Kim McGahey’s latest tirade against progressivism being published on the anniversary of Kristallnacht is a sad irony not lost on me.

McGahey and I grew up in the same Breckenridge. I arrived as a child in the early 70s and he as a young adult in the late 70s.

Breckenridge has long been progressive, even before the ski area. It embraced early infrastructure improvements like electricity, sewers and concrete sidewalks. The ethos of caring for each other allowed our community to survive the years of economic doldrums between WWII and the advent of the recreation economy.

As Breckenridge grew, its progressivism continued. The Historic District designation in 1980 protected our venerable buildings. Mundane yet massive infrastructure investments brought curbs and gutters, paved streets, softball fields, a revitalized Blue River and much more. McGahey witnessed all this.

Over the past 40-plus years, Breckenridge’s progressivism didn’t change, but Kim McGahey did. Along the way, he became angry and radicalized. The Breckenridge he envisions never existed and hopefully never will.

His insults and name-calling attack some of the very people he grew up with. He forgets our community value of civil discourse.

He identifies a specific group of citizens to blame his problems on, using inflammatory language intended to vilify and provoke. He offers no new ideas of his own.

From his position of privileged isolation, McGahey fails to acknowledge the crisis unfolding in our community: The lack of workers stems from a lack of housing.

Like a bully, he accuses others of doing that which he does. He claims the “liberal agenda is about control,” yet his own party is all about control of elections, women’s bodies, health, education, history and more.

McGahey doesn’t represent our community and doesn’t deserve a weekly platform for his divisive, unhelpful and unrealistic positions.