LETTER: No warming? Just look around!

Quote: “The scientific debate is warming up (even while the earth, in recent years, has not.”

Where you been, Roger Koopman? 2014 was the hottest year on record, and probably for the past few thousand years, except for 2015 which was hotter yet. If there is any heat in the debate over global warming, it’s being generated by the Koch Konfusion Krew spouting hot air — just like the tobacco companies did for so many years.

Here in the Flathead all we need do is look east at the glaciers that are no longer there. Are we to doubt our lying eyes? We have to consider ALL the costs of using fossil fuels — how much is it going to cost to relocate Miami and New Orleans? Adopting an Apollo Project style program to eliminate fossil fuels by 2035 is a reachable goal that would create millions of new jobs and make America once again the technological and economic leader of the world.

Or we can follow the GOP policies that are driving us into Third World status. All of the GOP candidates have reaffirmed the plank on their platform that says you workers make too much money. Raise the minimum wage? Hell no, get rid of it altogether, let the serfs compete for the lowest wage, see who’s children are starving most. They continue pushing the idea that cutting taxes for the rich and removing barriers to profit for corporations are the keys to prosperity, even if it means feeding children lead contaminated water. All that wealth will trickle down to the working families in showers of gold...

I for one am tired of being a peon and there really is only one way to fix this — it will take a lot of courage and a revolution in political action and thinking. It’s time to get busy and find three friends who either have quit voting or never started, get them registered and help them vote. If 3 million new voters show up, we can swing this election. Five million and we can change government for a generation.

I won’t tell you who to vote for, but I volunteered my life, honor and fortune to protect your right to do so. In honor of my fellow veterans, please do your duty and vote. Educate yourself, study not just what the candidates say but also what their record is, what the goals of their party are, and make a fully informed opinion. Then on Nov. 8, cast your ballot for someone who will work for families and not for corporations. It truly is the LEAST you can do.

P.S.: Next time I will tell you how to stay involved after the election — it’s more work but pays much higher dividends! —Robert Petersen, Evergreen