July 4th is much more than BBQs and beer, parades and horns. It celebrates the birth of our nation, as expressed in the Declaration of Independence<\/a>, a statement of why our first patriots felt compelled to rebel against their king. Every American would do well to read it aloud at home and in their public spaces on this day — and to honor its contents. Some of the complaints sound familiar to our ears:<\/p>\n \u2022 [the King] “has obstructed the Administration of Justice;”<\/p>\n \u2022 he has “affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power;”<\/p>\n \u2022 he is “cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world” and “imposing Taxes without our Consent;”<\/p>\n \u2022 he is “depriving us in many cases of the benefits of Trial by Jury” and is “transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences;”<\/p>\n \u2022 he is “altering fundamentally the Forms of our governments;”<\/p>\n \u2022 “He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us.”<\/p>\n They declare,” A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”<\/p>\n By this Declaration, Americans asserted their unwillingness to be serfs or vassals to an unaccountable ruler, but rather as free people who demand their leaders be answerable to them and to the laws they enact. Let us honor the true meaning of this national holiday.<\/p>\n Wendy Orley, Highlands Ranch<\/em><\/p>\n The current immigration policies are clouded in a blanket of hypocrisy. Many of our ancestors were once unwanted immigrants. And many were probably undocumented.<\/p>\n In the second half of the 19th century, the U.S. government broke numerous treaties with various indigenous people, all under the guise of manifest destiny. Two huge American figures at that time, Abraham Lincoln<\/a> and Ulysses S. Grant<\/a>, opposed the Mexican-American War on moral grounds. Grant called it one of the worst examples of a strong country taking advantage of a weaker one. It was a shameful display of American greed and power.<\/p>\n Maybe we need more understanding and compassion when it comes to immigration and fewer ICE raids.<\/p>\n Chris Sandoval, Arvada<\/em><\/p>\n It is shameful to see the administration’s fraudulent approach to dealing with public broadcasting. Public radio stations receive on average 14%<\/a> of their operating expenses from federal funds. That’s it. The rest is given through individual support. I have regularly supported public radio as the vital, independent source for news and music that it is.<\/p>\n Contrary to the false statements by President Donald Trump and his followers, public media is neither radical nor does it have an agenda other than to inform through independent journalism and provide a wide range of community-specific news and features, especially in rural areas. I suspect that at the core of his attacks, Trump does not like public media because it is fact-based reporting, and he is unable to control the narrative, and it is well known he despises any news entity that reports on him truthfully.<\/p>\n This administration froze funding to Radio Free Europe after a 70-year history<\/a> of truthful reporting, reaching people suffering under authoritarian governments. Repressing all outside news is a pathetic attempt at budget cutting, and a boon to monsters like Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Viktor Orban, and so on.<\/p>\nA history of unwanted immigrants<\/h4>\n
Public radio deserves federal support<\/h4>\n