Author: By ERIC SONDERMANN
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Goodbye, elephant — the GOP’s new symbol is a shovel | SONDERMANN
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When it comes to damage control, rule No. 1 is paramount: When in a hole, quit digging. Somehow, this is time-tested best practice that vast elements of today’s Republican Party have forsaken. Either the dog ate the memo or it got lost in the mail. The Republican Party comes off three consecutive elections with results…
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2024 will be here sooner than you think | SONDERMANN
It is barely past the middle of February. The snow is still flying. Glorious spring awaits. Followed by summer activities and then fall colors. Thanksgiving will beckon along with the December holidays. 2024, and especially the presidential race that will be its hallmark feature, seems somewhere off on the distant horizon. Were it only so.…
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Eight weeks; two dozen candidates – the Denver mayor’s race | SONDERMANN
The idealist would say: “Look at all those dedicated Denverites willing to step forward for tough duty.” The cynic would counter: “Is it any surprise that so many would throw their hat in the ring when taxpayers are footing a large chunk of the bill?” Whether you are a sentimentalist or somewhat more hard-bitten, two…
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What ‘so much winning’ has wrought | SONDERMANN
Way back in 2015, Donald Trump famously promised Republicans, and the country at large: “We will have so much winning if I get elected that you may get bored with the winning.” Years later, if there is any boredom afoot in the land, it is of Trump himself. His act has grown stale and lost…
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TABOR at 30: Colorado’s salvation or doom | SONDERMANN
Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR for short, has now reached full-fledged adult status, having been part of the State Constitution for 30 years. Time goes by. Many of us of some gray hairs recall the shock of TABOR’s 1992 passage. Three decades later, it is as much a part of the Colorado landscape…
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Sorting out how we’ve sorted ourselves | SONDERMANN
If our political system and broad elements of our culture are out of sorts, as they are, a good deal of the cause lies in the manner in which we have sorted ourselves by political tribe. Nearly 15 years ago, Bill Bishop wrote what remains for me a formative book, “The Big Sort.” The book’s…
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Five pairs of exemplars to ring in the new year | SONDERMANN
We should perhaps do this weekly, even daily. That being to recognize and, yes, celebrate those among us who set a high standard for living life fully and for enriching the lives of their fellow citizens. Around here, I have made this an annual tradition. As a relatively new columnist a few years back, I…
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A year that could have been worse | SONDERMANN
Time away, especially following a noisy election, can be good for the soul. Moreover, such breaks can offer perspective and make the debates that fill our days seem rather small and narrow. Consider that southeast Asia, only a sliver of that massive continent, comprises nearly 700 million people. That is a population more than double…
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Knowing little, yet knowing everything | SONDERMANN
Eric Sondermann With caffeine at the ready as I fire up the keyboard very early Wednesday morning, we know precious little about ultimate control of the United States Senate and House. The balance of power remains still up in the air. Yet, at the same time, we know everything. Whichever party turns out to be…
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SONDERMANN | The musky stench of Twitter
Eric Sondermann Twitter is now the latest possession and toy belonging to Elon Musk, the wealthiest of trolls. It is hard to imagine the platform becoming any more toxic and soul-crushing, both individually and societally. But anything is possible and the story of Twitter is that of the decline of manners and the descent of…