The Open Forum
Letters to the Editor
Why do we celebrate the Fourth?
Why do we still celebrate the Fourth of July? As a kid, we honored our freedoms as put forth in the Constitution. However, with each passing year we are slowly losing these freedoms. We were given the right to freely speak our beliefs without any consequences. But look what happened to Roseanne Barr. Also, if you dare stray from what is “politically correct,” you are mentally stoned to death by the public.
Then there is freedom of the press. President Trump was one of the first to point out that most news was fake. A perfect example was when the press released the lie that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
We are and always have been the land of the brave, but are we really the home of the free? Jason McCormick, Lakewood
Energy workers deserve respect
Re: “Environmental protections don’t kill business, but shortsightedness may,” June 30 commentary
This commentary is false in both title and reality. Overreaching environmental laws lead to business closures and workers losing their jobs. I spend my time in once-prosperous rural towns where eight years of the Obama administration’s ideological regulations brought unemployment, lost tax revenue, school closures and an opioid epidemic. These regulations are being eliminated and some towns are returning to life, but at what cost? If only the Environmental Defense Fund and green donors like Tom Steyer and Mike Bloomberg calculated the human toll of their green activism. We can have both a robust economy and a healthy environment, but supporting regulations that drive businesses out of state is grossly disrespectful of the men and women in the industry whose hard work powers our nation. Daniel Turner, Washington, D.C. Daniel Turner is executive director of Power the Future, which advocates for energy workers.
Safety first in oil regulations
Re: “Oil and gas bans in Wattenberg Field could cost billions,” July 1 commentary
The greed of the oil and gas industry never ceases to amaze me. Neil Ray, president of Colorado Alliance of Mineral and Royalty Owners, writes about all the lost funds for schools and mineral-rights owners should the 2,500-foot setback regulation pass. We had four deaths and many more injured in Colorado during 2017 due to the oil and gas industry. I wonder what value Mr. Ray puts on human life? Janice Brown, Englewood
Is Obama stepping up?
I have repeatedly read that the Democratic Party doesn’t have a leader and that Barack Obama has chosen not to be involved. I think things are changing. I received two emails in the last two days from Obama. In one, he asked for donations for Organizing for ’18, once named Organizing for Action. In the second, he asked for involvement in the upcoming election. As only Obama can, he eloquently made me feel the urgency in our situation as a nation, by appealing for involvement, not cynicism. Eileen Conroy, Arvada
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