Letters: Speaker at Council was harassed; immigration in America; civil discourse absent from editorial page

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 By Daily Camera letters | openforum@dailycamera.com | Boulder Daily Camera
Mike Schreiner: Speaker at Council endured discriminatory harassment
I was saddened and disappointed to read about John Spitzer’s experience at Boulder City Council, described in his recent letter to the editor.

It is never OK to disparage someone’s expression of opinion because of their age, race, gender, disability, religion or any other physical characteristic. The fact that it was done by the so-called inclusive “progressives” is hypocrisy at its best. Even more disturbing was the fact that City Council did nothing to stop it. While not quite the “heckler’s veto,” the result is that a citizen will refrain from exercising his or her right to petition the government in order to avoid the baseless discriminatory harassment from others.

If the “progressives” fail to see the hypocrisy of their conduct (and it seems they don’t, given their congratulatory tweets) then it is up to City Council to take appropriate action. Banning signs would be content neutral and a necessary good start. Adoption of some sort of civility code regarding public comment should be considered if this offensive conduct continues.

Mike Schreiner

Boulder

Tom Isaacson: U.S. does not face immigration-driven exponential growth
Frosty Wooldridge’s lengthy commentary in the Camera perpetuates some of the misinformation underlying much anti-immigrant hostility.

The United States does not face “immigration-driven ‘exponential growth.’” The annual population growth rate in the United States has dropped from 1.2% in 2000 to approximately 0.6% today, and is projected to fall to 0.4% in a few decades.

The U.S. population does not grow by “500,000 undocumented immigrants” annually. Wooldridge failed to subtract those who leave the United States. Net of out-migration, the number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. has been falling by almost 200,000 people annually since 2007.

Finally, he says that the Census projects a U.S. population of 440 million in 2050. It’s actual projection is 389 million (compared to 330 million today). To be sure, that is a lot of people, and there are important issues to be discussed. But, let’s use real numbers rather than overstate the problem and then blame it on a supposed “flood” of undocumented immigrants.

 

Letters: Speaker at Council was harassed; immigration in America; civil discourse absent from editorial page