I love the subtitle of HCN, "The paper for people who care about the West." I care about the West. I also care a great deal about the dialogue of people who care about the West. HCN is an important part of that dialogue, but I wish I could say I am comfortable with what you are currently doing.

To be candid, I agree with the plainly advertised politics of HCN, but not the current emotional, unbalanced presentation of the issues. I was disturbed further this week to see how you paternalistically discounted the comments of some of your "conservative readers." There are two sides to every issue, and anyone of your experience and intelligence knows that nothing good gets accomplished in the highly charged environment of the New West without paying respect to the voices of all the people who care about the West, not just the voices of people who care about it the way you think they should.

I hope you will consider T.S. Eliot’s warning, "The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason." By encouraging people to react to the complex problems of the West, rather than to thoughtfully consider them, I think you are asking them to do the right thing for the wrong reason.

Kris Chandler
Orem, Utah