STEVE MORSE, ST. PAUL

The writer is the executive director of Minnesota Environmental Partnership.

We just returned from Hawaii, where plastic bags are banned, and learned that Target is now encouraging plastic over paper. I do have and use some reusable bags, but when I do my grocery shopping I prefer the large paper bags. Who wants to carry multiple small bags of groceries? I will not be doing as much of my grocery shopping at Target when I can no longer get paper bags.

KAREN OLSON, EDINA

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Thank you, Target, for eliminating renewable paper bags. Once again big shareholders and management bonuses trump doing the right thing. I wish I could believe that this is really a stealth strategy to eliminate offering any bags, and to encourage customers to bring reusable tote bags. Now wouldn't that be a win/win/win/win -- good for the company, the environment, the customer and our national security.

CRAIG BRITTON, PLYMOUTH

I applaud writer Maura Lerner's coverage of the Alzheimer's crisis with her profile of Dr. Karen Ashe at the University of Minnesota ("Stalking Alzheimers," Feb. 12). The story emphasized the availability and importance of early screening for dementia.

This issue becomes more crucial to Minnesotans with each passing day. More than 100,000 Minnesotans have Alzheimer's disease, and that number that will grow by one-fifth over the next decade. That's why it's crucial to take action now.

A coalition of citizens and community leaders have a united partnership, Prepare Minnesota for Alzheimer's 2020, which is dedicated to fighting the disease. Members of PMA 2020 are from backgrounds as diverse as the state's population. More than 30 organizations are involved, including 130 individuals with expertise in family medicine, assisted living and nursing home care, economics, neurology and public health.

State policymakers, both DFL and Republican, are PMA 2020 members, as are family caregivers and people living in the early stages of the disease. By working together, we hope to realize Ashe's dream of a future in which the looming Alzheimer's epidemic never occurs.

ROBERT KARRICK, ELLSWORTH, Wis.

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Minnesota has a rich tradition of high voter turnout, which can be attributed to the ease with which we allow voters here to participate in our democracy. Yet that tradition may soon be coming to an end due to the recent push for a state constitutional amendment requiring photo identification to vote.

All across the United States, there has been a movement to suppress votes for coming elections. Those in favor of this amendment want us to believe that there has been a huge increase in voter fraud. This is simply not true. The real motivations behind the voter ID push are partisan.

Conservatives believe that the fewer the voters there are, the better their chances of winning. They want to disenfranchise Minnesota voters, including seniors, low-income persons, students, people of color, disabled and rural residents from the right to vote.

Many of these groups turned out in large numbers to vote for Barack Obama in the 2008 election. We should be lowering the barriers to democratic participation, not denying Americans their right to vote.