Hal Bidlack
I am very tempted to write again about my indignation that a certain former president is being given free rein when it comes to telling the truth. Recently, this rather orange-skinned criminal gave a press conference that could charitably be described as 64 minutes, and in that time he managed to say no less than 162 times! And the press, well, for the most part, continues to let him get away with it.
For example, regarding illegal border crossings, former President Donald Trump claimed: “I think the number is 20 million, but whether it’s 15 (million) or 20 (million), those are numbers that nobody has ever heard. In the last period — during the Biden-Harris administration — 20 million people crossed the border. Twenty million people. And it could be a lot more. Nobody really knows the number.” But the facts are clear: The correct number is about 7.3 million across all borders. And it’s true that border crossings increased under Biden at first, but now even that number has dropped sharply, in part because of Biden’s asylum rules at the southern border. Trump has at least doubled or even tripled the actual number to make the border appear completely lawless, and of course has not acknowledged that border crossings have now dropped.
But let’s say Trump just got it wrong. He’s an old man, remember (remember when that was the case?), let’s just say he misremembered. But that only excuses one of the 162 times Trump lied. You don’t have to take my word for it, the lies have been carefully and damningly exposed by multiple news sources.
That is a rate of two lies per minutewhich is astounding. But what I find even more astounding is that his followers in the cult of Trump simply don’t care. There was a time (ahem… Hillary Clinton ends up under sniper fire…ahem) when a politician embellishing a story to make himself look more heroic would have drawn massive attention and condemnation, but Trump lies so much that it’s become Trump being Trump. He lies so often that it’s just not newsworthy anymore. Think about how dangerous that last sentence really is.
That may be excusable when people lie about their bowling averages or the number of three-putts they make, but in a president, this behavior is not only wrong and unacceptable, it is deeply dangerous. I am outraged by the lies and, frankly, the lack of other Indignation.
But I won’t talk about that.
Instead, I want to talk about a brand new music venue in Colorado Springs (you didn’t expect that, did you?). As reported in the Gazette, the Ford Amphitheater opened to a large and enthusiastic crowd of around 8,000 people who braved drizzle and fog to hear a few bands play. Now, I admit that I’m a grumpy 66-year-old John Denver fan, so please forgive me for never having heard of OneRepublic or the other artists, but the people who were there had a good time.
In the 1980s and 1990s, I helped run John Denver’s aforementioned environmental education organization, the Windstar Foundation. Every August for twelve years, about 3,000 Windstar members, or often just fans of John, came to Aspen to attend a weekend conference that featured lectures during the day and concerts by John and some guests in the evening.
I mention this because the recent opening of the Ford Amphitheater brings back memories of my wonderful time in Aspen and the words of Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes, one of the most distinguished jurists in our country’s history. Although this quote is occasionally attributed to others, Holmes is considered the first to use the analogy that the Constitution is about an idea: your right to swing your arm ends where my nose begins. Simply put, your right not to allow you to violate the rights of others. The U.S. court system spends a lot of time on this issue of conflicting rights. And I fear Colorado Springs may soon face the same problem that Aspen faced 30 years ago – noise.
One of the best evening shows John ever did at a Windstar conference was when Kenny Loggins was there. He was an interesting guy and fun to talk to, but what I remember clearly is how loud his music was playing that Saturday night long ago. He had the amps cranked up to full volume, and when 10:30 p.m. rolled around, the Aspen Police Department arrived backstage due to numerous noise complaints. Aspen city code, at least at that time, required no noise after 10 p.m. Loggins told the crowd he would have to keep it down for the rest of the set, even though he played two more songs. Really loud.
This may seem silly or frivolous, but I was reminded of Loggins’ music when I recently heard several complaints from neighbors of the Ford Amphitheater about the venue’s noise. City regulations require such noise levels to be under 50 decibels, and management insists that, at least for now, only 47 decibels are audible. We’ll see what happens at future concerts, but I expect there will be issues with noise levels and neighbors, which is ultimately a pretty good example of a conflict between rights – the right to play music for fans and the right of neighbors to enjoy a quiet evening in their own homes. With my own rather limited taste in music, I can imagine I wouldn’t like it if I had to listen to rock bands at the Ford, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this became a problem.
Due to my PTSD from my military service, I will probably never be in a crowd at Ford, as I do not like crowds. And I readily admit that people should be able to enjoy cultural events in their community. We grumpy old guys should not be shaking our fists and demanding that the world live solely according to our wishes. Concertgoers should be able to enjoy their $13 cans of beer and $8.50 bottles of water while watching the performances they enjoy.
But it is precisely these kinds of things that can cause headaches for Mayor Yemi Mobolade and the city council as they try to balance conflicting rights.
Stay tuned.
Hal Bidlack is a professor emeritus of political science and retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs for over 17 years.
