Politics should be about good ideas, not money
Editor:
I take issue with unions being labeled as some kind of evil, and especially those for teachers, fire and police. These people risk their lives for us every day, and if you say that teachers don’t belong in the grouping, you obviously never taught in a city school.
Well, I have, and in my first year while standing at the door of my room greeting students as they entered, I heard the sound of gunfire in the hall just around the corner from my room.
I hustled all students who were in the hall into my room, and had them seated and quiet until we were given the all-clear from the principal. I also discovered why there was an armed guard at each entrance to the school.
As for factory worker unions, my mother was a union boss in a small seamstress factory. They never asked for anything they did not deserve. My mother was a life-long Republican. And while living in New York City for almost 30 years, I saw the worst and the best of union activity.
I don’t recall the teacher, fire or police unions being criticized by the general public. I learned that unions exist when there is a need for them — i.e., a large enough imbalance between worker and management needs.
And let’s not use the Supreme Court decision in what is called the Citizens United case. You have to be blamed stupid to come to the conclusion that a corporation has the same voice as one citizen. That or awfully power hungry. As for money being “the mother’s milk of politics,” that is what is wrong with our politics these days. There was a time when ideas were what counted in politics: good ideas.
Grace Todd
Idaho Springs
Columnist should do his homework
Editor:
In Mr. Houdeshell’s last column, he asked Courant readers to reread his columns. I did so and still find them to be short on facts and long on Fox News/Tea Party myths. The simplistic fixes to our complex problems that he promotes are the same childishly naive rantings of the right-wing talking heads.
A case in point was his column about the U.S. auto industry failure. If he had done any independent scholarship, he would know that the problems of the U.S. auto companies arose from far more than just the United Auto Workers’ contracts.
Bob Lutz, the former vice chairman of General Motors, a former executive vice president of both Ford and BMW and hardly a “union sympathizer,” contended in his book “Car Guys vs. Bean Counters” that the biggest reason for the failure of the U.S. auto companies was that they were run by “bean counters” (accounting and finance people) and not “car guys” (designers and engineers).
He said their strategy of pursuing short-term profits by pushing inferior cars onto dealer lots using incentives and onto customers by using rebates caused the failure.
Honda, BMW and Mercedes did not gain market shares because they were cheaper but because they were better. This same type of short-term thinking by CEOs was one of the root causes of the financial meltdown. Though it is popular for right-wing media to put all of the blame on the “little guys,” who falsified income statements on mortgage applications, the derivative traders at the Wall Street banks who knowingly packaged and sold the subprime loans for huge profits had as much or more responsibility for the financial crisis.
We get enough half-truths and outright lies from the “talking heads” and national politicians. It would be nice to start a movement at the local level to engage in an honest examination of the causes of our problems and the true solutions that can be arrived at only through compromise.
How about it, Mr. Houdeshell? Care to do some homework and stop being just another mouthpiece?
Jim Blugerman
Georgetown
Time to look at local, not national, issues
Editor:
Reality check for Jerry Fabyanic and Robert Houdeshell: Now that we’re into the real election season, how about focusing on Clear Creek County issues? There are enough (too many?) pundits commenting on the national elections, many quoting directly from their respective ideological (liberal and conservative) handbooks, adding little value.
Most Courant readers appreciate your sincere efforts to write substantive columns each week, certainly not an easy grind. Clear Creek County has many issues and two very important county commissioner positions to be decided this election.
The issues, the candidates and their positions on the issues need to be discussed in a forum for all voters to see and read. Jerry and Robert must take the lead.
Jim Leonard
Evergreen
Thanks for help with
High Altitude Garden Benefit Dinner
Editor:
I would like to thank everyone who contributed to producing a wonderful evening at the High Altitude Garden Benefit Dinner on Aug. 31 at the United Gathering Place. The event was attended by about 40 people and set amidst the vegetables and under the full moon, with live music provided by Suzie and Gary Solomon of Miner Pickens.
We had a delightful crowd who dined on local cuisine, including venison stew, stuffed squash blossoms, quesadillas calabaza, rhubarb pie, and a salad grown and harvested by the Scraps to Soil Kids Day participants. All told, we reached our goal of raising $500 to provide classes and educational events at the garden for the 2013 season.
While many people offered their support and encouragement throughout the season, I would like to thank the following businesses and individuals who made the dinner a success: Whistle Stop Cafe, 2 Brothers Deli, Azteca, Java Mountain Roasters, The Buffalo Restaurant and Bar, Tommyknocker Brewery, Smokin’ Yards, Main Street Restaurant, Alison Hafer, Jan and Sue Howell, Margie Marlin and Liz Hamilton, Rites of Passage, The Wheelock family, George and Uchi Marlin, KYGT Radio, and Arika’s Mountain Botanicals.
We look forward to seeing everyone at our fall events, including fruit tree planting, a pumpkin carving contest and, of course, the pumpkin smash.
Molly Wheelock
coordinator
High Altitude Garden Scraps to Soil