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Leaning left in the Sunday letters to the editor

Re: “In defense of the Democratic caucuses and grassroots organizing,” and “Republican Party hung the heavy price on health care,” April 12 letters to the editor

Pop quiz:

Letters to the editor published in the Post are

a) an accurate reflection of the political leanings of its readership

b) a reflection of the Post抖阴ap editorial bias and accompanying discretion

c) all of the above

Hint: there is no right answer.

But whatever the reason, it抖阴ap obvious the published letters skew left and even hard left, Sunday after Sunday. One fellow in defense of the caucusing process in our state asserts, regarding Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet, that 鈥渢heir centrist pandering to Republican colleagues in the Senate is deeply unpopular.鈥� Wait, what? Plenty of adjectives apply to Colorado鈥檚 Democratic senators, but centrist isn鈥檛 any of them. Unless, of course, you skew hard left — really hard left.

And then there鈥檚 the writer who, as the headline summarizes, hangs the heavy price of health care on Republicans. 鈥淭he reasons for our health care situation fall in the lap of the Republican Party 鈥� before backtracking with 鈥淭his is not a Republican or Democratic issue…鈥� That抖阴ap not atypical for those who are somewhere left of center who want it both ways and deny the fact that health care policy is a political issue and nothing more. Rather than recognize that reality, they choose to occupy an imaginary moral high ground with empty phrases like 鈥減eople will die…鈥� .

The good news for those of us who are somewhere right of center is that the Op-Ed page doubles as the entertainment section for us.

Jon Pitt, Golden

‘Leftward’ movements that have benefited Colorado’s residents

Re: “Can Colorado’s GOP recover?” April 12 commentary

Columnist Kafer, mourning the loss of Republican power during the Trump decade, attributes the rise of Democrats in part to 鈥渟ome very smart, strategic decisions to move the state leftward.鈥� The tone implies that leftward is undesirable and in need of correction by a revived Republican Party.

What if, though, leftward succeeded over the past 10 years because leftward policies create results that Coloradans want and value? What if leftward means good for the people? What if leftward eases people鈥檚 burdens and makes Coloradans鈥� lives better, fairer and healthier?

Leftward created:

1. , a state-wide, universal paid family leave program that allows workers to have babies, care for loved ones, and recover from illness in dignity.

2. Universal free full day kindergarten and pre-school, relieving some of families鈥� still enormous childcare burdens while improving early childhood education for all.

3. A mandate that employers post in job announcements, thus increasing applicants鈥� control in their job searches.

4. Prohibitions against landlords鈥� most abusive and practices, making tenants鈥� lives easier without endangering the landlord class.

5. A 2026 minimum wage of and hour, where the federal minimum wage remains at an aughts-era .

6. An attorney general who courageously fights the abuses of a federal executive branch and the monopolization efforts of grocery conglomerates, compared to a Republican attorney general who sought to destroy the Affordable Care Act (he failed).

Floy Jeffares, Lakewood

I suppose it is ironic that Krista Kafer鈥檚 column lamenting the changes in the Colorado GOP is published the day after the Colorado GOP has their state nominating meeting in Pueblo where they nominated two candidates, one of whom wants to 鈥淒OGE the mess out of everything” at the state Capitol (since that worked so well in Washington) and claims there is a pedophile ring at the state Capitol that he will reveal after he is elected. Both have stated they will free Tina Peters

The sad fact is that the Republican Party, both in Colorado and nationwide, has lost its mind and moral compass and is incapable of governing. When all you want to do is tear things down, rather than build things up, then you are incapable of making rational decisions and making things better. Unfortunately, this is where the Republican party is today, and they are no alternative to the Democrats in running the state (or nation), given the binary choice between the two visions of democracy.

I keep hoping for the day that the fever will break in the Republican Party and they return to the country-club Republican party I grew up around, where making things work was the call of the day, but it is increasingly looking like that will not happen in the remainder of my days on this mortal coil.

Martin Ward,听Aurora

Falsely claiming genocide

Re: “Bennet’s shortsighted move to back out of a forum,” April 12 editorial

In Sunday鈥檚 editorial criticizing Sen. Michael Bennet, the writer casually tossed out the accusation that 鈥淚srael waged a genocidal war鈥� against the Gazans. Quite the opposite is true.

If Israel intended to eradicate Gazans, why hasn鈥檛 it over the past 2 1/2 years?听Israel has killed perhaps under 2% of Gaza’s civilians, while nearly all of Hamas鈥� deeply embedded military capability is gone. Why did Israel facilitate the delivery of over a million tons of aid, send millions of messages to civilians instructing them how to flee, execute elaborate evacuation plans, and abort a large portion of its military strikes due to civilian presence?

Clearly, Israel鈥檚 intent was to minimize civilian casualties while pursuing fighters in the complex, civilian-threatening, 3D battlespace that Hamas created.

鈥淚srael has done听more to prevent civilian casualties听in war than any military in history,鈥� according to , a U.S. war scholar.

Agreed, genocide is very bad. Falsely accusing genocide is also bad. Many agencies, media, and so-called experts are lining up to hurl the pithy genocide accusation at Israel. The editorial board should take a few moments to learn about the false accusation (see the 100-second by Dr. Sara Brown or the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies debunking genocide) before queuing up in that line.

Mark Brown, Littleton

Acknowledge the real potential harms to girls in transgender sports

Re: “Proposed initiative on transgender athletes puts our daughters at risk,” April 12 commentary

Mike Smith鈥檚 commentary against falsely claimed that it 鈥減uts our daughters at risk鈥�. Initiative 109 focuses on designating a school athletic team or intramural sport, based on biological sex, whereby a team or sport designated for girls does not allow on the team persons who are biologically boys. That reduces the risk of injury to girls on the team or on an opposing girls鈥� team. That far outweighs Smith鈥檚 stated concerns about his tall daughter being falsely accused of being a biological boy. Most tall teenage daughters would not be mistaken for being a biological boy. Colorado schools have records of their students鈥� biological sex.

Read the full initiative on the secretary of state鈥檚 website to appreciate Smith鈥檚 many nonsensical remarks, such as his 鈥淲hen you write laws that treat every child as a potential suspect, you are not protecting kids,鈥� and his 鈥淚nitiative 109 is vague and poorly written, leaving critical questions unanswered about how it would actually be enforced.鈥�

Smith mentions that a Utah State Board of Education member incorrectly implied on social media that a teenage girl was a biological boy. Smith falsely called it 鈥渙ne among many examples of the harm these policies cause to female athletes,鈥� whereby he claims 鈥測ou are not protecting kids 鈥� you鈥檙e endangering them.鈥� He did not mention that the offending board member was by the Utah legislature and governor and was recently forced off the board.

Joseph B. Feiten,听Westminster

Managing water rights is an unenviable — yet necessary — task

Re: “,” April 12 commentary

Kudos for the article on depleted water supplies in the Colorado River Basin, as that has critical, far-ranging impacts beyond just that watershed. It has long been recognized that management of the Colorado’s water supplies had a “structural deficit” (more water was allocated than is actually available), in part because the 1922 Colorado River Compact was based on a series of exceptionally wet years.

Additionally, the compact ignored the rights of Native Americans (who hold the senior water rights), did not consider Mexico’s water claims, and did not address any water needs for the basin’s environment.

Furthermore, the situation has been made much more dire because of “aridification,” which has increased temperatures, modified precipitation, and reduced river flows throughout the basin.

Now state and federal officials are faced with the daunting task of determining how the river should be managed in the future. I do not envy those individuals, for politically, it is a no-win situation. They must deal with the realities of nature and can no longer “kick the can down the road,” for the can has fallen off the cliff!

Given the ongoing rhetoric, I can’t say I’m optimistic, but hopefully, collective wisdom may prevail, and a solution will be found that provides equitable water supplies for all involved (states, tribes, and our environment). However, if agreement cannot be found and the situation results in litigation, there will be a lengthy and costly process, and no one wins.

Water touches every aspect of our lives as it is essential for our very existence, a key aspect of our quality of life, necessary for the environment, and critical to our economy. Therefore, I hope The Denver Post will continue to cover water issues beyond just the Colorado River.

听Gene Reetz, Denver

Editor’s note: Reets is a retired EPA senior water resources scientist.

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