The good and bad of the Republican Party
Re: “Still a Republican, and still proud of it,” Oct. 25 Colorado Voices column.
Jessica Peck Corry of the Independence Institute drew our attention to three Republicans with admirable qualities who understandably serve as role models for her. I kept waiting for her to draw a comparison between these fearless fighters for independence from government control over the lives of citizens and those present leaders of the Republican Party who currently run our country.
By failing to draw the obvious distinction between the Republican leadership as exemplified by Margaret Chase Smith, et al, and the current and recent Republican leadership, most notably George W. Bush and Karl Rove nationally and John Andrews locally, Corry fails to garner credibility. It gives me reason to question the appropriateness of the word “Independence” in the name of the institute she writes for and represents.
Tom Parsons, Broomfield
Focus on the Family president’s election warning
Re: “Dobson warns of fallout if Democrats take Congress,” Nov. 1 news story.
James Dobson of Focus on the Family warned of all kinds of paralyzing, crippling effects on the presidency and setbacks in battles against abortion and gay marriage if the Democrats take Congress. Dobson’s “true believers” will undoubtedly do whatever they are told to do. That is what “true believers” in any movement do. Their religion is used to scare and coerce people into falling in line. It doesn’t matter what the larger issues are in this country (like out-of-control debt, a war built on lies, a crisis in health care, etc.). As long as Dobson’s narrow agenda is followed and his believers continue to send him money, they are told that is all that matters and they will be rewarded with a place in what they call heaven.
Janice Mowry, Lakewood
…
So James Dobson directed followers nationwide to vote Republican. Dobson’s cliches (“values voters,” “in the midst of a war,” “same-sex marriage”), instead of hard factual evidence, fail to persuade. Search the record. Twelve years of Republican Congresses, six years of a fear- and war-mongering Bush administration. Results?
A vote for Republicans is a vote for the party of delusion, death, destruction and debacle; the party of debt and deficit; the party of disdain, deception, dishonesty, demonizing and divisiveness; the party of dogma, despotism and dumbing down; the party of delinquency, demagoguery and denial. It’s the party of diplomacy by damning, derision and do-nothing. And the party of dollar-driven democracy.
So why send Dobson’s people-bashing, Christian-using, greedy, government-hating gasbags to govern? They can’t govern.
Daniel W. Brickley, Littleton
Population growth and the U.S. birth rate
Re: “How will population affect U.S.?” Oct. 26 Ved Nanda column.
Ved Nanda has written an informative piece showing that we need to develop a sustainable population policy in this land of dwindling resources. We should all remember that China has already encountered an overpopulation problem. First they tried convincing their people to voluntarily limit the number of offspring, but when that failed, the government was driven to draconian measures of forced abortions until contraceptives made those unnecessary.
Currently there is a renewed attack against birth control in our country. Ved Nanda’s revelation that we are the only industrialized nation whose birth rate exceeds our replacement rate shows that either that attack is working, or people are not concerned about the consequences of excessive growth.
Either way, parents should be made to assume responsibility. Our laws should be changed to allow tax exemptions for only two children per family. The taxes derived from larger families could help provide contraceptives to those families unable to afford them.
Janet Brazill, Colorado Springs
9/11 conspiracy theory
Re: “Backers hail 9/11 theorist’s speech,” Oct. 30 news story.
I would like to commend The Denver Post for doing a story on the Scholars for 9/11 Truth event in Denver and Boulder last weekend. Not only did you cover the event, but you placed the story on the front page of Monday’s paper. It is the rare media publication in our country that will give any recognition, let alone credence, to the 9/11 Truth movement. The general public will only be aware of the calls for a new investigation and the mounting scientific evidence surrounding the events of that day when papers such as yours print this information.
Marti Hopper, Boulder
Obama is a fresh face
Letter-writer J.L. Penfold criticizes the comparison between Sen. Barack Obama and John F. Kennedy (Oct. 31 Open Forum). But Obama possesses something that Kennedy did not: the experience of growing up in America as a member of two minority groups. Obama is the melting pot that America was always termed to be. If experience matters in politics, we would never elect the fresh face.
Mr. Penfold made a statement that Obama being taken seriously for the 2008 presidential bid says a lot about the national Democratic Party, and he is right. New ideas and actual debate are what the party is about, not centralizing talking points so that no one will have their own thought on things that matter. This is what the Democrats are about. I like that. I thought that was what politics was about.
David Wells, Westminster
Ranchers and wolves
Re: “Battle line drawn,” Oct. 16 news story.
I am an eighth-grade student attending Jefferson County Open School. I was thoroughly unimpressed by the stretched truths displayed in this article.
I have been taking a class on the topic of wolves. I have learned a lot, and I have learned facts that contradict the ones that were stated in that article. Cat Urbikit, a sheep rancher, said her “son was in jeopardy” because the wolves were looking at him. This statement is irrational, to say the least. There has never been a recorded attack on a human by a healthy wolf.
Chase Graham, Littleton
Creating a rainy-day fund for state budget
Re: “A boost for state maintenance,” Nov. 1 editorial.
Thanks for suggesting that the state prepare for the future by saving a portion of the revenue generated by our currently strong economy. The economy will inevitably soften, and it is prudent to prepare for that eventuality in order to avoid drastic cuts in vital public services.
The legislature tried last session to create a rain-day fund, but those proposals were complicated and too rigid in structure. A simple and workable solution would be to increase the size of the statutory reserve, over time, to create a savings account equivalent to 8 to 10 percent of annual spending. The current reserve has been used to help offset cuts during bad economic times, but since it amounts to only 4 percent of spending, its impact has been limited. An increase in the size of the reserve could be easily accomplished statutorily and would give our lawmakers a more meaningful tool for managing public services without having to make cuts in the short term.
Such a solution could go a long way to showing voters that lawmakers aren’t just interested in spending every dollar taken in and that they have a longer-term view of prudent fiscal management.
Carol Hedges, Senior Fiscal Analyst, Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, Denver
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