Colors

It’s color-time in the valley. In winter, color here is focused on blue and white. Blue skies and white snow.
But this is summer and a much broader palette emerges. Let’s start with the obvious red, white and blue. This paper will hit the streets on July 4th and those three colors will dominate the day…as they should.

Frankly, for me those colors seem a bit more faded than they have in the past. When I see the government turning more aggressive in checking in on who private citizens are talking to or chatting with on Facebook, it takes some of the richness away from the flag flying over the post office on Elk Avenue. Then we have the U.S. attorney general, who in my opinion, has gone completely overboard in his intimidation of the free press by spying on them and signing a search warrant because a reporter was trying to gather information. That’s what reporters do.
Those at the highest levels of government should understand that there are some in the huge twisted bureaucracy of American government who just might abuse the power given to them. The press should be free to find that out and keep those bureaucrats in check. Attorney General Eric Holder should remember he works for the people, not the protection of bureaucracy. God, I hate that attitude from people in positions of power and frankly would rather see Holder out of the office than chumming up to his friend the President. Add to that the overreach of the NSA information gathering and forgive me for seeing the red, white and blue as being a bit faded.
Our government is now conducting surveillance on literally everyone. Whittling away at the freedoms written into the Constitution in the name of “security” makes me fear the direction of this great experiment in representative government. I am proud that Colorado Senator Mark Udall is doing what he can to call attention to what he sees as an abuse of the system.

We have a dispatch in the paper this week from a former CB News photographer and writer who has experienced close-up and personal the trials and tribulations of the emerging democratic process. Brooke MacMillan has spent the last year in Turkey and those recent protests are happening literally outside her door. See her thoughts on page 30. It’s not all about the red, white and blue…And there are people fighting for freedoms we seem to be happy to give up in a fear-based need for “security.”  

But I started this piece to talk about colors. And all you have to do to experience colors with the brilliance of a coral reef in the mountains is look out toward any meadow in the valley. It is wildflower season, and what a wonderful one it is in 2013. The late-season winter snows and rains apparently helped provide us with a banner year for colors. The purple lupine started it but in the last week the yellows, reds, violets and pinks have exploded, just in time for the Crested Butte Wildflower Festival. If you didn’t know it, you are in the official Wildflower Capital of Colorado. Take a walk just about anywhere in or near town and you’ll see why. It’s a summer blessing.

And as frustrated as I can get about some of the government abuses of power, it is a blessing to be a part of this country. In some places, when a legislator brings up faults and points fingers at government power, they might be arrested or go missing. So it gives me heart when I see that Senator Udall is keeping the issue alive by telling reporters, “The secret collection of the phone records of millions of Americans reminds us why we need sensible limits on the government’s surveillance powers. Now is the time to have an informed public debate about how we protect our cherished Constitutional rights while also keeping our nation secure.” It makes me glad to be a citizen of this country. It makes the flag a bit brighter.
America isn’t always perfect and it’s not always the way we want it but it’s pretty damn good, as we live in perhaps the finest social experiment ever created that started on a Fourth of July more than 230 years ago.

Enjoy the holiday. Enjoy the colors…