Keeping voting rights

How can Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney claim to be for 100 percent of the people when he does not condemn his party’s voter-suppression policies. This demonstrates Romney will do anything just to get elected.

If his party succeeds in suppressing the vote, Romney would indeed be president of only the top percentage he is concerned with winning. Voter suppression should be enough to fire up people to support President Barack Obama.

Republicans need to be sent a message. Do not mess with our rights.

Vote.

Carol Hooley

Raymore

Voter ID solution

We all know that the picture identification requirement for voting is a phony attempt to disenfranchise some voters. States are rushing to get voters the required IDs at substantial expense.

Even then, in this digital age, forgeries are easily created. A better solution for this non-problem would be for the election boards to take digital photos of voters along with the registrations they are using.

If identity fraud is suspected, the photograph of the miscreant would be prime evidence of guilt.

Jon Erickson

Liberty

Limiting TV ads

A positive change in our election process would be that after the debates no further television or radio political ads could be run. This ban would allow voters roughly two weeks to seriously and thoughtfully consider the importance of their votes.

Edward Moody

Kansas City

Buying next president

I am an 82-year-old female who has seen many elections. My fear this year, unlike in the past, is that the very wealthiest in our nation will be buying a new president for all of us.

Should this happen, what will they expect in return for their investment? Also, what will become of the rest of us?

Pauline Martin

Lee’s Summit

Vote to save America

There seems to be a majority opinion that the No. 1 issue in this year’s presidential election is the economy. I strenuously disagree.

Underlying all issues is freedom. Freedom of the American people to seek their goals in life without the burdensome presence of federal supervision and regulation. Freedom from regulations laid down by unelected bureaucrats who have the force of law.

Freedom from near-confiscatory taxation that not only is designed to pay for the continual expansion of government but as a means of redistributing the nation’s wealth. Freedom from the constant effort to make us all wards of the state.

For the first time in my life, I fear for my country. I fear the conscious effort to suppress American exceptionalism.

I fear the apologetic attitude toward America’s leadership role in world affairs. I fear the effort to downsize this nation in the not-so-well-disguised name of anticolonialism.

Rally to the cause of freedom. The way to save our nation is clearly spelled out in our Constitution.

The salvation lies at the ballot box Tuesday.

Richard E. Cooper

Lamar, Mo.

Re-evaluating elections

I’m beginning to worry that the battle for presidency is becoming more of a power search than an attempt to elect the best leader for our nation. Sure, Democrats and Republicans have different views on some of (all right, many of) the nation’s concerns and how to handle them.

But I think whichever party is elected will not have the full support of the other. If a Republican is elected, Democrats will give the “we’re going to do to you what you did to us” attitude.

Likewise, if President Barack Obama is re-elected, I think the Republicans will give another four years of a “you just wait ’til next election” attitude.

If the purpose of electing a president is for the betterment of our country as a whole, I think it’s time for both parties to re-evaluate their motives.

Jim Brazeal

Prairie Village

Romney for president

Many wonder why our nation is so divided now. Why are we losing lifelong friends because of politics? What is making so many of us angry?

I have pondered these questions and have come up with a reasonable answer: poor leadership. We have a leader whose policies are dividing our nation. His agenda is pitting us against one another.

This is a classic example of what happens when we elect to the far left. However, the solution is not to go too far right, either. Extremes are what divide. History has shown that America unites more under moderates.

I believe Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney to be a moderate. His record shows he has excellent leadership qualities.

America needs now, more than ever, a leader who will unite, not divide.

Thomas Hay

Lake Waukomis

Unbelievable charges

Railroaded is what happened to Lance Armstrong. Did he do all of the things? I doubt it.

So what did the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency do to all of the people who told all of this stuff to the agency? What did it do to all of these people, and why did it take from 1998 until now for these 11 team members to say Lance pressured them to take banned drugs?

Think about it. One man pressuring 11 to break the law. This isn’t right.

This lets me think someone in the Anti-Doping Agency pressured the 11 team members to break Lance down or it used jealousy as a motive because he was doing so much and they weren’t doing much. Anyway, they were jealous of him, and the agency was prodding them to tell it anything to get Armstrong out of cycling.

What did Union Cycliste Internationale president Pat McQuaid do to the 11 team members? I just don’t believe one man could make me do something illegal.

Kenneth Langley

Kansas City

Vote self-interest

It’s amazing how many middle-class people vote against their own best interests. Unless you’re filthy rich, you should be voting for President Barack Obama.

So why would middle-class people vote for Republican Mitt Romney?

Is it because their parents vote(d) Republican? Is it because they’re ashamed they’re part of the middle class and want people to think they’re part of the elite?

Planned Parenthood is history if Romney wins. There’ll be a lot more unwanted pregnancies and births, which will swell the welfare rolls. But Romney isn’t so big on “handouts,” is he? So there’ll be a lot more homeless mothers and babies on the streets.

Obamacare is history if Romney wins, which means many thousands of people will, once again, not be able to afford insurance. Don’t let the word “mandated” turn you off. The more Americans who sign up for Obamacare the less it’ll cost each of us and the fewer uninsured people there will be.

Please vote sensibly for your own sake and the sake of the majority. After all, who’s going to know how you voted? You can always lie about it, just like chameleon Romney lies every time he opens his mouth.

Diane Capps

Kansas City

Obama no leader

Leaders are “hired” to solve problems. The world is a forever challenged situation.

Leaders identify the problem and seek a solution. Talking about problems doesn’t solve them — leadership does.

President Barack Obama is a talker, not a solver.

It is up to all Americans to determine our future. We function as America’s board of directors.

Our chief executive officer, President Obama, has had four years to head America. What is your assessment? Are you going to give him four more years?

I hope your answer is no. It’s time for a change.

James McGraw

Kansas City

Trolley trail trauma

My neighbors consider the Harry Wiggins Trolley Track Trail one of the best-loved, most-used pedestrian, bike and recreation corridors in the entire metropolitan area.

A new Whole Foods store at 51st and Oak streets and a new Hen House at 77th and Main streets have been proposed. Both have planned driveways that would cut across this trail and be a daily safety hazard for hundreds of people.

This would also be an annoyance to customers as traffic flow would be impeded at these crossings.

And allowing these crossings would permanently mar this recreation area, transportation corridor and valuable neighborhood and city amenity.

Environmental stewardship is the key tenet of Whole Foods’ mission, and the trail provides environmentally friendly transportation.

Hen House has a focus on sustainability and supporting community through the purchase and resale of local products, so maintaining community amenities should also be a Hen House priority.

I encourage the decision-makers to consider plans for the stores and parking lots that allow unimpeded pedestrian traffic on the Trolley Trail. There are long-term repercussions of these decisions that could be in the best — or worst — interest of Whole Foods, Hen House and the Kansas City community.

Misty McNally

Kansas City