LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Green New Deal is the road to ride Believe it or not

What a beautiful country we live in. My first real paycheck was for building trails for a youth corps. I found joy in these golden valleys, helping others to access their open spaces — and a paycheck. Now I am an ecologist considering the impacts of development on stream systems. I wish other Americans would be able to see what I see, for the sheer joy of being human on this planet, and also because they would understand the pressing environmental issues facing us like I do. These issues include those seemingly unmanageable in scale. They also include so many addressable issues.

The solutions to many of our environmental problems aren’t even that difficult, given the right policies. In many cases, it is only policy that keeps us on our wasteful paths, which is ultimately just embarrassing. I’d ask all my fellow voters, and my elected officials, to have vision, have courage. A Green New Deal is a plausible solution to both environmental issues and our economic woes. Hannah Burnham

Santa Fe

Arriving at our southern border is a massive army of 400,000 Central American thieves, murderers and drug dealers. Most of them are cleverly disguised as women and children. But don’t be fooled. They are equipped with the most modern tanks and rocket-launchers, led by battle-hardened officers of al-Qaida, the Islamic State and the Taliban. They undoubtedly have chemical and biological weapons, and probably nuclear missiles. This attack has been instigated and is financially supported by the Democrats, especially Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and George Soros. This is the gravest military threat ever faced by America in all its history. It is the greatest military threat ever faced by any nation in the history of the world.

Vladimir Putin has graciously offered his aid, military and financial. President Donald Trump is seriously considering it. Fortunately, we have a great commander in chief. He also is America’s foremost construction expert, and to hold back this invasion, he will build a magnificent wall that will be absolutely indestructible. Margot Silver Santa Fe

We see you

I wonder whether those speed cameras will make proper note of speeding cops (“Speed cameras could return,” March 19). Hardly a day goes by I don’t see one. Oh, wait — I guess those records will be properly redacted. Albo P. Fossa Santa Fe

Banning trappers

From my point of view, all trapping should be banned — trapping on public land, especially (“Wildlife advocates say traps harm wolf recovery,” Feb. 13). The hunting and trapping of so-called predators has screwed up the balance of nature just like we’ve screwed up the balance of our planet’s atmosphere.

Remember, we are the predators — not the wild animals — who have invaded their territory and created an imbalance of numbers. Animals do just fine when left to their own devices. Cattle are an imbalance of nature that destroy the forest floor of, yes, public lands.

Ranchers, your cattle have also invaded the territory that belongs to other wildlife. If you think trapping is the way to go, then have your leg snapped in one of your own traps and see how you like it. Trappers should be banned everywhere — public and private land — forever. Keith Higgins Santa Fe

Voice of omnipotence

Bernie Sanders, the independent U.S. senator from Vermont, has declared himself once again a presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, with a monumental program for remodeling the United States to serve social and economic justice. The Bernie manifesto of Feb. 19, announcing his candidacy, identifies more than 40 objectives, all worthy, many of them familiar from his 2016 campaign. Other aims are recently popular, such as banning assault weapons, supporting the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and dropping fossil fuels. The entire manifesto is on issues, most of them simplified, and all of them virtuous.

The tone of Sanders’ delivery is authoritarian. His objectives are nonnegotiable. He never mentions democratic debate or barriers in office. Public process is untouched. For example, he wants to undo the U.S. Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision with no hint of how he would do it. He speaks for the public in the voice of omnipotence. His manifesto parades the face of fascism. Richard H. Frost, Ph.D. Santa Fe