Local opinion: Fiction abounds in a letter to the editor

The most consistent fiction writer in letters to the editor is at it again, with a March 7 missive, “Restoration plan,” in which he satirically tells Democrats how to regain power.

His fanciful writing misses the mark on every count.

The Democratic Party should continue “to promote an open border for all with no vetting,” he advises. Democrats agreed with Republicans on a strict border enforcement bill last year, but the Republican presidential candidate ordered House Republicans to kill it.

The writer advises that Democrats continue to “advocate for criminals … who commit crimes but should not be held accountable for their actions.” One assumes he suppressed laughter when writing that, because he must know the convicted-felon president advocated for other criminals, many guilty of assaulting police officers, by pardoning 1,500 of them.

Democrats should “continue federal spending because there is an unending pool of taxpayer’s dollars,” he says in his letter. In Donald Trump’s first term, non-COVID national debt rose $4.8 trillion, or about 24%; under Joe Biden, non-COVID debt rose $2.2 trillion, or about 8%. The figures are from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

He writes that Democrats should “resist any attempt for federal spending audits because there cannot possibly be any fraud and waste.” The Pentagon, with the largest discretionary budget in government, failed its last seven audits under Republican and Democratic administrations.

As an aside, our very own Raytheon Co. admitted last year to fraud in contracts for Patriot missiles and radar systems, a case that the Biden administration pressed. Raytheon paid big fines and avoided criminal prosecution by agreeing to independent monitoring and other steps.

Democrats should “continue to promote biological men competing in competitive women’s sports,” he writes. An estimated one-half of 1% of the U.S. population identifies as transgender; few are in competitive sports. Does the writer not want equality for all? That is the real issue.

Democrats should “accept that the sorry K-thru-12 test scores are acceptable and cannot be improved by any means,” he advises. Trump pushing to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education and the billions it provides to help public schools is hardly an acceptable solution.

“Tolerate harassment of any college Jewish student,” is something Democrats should do, the letter writer says. A Feb. 10 headline on, of all places, the Fox News website said, “Blue state Democrats spearhead bills to crack down on campus antisemitism.”

He writes that Democrats should continue to allow “purchase (of) necessary oil from our adversaries instead of harvesting our own ample resources.” Under Biden, U.S. oil production and oil exports hit record highs, and the Bureau of Land Management issued more oil drilling permits for federal lands under Biden than under Trump in his first term.

Democrats should “continue to promote unsound green energy policies that have increased energy costs … without affecting the world’s climate in any significant way,” he advises. Arizona utilities’ latest rate increase requests cited higher natural gas costs and hot weather pushing higher demand. That last is a product of climate change that, yes, is not being affected significantly because we keep using oil and gas.

In summary, the writer is oh-for-nine on the facts. As the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan said in paraphrasing others: “You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.”