To: Jared Polis; Re: Democratic leadership
Recently I received a mass letter from your office concerning your work as a congressman to help senior citizens with problems they may encounter with Social Security and Medicare benefits. As a senior citizen myself I thank you.
Perhaps you may someday become one of the leaders of the national Democratic Party. I imagine you have a very good chance of being the next governor of our state of Colorado. I’m writing you now about a most urgent concern: the lack of leadership of the Democratic Party to serve as a countervailing force to the excesses of President Trump and the Republican Party, now the majority party in Congress. In my judgment the Democratic Party leadership is hell-bent on blaming the Putin government for the defeat of Hillary Clinton in the presidential election. Yes, it’s possible that the Russians may have influenced the outcome of the election. While this preoccupation continues to capture the news, the Trump administration, behind the limelight, is destroying the safeguards of our governmental environmental policies and attempting to tear down the social safety net for poor Americans.
What are the Democrats doing about it? Shouldn’t this be one of the top priorities of the minority party?
Moreover, the lack of Democratic Party leadership of the DNC has not addressed the problems of foreign policy. In his rantings about NATO there is a grain of truth — why has NATO continued to encroach on the borders of Russia? Trump has asked why make Russia an enemy? Trump in his ravings has something there even though he is the wrong messenger.
I hate to say it, because I have been a Democrat since the George McGovern candidacy, but I’m now of the opinion that the Democratic Party is about as bad as the Republican Party. Most recently I have come to the conclusion that the DNC is corrupt in its sabotaging of Bernie Sanders in his run for president in the Democratic primaries. Hillary Clinton was a tainted, war-mongering candidate and thus many Democrats didn’t vote or didn’t vote for her. That’s not being discussed.
We desperately need new leadership of the Democratic Party.
Irving Franke, Ph.D./Boulder
Get real on democratic socialism
I was a Bernie Sanders supporter, as I saw him as the single honest candidate in the entire field of Democrats and Republicans, and certainly the most intelligent. Unfortunately, Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez and any other Democratic Socialist or Democrat, have no real fiscal answers as to how they are going to take care of everybody. This is the fatal flaw of the Dems and has been for decades. Fiscal non-reality. One of the negative impacts of this non-reality, and one that has rubbed me raw, is the drain of resources for illegal immigrants on our public education system. Just give it all away and compound that with Mrs. DeVos siphoning public funds to the affluent, and you have an over-milked school system.
I am all in favor of socialized policies and have seen on a firsthand basis the positive effects of socialized education and medicine in my wife’s home country of Switzerland, but let’s get real… until we find new resources of our tax base, like giving less to Israel, Iraq, Lower Slobbovia, etc. and spend less on defense and other items that countries that have successfully implemented socialized policies are not saddled with, we will never get there.
Michael Ortiz/Lafayette
Strike back to protect poor
What can we do to turn back the current “war on the poor?” (Re: “How vicious is the GOP’s war on the poor?” The Highroad, July 4, 2018). Of course our votes matter, but so do our voices. By calling, writing, and/or visiting those who represent us in Congress we can make a difference. For example, the current Farm Bill is ready to be decided by House/Senate conference. The House version will increase hunger in America by causing 2 million people to lose their SNAP benefits. The Senate version doesn’t cut SNAP, ask for that. Ask instead for action to help end the causes of hunger. Then follow-up. Together we can win this war and actually create the political will to end hunger and poverty.
Willie Dickerson/via internet
On the EPA
Our environment determines our health, the availability of natural resources and our way of life. We need an EPA that is committed to protecting our air, water and natural resources, all of which are tied to our health. Before being appointed head of the EPA, Scott Pruitt sued the agency 14 times to destroy clean air and water regulations. He wasted taxpayer money on getting his security detail to drive to hotels searching for lotion, amongst other ridiculous mockeries to the American taxpayer.
As an intern with Defend Our Future, a student-led environmental advocacy organization, I have seen the impact advocacy groups can make by calling out the corrupt and irresponsible behavior of Scott Pruitt that lead to the unprecedented public pressure for him to resign as head of the EPA. Although Pruitt’s exit was a win for Americans who want to protect our environment, we must not be complacent in accepting any replacement.
Interim administrator Andrew Wheeler is almost a shadow of Pruitt. He is a former lobbyist for the coal industry who worked for some of the largest chemical and uranium companies in the country, another clear conflict of interest at the top of the EPA. It is imperative that the American people and Congress hold Wheeler accountable, in the same way Pruitt eventually was, to ensure he will fulfil the mission of the agency: to protect our health and safety from dirty air, water and land.
Mikias Negussie/Denver
On ZTE
With dreams of sexual conquest likely having hit the wall of aging reality, what most occupies Donald Trump’s brain, other than his own ego and popularity, is making money. A case in point is the sanctioning of the Chinese company ZTE for ignoring sanctions against trading technology with Iran. Facing financial collapse, the company has been granted, in essence, a Presidential pardon by agreeing to pay a “fine” of a billion dollars into the U.S. Treasury. Having this kind of collateral, presumably from future profits, is boggling to an average person, but apparently such is the reality of global trade. Here what is important to realize about these numbers so casually tossed about is that a million seconds is roughly 11 days, a billion seconds 32 years, and a trillion seconds 320 centuries, but the important question is: how is this not “pay to play” extortion and/or bribery? Sadly, bullies and mob bosses succeed when surrounded by true believers, sycophants, and those forced to knuckle under.
Robert Porath/Boulder
