Congratulations to Juan Esparza Loera, The Fresno Bee’s new opinion editor | Opinion

Asking hard questions

“Juan Esparza Loera named opinion editor of The Fresno Bee,” (fresnobee.com, Aug. 26)

Congratulations to Juan Esparza Loera for his selection as The Fresno Bee’s new opinion editor. His experience, bilingual abilities and humble beginnings will help him continue “giving voice to the voiceless and working hard to expose wrongdoings.”

What better time than election season to bring focus to hard truths? For example, the family values that most candidates claim to care about. Will they renew the expanded Child Tax Credit that cut child poverty by 46%? What will they do about the affordable housing and homelessness crisis? Will they support expanding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to help hungry families?

Loera is now in position to ask these questions and follow-up on the answers, setting an example for all of us and informing our votes.

Willie Dickerson

Snohomish, WA

Opinion

A different perspective

“California climate program hurts Central Valley families,” (fresnobee.com, Aug. 16)

An effective climate solution will not come at the cost of low-income communities.

The author cites rising gas costs under California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard. And, as a new driver myself, I too wince when I pull up to the pump. But I also care about my future.

Enter the carbon fee and dividend. This proposed policy would charge a fee at the source of fossil fuel production, encouraging businesses to become more energy efficient and expand clean energy. Not only would Central Valley residents benefit from cleaner air, we would benefit from renewable — and reliable — energy sources becoming affordable and plentiful. The money collected from this fee would then be directly returned to all American people as a monthly check. This “carbon cashback” would not only help low-and-middle-income families afford the transition, it would actually help them get ahead. Legislation like this is equitable, effective and, thankfully, bipartisan.

Anna Villavicencio

Three Rivers

Double standard

“Kamala Harris to tell nation she’s a daughter of the middle class ready to unite America,” (Aug. 22, fresnobee.com)

Former President Barack Obama said at the Democratic National Convention the other night that “we need to remember that we’ve all got our blind spots and contradictions and prejudices, and that if we want to win over those that aren’t yet ready to support our candidate, we need to listen to their concerns, and maybe learn something in the process.”

I’ve heard those sentiments on MSNBC (which is peppered with former Republicans) and from elected Democrats for a long time. Do elected Republicans or conservative media folk say anything like that? If they did, they’d have to admit that liberals and Democrats aren’t demons — despite their demonizations.

Don Smith

Fresno