Don’t penalize me because I like sugar

Iconsume sugary drinks and sodas. I have enjoyed them all of my life. I keep a supply on hand for guests and parties. They are not cigarettes or alcohol. They do not foul the air around us when consumed. They do not impair judgment when driving. It offends me that now I should be penalized for consuming sugar. Sorry, mayor, not me. Just as when you doubled the parking fees downtown and I did not have enough quarters in my pocket, I chose to stay away from the area and do my shopping and other activities elsewhere. Now, I will go elsewhere to buy my soda products. Sorry, Santa Fe businesses. As I am buying my sodas, I will probably pick up everything else I need at the time — taking more money from you. You’d better fight this, as tomorrow it will be something else. Mary Delgado

Santa Fe

Licensing tyranny

The destructive behavior of the Trumpsters is quite intentional. Steve Bannon, chief strategist to Donald Trump’s inner circle is a white supremacist and nationalist (polite term for neo-Nazi and neo-fascist) who has said explicitly that his aim is to destroy established political institutions. Presumably, this includes the Constitution and all American principles of governance, not just all government agencies, political parties, public health, public education and the press.

Congressional Republicans share the goal of eviscerating the federal government. They signed on to Grover Norquist’s pledge of “no new taxes,” knowing full well that this evisceration was Norquist’s goal.

Trump, Bannon and their henchmen aim to concentrate power in a tyranny, supported by corporate and plutocratic powers, for whom — as for The Donald — profit and self-aggrandizement override all other social, political, ethical and moral considerations. I hold all this to be treason, if ever treason was. Our silence licenses tyranny. Hans von Briesen

Santa Fe

Changing habits

“No” to the soda tax (“Questions, battle lines confront sugary-drinks tax,” Feb. 28). This is but another example of the mayor mistakenly believing that government is better able to direct our behavior than we are, as individuals. Further, it is disingenuous to take money from the public to do so. I fear he may be taking his opinion from George Orwell rather than sound professional knowledge about human behavior. We, the general public, are best able to determine what beverages we should consume. If the mayor wishes to change soda drinking habits, he should advocate improving human conduct rather than forcing government regulation. Margaret Sears

Santa Fe

No waiting

As an early childhood development specialist, I have worked with children and teachers in Santa Fe for my entire career. If we, as a community, are serious about solving the problems of inequality on a variety of levels, then we must start with our youngest children. Providing quality pre-K programs for all young children is a most effective way to do this.

Public policy should not sacrifice our children in an effort to keep sugary drinks as cheap as possible. Instead, let’s come together as a community and do the one thing that’s proven to have an enormous impact on the social and economic future of all of our children: making quality pre-K programs available for all of Santa Fe’s young children. It is the right thing to do. Let the citizens of Santa Fe decide this issue in May. Faith Garfield, M.A. Santa Fe

Better funding

A serious, inclusive early childhood education program is too important to depend upon an unpredictable sales resource for maintaining operations. If sales of sugary drinks decline, what would we substitute — a tax on chocolate? Maybe we should increase the wine tax to update recycling equipment for glass, since our glass recycling program is being cut. We could also tax pesticides to pay for city park landscaping and impose another gas tax to help maintain parking facilities. Where does it end? I agree with David Schulman (“Careening down path of fiscal irresponsibility,” Letters to the Editor, Feb. 23). Less-effective city programs should be seriously evaluated before implementing new ones. Make it happen in a sustainable way within the city budget. For starters, let’s finally remove the Christmas lights from 2016 on the Plaza, since several other holidays now have passed and soon we’ll be approaching summer. MaryJoy Ford Santa Fe