Doubts about Romney

Mitt Romney accepted the GOP nomination with a promise that his business experience can cure the country’s ills.

His ideas appear to be supply-side, trickle-down economics, with less trickle.

Americans, by 56 percent, prefer spending on more education and infrastructure while increasing taxes on the wealthy. However, the budget by Romney’s running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, eliminates Pell Grants and increases interest on student loans.

Also, Americans, by a large margin, want the government to assist the middle class, that from both Democrats and Republicans. A Financial Times/Economist survey found that the majority of business executives think it would be better for the global economy if President Barack Obama were re-elected. CEOs see a failed European austerity program.

Mr. Romney is trying to present himself as a chief executive with a heart.

Few doubt the man loves his family and cares for the people from his church. However, I fear for the faceless millions Mr. Romney does not know and never will.

I am afraid he is a numbers cruncher who sees stats not students, payroll not people, and contradiction not compromise.

Ken Strange

Kansas City

Battleground states

It looks like battleground states Florida and Ohio might decide the upcoming presidential election, just as those states did in 2000 and 2004.

Back then, my confidence in the integrity of our electoral process was irreparably shaken by alleged manipulation of the voting machines.

This time around, I’m not so naive as to believe that any vote will read the same when it comes out of the machine as it did when it went in.

Eddie L. Clay

Grandview

Romney’s fairy-tale life

Ann Romney says she does not have a “storybook marriage.” I wonder when was the last time she bought gas with her last $10 so she could get to work or took one of the boys to day care even though he had a cough because she couldn’t afford to miss a day of work.

Has she carried dirty clothes to a Laundromat because her machine was broken and she didn’t have the money to get it fixed?

Has she ever told the landlord she wouldn’t have the rent until the 15th of the month?

Has she ever figured she could pay the gas bill this month if she let the phone bill go?

Did she ever worry about losing her insurance while battling cancer and multiple sclerosis?

Has she ever worried that medicine for one of her boys meant she couldn’t buy him new shoes?

Has she canceled a vacation because the car needed repair or the roof leaked?

Has she ever stretched a pound of hamburger into a meal for six?

No, Mrs. Romney doesn’t have a clue how average American women live. Hers sounds like a fairy-tale life to me.

Jane Gilbreath

Kansas City

Bumper sticker logic

If you own a pre-auto bailout car with a lacerated bumper, paper over it with a Mitt Romney-for-President bumper sticker. It seems appropriate. The Republican’s bumper sticker would give the car a new pretty appearance while not dealing with the underlying problem.

If, however, you own a new Detroit model and appreciate the job that allows you to drive it, then proudly display a President Barack Obama bumper sticker and vote to re-elect the Democrat.

That also seems appropriate.

Richard Wasserstrom

Prairie Village

McCaskill for Senate

How can anyone more evolved than an amoeba be deceived by the race for the Senate seat in Missouri? Sen. Claire McCaskill was even dubbed “unlady-like”?

All I can say is, you go girl.

Sarah Martin Douglas

Mission

GOP job creator?

We forget so quickly. We seem to be the American people of “what’s happening now” and believe any lies the politicians tell us.

Listen up, people.

I remember when we had a great steel company in the Kansas City and Independence areas called Armco Steel. It employed a lot of workers who had good jobs and paid taxes.

And then all of a sudden it was gone because Bain Capital (you know, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s company) bought it and drained all the money. The Kansas City steel company went bankrupt.

Goodbye, good jobs. There must be lots of former employees out there who lost their jobs, and Romney and Bain Capital walked away with millions of dollars.

This from a man who says he is going to create jobs. What a laugh.

Virginia Powers

Prairie Village

Romney for president

I am voting for Mitt Romney on Nov. 6 because I believe that he has the cool composure of a CEO and a tremendous track record of success in business and in statehouse government.

Under President Romney, our friends will have no better friend than the U.S. and no fiercer enemy for our enemies.

I believe that under President Romney, the United States can resume its rightful position of leadership at the front of the pack … not from behind.

At home, President Romney will make the hard decisions, by compromise, that a leader has to make with members of Congress to handle spending, debt and deficit issues.

I believe President Romney will re-establish the separation of powers rather than ruling by the fiat of executive order.

I believe that this election represents a moment in search of a man, and I believe Romney to be the man of the moment.

I respect Romney on the substance, and I trust him. I submit Romney to you as the 45th president of the United States.

However you vote, whether it’s for my candidate or not, vote.

Mark McLaughlin

Clinton, Mo.

America’s sacred trust

Many say that our democracy is a sacred trust. I agree.

It’s not because it involves divinity but because it is a sacred trust among its citizens. The key element of this trust is that the majority must understand and accept its duty, a sacred duty, to use its power to protect and defend the rights of those who at any given time find themselves in the minority.

When the majority represents a relatively homogeneous religious view, ethnicity, sexual orientation or economic status, it must avoid any attempt to impose its world view on those in the minority. Quite the opposite, it must proactively protect the rights of those whose views and lifestyles differ.

When the majority has control of taxing and spending authority, it must use those powers not to line its own pockets but as our founders said to “promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”

In a democracy, it is the highest duty of those with power to defend and protect those who are powerless.

I pray we each keep this sacred trust with our fellow citizens.

Jim Ash

Liberty

Romney no president

Having read the lengthy article on President Barack Obama in the October issue of Vanity Fair magazine, I was struck by the thought that if one were to substitute the name “Romney” for each time the president’s name appeared, it would become graphically frightening to consider.

The president has demonstrated in nearly four years of very capable and confident meetings with international leaders and appearances at conferences requiring diplomacy his ability to ably represent the positions of our government.

The presidency is no place for a man with fluid beliefs or commitments. It requires someone who is resolute in his convictions and able to support them when called upon.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s performance during the months of his public appearances (and private meetings) does not inspire confidence, and I question his ability to think on his feet.

It is impossible to picture him handling the demands of the office of the president with aplomb and resoluteness.

To think of him as a leading figure on the world stage defies comprehension. The vision is, frankly, frightening.

Steve Sherry

Kansas City

Staying with Obama

It’s President Barack Obama who’s got the momentum, not Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Under Obama’s leadership, the economy has come a long way from the disaster we had four years ago.

We’re on track and moving in the right direction. Unemployment and the housing crisis are easing. That’s the real momentum.

And that’s the president’s record.

The president has kept our boat steady and moving in the right direction through a very challenging term.

Let’s not change horses in midstream.

Susan Kysela

Kansas City