‘No Kings’ protesters showing up in numbers can’t be ignored
Re: “Protests draw crowds across Denver, Colorado,” and “Protesters across the U.S. rally against Trump administration,” March 29 news story
Saturday, March 28, was a day of rallies protesting the current administration. These “No Kings” rallies took place in hundreds of locations across the United States and in cities around the world.
The protests are “Trump Derangement Therapy,” said a White House spokesperson, who went on to say “the reporters who are paid to cover them” are the only people who care.
I agree wholeheartedly that our supreme leader requires therapy.
I disagree that few people care about these events. Ask any one of the millions of people who attended these events. Millions of people are protesting the current administration. And many more honked car horns and waved in agreement as they drove by.
I have experienced 70 years on Earth. In all that time, I have never attended a protest rally. As of that Saturday, I can no longer make that claim. I joined a “No Kings” rally because I felt that I could no longer sit on the sidelines.
What am I protesting? Itap a long list – much too long for this forum. The incomprehensible war with Iran was the last straw. And now a White House official has said that Trump is bored with the war. Bored? Really? Donald Trump, do you think this is a video game? Do you have no idea what you have initiated? Have you no concern for the monetary and emotional trauma that you caused? Bored. OK. OK. One more item for my list of reasons to protest.
No Kings! Dump Trump!
Mark Brinckerhoff, Littleton
Disappointed to see that the “No Kings” protests here in Colorado, nationally, and internationally weren’t front page news, but road planning was, which is lovely, don’t get me wrong, but there are more important things going on right now.
Craig Marshall Smith, Highlands Ranch
Road project are expensive with questionable returns
Re: “Denver planning 500 road projects,” March 29 news story
It’s pretty clear that our elected officials and government agency managers don’t care how much of our money they spend. Worse still, they don’t seem terribly concerned about how effective that spending is. So, what the heck, let’s have some more light rail, additional bike lanes, dedicated bus lanes, and ugly plastic posts to further snarl traffic, reduce parking spaces, disadvantage small merchants and unsettle neighborhoods.
Please pay no mind to the fact that much of the public transportation and infrastructure we already have is inefficient, unreliable and woefully underutilized. (We could, of course, do more to improve what’s currently in place, but that’s not as much fun as building new stuff.)
Also, let’s continue to disregard the likelihood that a great majority of metro Denver residents are never going to quit using their vehicles under any circumstances.
We have nothing to lose but our money, time and patience!
Larry Zepelin, Denver
I am a daily transportation biker. The bike lane on Broadway is an example of the kind of boondoggle that we can expect more of. The lane cost nearly $1 million per block and gets very little use.
Two-way bike lanes are inherently unsafe. The lane raises the overall carbon footprint of Broadway by removing a lane for motor vehicles and by forcing left-turning vehicles to wait for a green signal where previously they could turn left when clear.
It is a pipe dream that more bike lanes will make a meaningful difference in motorized traffic.
Richard Replin, Denver
“If you make driving miserable, people will get out of their cars.” This appears to be the theory behind the billion-dollar program to “calm” Denver’s streets. But does Mayor Mike Johnston not realize that traffic flows like water? Any restriction on the main traffic arteries only guarantees that traffic through neighborhoods will increase. Besides, the last time I looked, RTD was planning to reduce bus service.
Instead of plowing ahead with the current design, perhaps a pause is warranted. The bus lane project on East Colfax is nearly finished. A non-dogmatic person would say that this would be an excellent time to see how real-world drivers actually respond. If the observed outcomes support the current plan (e.g., increased bus ridership on the route), move ahead. If they do not, it’s time to come up with something new.
Guy Wroble, Denver
Sabotage in the Trump administration? More accurately, ‘arrogance and incompetence’
Re: “Trump’s 2.0 presidency being sabotaged from within,” March 29 commentary
Columnist Martin Schram argues that the Trump administration “has been … sabotaged from within.” Sabotage is the deliberate subversion of a nation’s resources. Sounds sinister. But what are Schram’s examples?
Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Dan Caine advised the president that, if attacked, the Iranians would likely close the Straight of Hormuz. The president ignored Caine’s advice, and the Iranians did just that.
The president himself chose not to name a new full-time national security adviser after removing Mike Waltz, who had included a journalist in supposedly secure communications regarding military action.
If these failings are sabotage from within, it is only because the president is at the center of his administration. More accurately, these failings are arrogance and incompetence.
Randy Livingston, Denver
Amendment aims to raise citizens’ voices in elections over big donors
January marked the 50th anniversary of Buckley v. Valeo, the Supreme Court decision that opened the door to today’s era of unlimited money in politics. Since then, our elections have been increasingly dominated by big money, dark money, and foreign-influenced spending, leaving everyday citizens on the sidelines.
This is not a partisan issue. It is a self-government issue. When a small number of wealthy interests can drown out the voices of millions, the core promise of our republic that political power comes from the people is at risk.
In Colorado, voters recognized this problem long ago. In 2012, 73 percent of Coloradans approved Amendment 65, which instructs our legislature and congressional delegation to support a federal constitutional amendment allowing reasonable limits on campaign spending. Coloradans across the political spectrum made it clear: Our elections were not for sale.
Yet today, Congress and the states still lack meaningful authority to set the rules for their own elections. That power has been shifted to the courts and away from voters.
More recently, the “ Amendment has been proposed. Consistent with Amendment 65, it has a simple objective: to ensure fair elections and that the government represents people, not just large donors.
As America approaches its 250th birthday, we face a choice about the future of our republic. I encourage my fellow Coloradans to contact their elected officials and ask them to support the “For Our Freedom” Amendment, restore self-government, and put ‘We the People’ back in charge.
David Stringfellow, Thornton
Agriculture and ranching also need to pitch in on water-saving measures
Re: “Colorado’s lowest snowpack on record is rapidly melting,” March 29 editorial
Did Rip Van Winkle write The Postap editorial musing about whether the West “could be entering a period of extended drought?” Whoever it was must have been napping to have missed the fact that the first quarter of the 21st century was the driest in more than a 100 years, and according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, “one of the driest periods in the last 1,200 years.”
The Post also apparently believes agriculture and ranching have no responsibility in helping to cope with the drought, despite the fact that agriculture uses at least 85% of water consumed in the state.
To be good stewards of the state’s water resources requires that all users, including farmers and ranchers, take substantive measures that balance demands for water with increasingly limited supplies.
Ronald L. Rudolph, Golden
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