Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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I am both impressed and amused by the story in the Oct. 16 Business section concerning "agrivoltaics," where solar arrays are being constructed over arable land. I'm impressed that activists have been able to promote changing such installations so that crops, or at least useful prairie, can be grown beneath them.

I'm amused that in looking at a satellite image of Connexus Energy's Ramsey headquarters, I see acres of uncovered asphalt parking lots and uncovered rooftops. Why not cover sprawling parking lots with solar arrays before covering arable land?

Terry Cannon, Castle Rock

The Oct. 16 Opinion Exchange piece "Reproductive rights, curbing extremism" exemplifies the Democratic Party's messaging ineptitude.

Yes, reproductive rights is a critical issue. But, I would argue that any political advantage the Dems have gained over Roe v. Wade is already baked in. Recent polls have shown that the economy is now overwhelmingly the key issue for many voters. While the GOP has been laser-focused on the economy, the Dems have virtually ignored the recent gift offered up by Republican U.S. senators on Medicare.

In case there is confusion, Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid are key economic issues. In a critical state like Florida, with its large senior population, failure to make this the pivotal campaign issue is a potentially catastrophic blunder.

Steven Pine, Hopkins

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The GOP agenda for this state, as stated on the Opinion Exchange page Oct. 16 ("Safer streets, lower taxes, less fraud"), could use some questions answered and additional information to make things clear as to what Republicans propose. Think used car lot salesman with a glad hand in a pinstripe suit making things sound too good to be true.

They offer reduced taxes with more police — as if Democrats aren't in process of hiring more police — but no specifics as to how that could be done and what that might impact. Money for hiring police won't come out of thin air, especially as taxes are reduced. If they do legislate to hire more police as they cut taxes, other services will suffer as funds are pulled from elsewhere. They haven't given specifics about where things will be cut.

They claim there will be less fraud. Ha ha. That's a good one from the party of the false claims of a stolen election that is in lockstep with the lies of the dirtiest president in the history of this country. I'm really rolling on the ground. The party of cutting regulations and defanging regulatory agencies is saying there will be less fraud. Don't corporations need some policing? Wouldn't businesses need to be regulated, lest they build and sell shiny objects that explode in our faces?

Oh, yes, one more item to examine. These Republicans are saying they have been leading the way in putting kids first in education. But they are not. Instead, they are leading the way in the efforts to privatize public education, which means they are leading the way in putting the profit motive first in public education. Teachers, parents and Democrats have always put kids first in education.

Tax cuts with big promises are easy to offer but not a way to lead us into the future. Embracing the lie that the vastly immature outgoing president had the election stolen from him based on no evidence is sliding in the dirtiest mud of politics we've ever seen. I'm voting for the party that is grounded in today's realities as it is working toward a better future.

Paul Rozycki, Minneapolis

What an utter hypocrite! ("Emmer in a safe district, eyes leadership position," Oct. 16.) U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, in a front-page article, claims that Democrats are "on the wrong side of all these issues. They don't have any answers for them." This statement after not answering any issues in the Star Tribune election guide published Sept. 21?

Paul Schultz, Ham Lake

"Will voters, or anyone else, act?" on the case made by the U.S. House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, the display text on an Oct. 16 article asks, and true to form, Dan Balz, longtime correspondent for the Washington Post, offers his typically thoughtful comments.

According to a recent, astonishing Washington Post article republished in the Star Tribune, a majority of Republican election deniers are favored to win in the midterms.

How can that be?

The often very dramatic interviews with Trump White House insiders by the House committee were high-profile except to those who get all of their news from Fox.

Perhaps what is needed is a throwback to puritanical times, at least as viewed by Nathanial Hawthorne. What if the Federal Election Commission ruled that all those now running for federal office who reject the results of the 2020 presidential election should be shunned and required to wear the scarlet letter A? (No, it would not stand for adultery. It would stand for alien.)

New York Times columnist David Brooks said on the PBS NewsHour Friday that he didn't think the reports of the Jan. 6 committee would have much political effect on the midterms.

Unless conscientious citizens from both parties carry the spirit of Liz Cheney into voting booths on Nov. 8, he could be right, to our everlasting shame.

John F. Hick, St. Paul

An Oct. 16 letter writer ("The comics: 'Dilbert' forever!"), responding to an Oct. 9 letter writer (" 'Dilbert' comic strip: Time's up"), repeats the nonsense that cancel culture is a tool of the left.

P.S. The letter writer was right about "Dilbert."