by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow
The Daily Sentinel
When President Kennedy explained the goal of sending a man to the moon, he said the nation chose to do such things “not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills…” We often face challenges that are difficult, but nevertheless important, and we should not shrink from doing the right thing just because it is hard.
Last week I had the pleasure of attending, at CMU’s new Asteria Theater, a conversation with former Colorado Govs. Bill Owens and Bill Ritter. It was a wide-ranging discussion, skillfully and personably moderated by CMU President John Marshall, about their varying yet similar experiences, their commentary on the future of the state, and several important contemporary issues.
Both governors were in great form, looking good and speaking well — articulate, persuasive and forceful. Two things especially stood out, to me and I think most of the large crowd. First was the level of civility that is so desperately lacking in today’s politics. Owens and Ritter both survived rough and tumble campaigns, to be sure. But campaigns in 2024 are worse than rough, characterized by name-calling, blatant lying, character assassination, legal maneuvers to stifle speech and debate, and if all else fails, efforts to imprison political opponents instead of defeating them in elections.
By contrast, Govs. Owens and Ritter, political rivals to say the least, can sit together and talk as friends, disagreeing on most issues yet never disagreeable, and looking forward to sharing beers on the plane afterwards. Although polar opposites in their political outlook and philosophies, they nevertheless are more united as Americans and Coloradans than they are divided as Republican and Democrat.
