Pushing fuel efficiency

I support the new national 54.5 mpg fuel economy standard for cars and light-duty trucks by 2025.

The true cost of oil is not reflected at the pump. We spend a lot of money to defend the foreign oil fields and shipments by sea. There are environmental costs that are not included.

The sooner we reduce our use of oil the better it will be for America. Drive electric cars; they use no gasoline.

Al Pugsley

Prairie Village

Bishop Finn, time to go

President Richard Nixon knew it was time to resign when the elected leaders of his party went to him and said, “For the good of the country, it is time to resign.”

After Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn’s conviction and “Boys will be boys” comments, when will the leaders of the Catholic Church go to Bishop Finn and say, “For the good of the church, it is time to resign”?

When?

David Mertz

Lenexa

Government power

Many people are relieved or dismayed at the outcome of this presidential election cycle. The emotions and wealth invested was overtly and zealously displayed.

But the veil remains on the truth. That truth is about 200 million people knowingly or apathetically did not consent to the notion that they should be ruled by a parasitic bureaucracy, labeled as government, which is conceived out of coercion, theft and violence.

Individuals endorse the idea that they should be ruled by another man or men or that they should rule over others through the proxy of government by casting ballots for the contrived choices of team red or blue. By this proxy, they hope to loot their neighbors’ wealth or property through taxes, fees and fines, define what a marriage is, create barriers and restrictions on competition in the market, create fiat monies, violate the sovereignty of other nations and murder people they’ve never met with drones.

Team Barack Obama and team Mitt Romney epitomized the aggrandizement of the state. Both candidates supported state power and control over our lives. The choice between consenting to statism and rejecting it was the real election.

Stephen Grider

Smithville

GOP is too far right

I hope that Republicans realize that when they field a slate of candidates whose views on women and minorities are a little to the right of the Spanish Inquisition, those women and minorities won’t vote for them the next time either.

Sandy Maxwell

Independence

America’s lost soul

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney lost because America is lost.

Wilson Winch

Independence

Post-election racism

Two days after Barack Obama was re-elected president, I was called a “nigger” in a public place.

I’m 30 years old and black, so yes, I’ve experienced racism before, but this was different. This was the first time that the word “nigger” was directly used toward me in an effort to degrade me while simultaneously being weaponized in a political manner.

My friend’s young child was with us at the table in a restaurant at The Legends in Kansas City, Kan. At a table less than five feet away, nine white males in their 20s or 30s loudly voiced disappointment about Obama’s victory. They repeatedly said “nigger,” at times pointing to my table.

They added that, if it were up to them, all “niggers” would be shipped away.

Personally, I’ve tried to quarantine myself from the media and presidential politics because things were getting so nasty. I’ve always believed in George Washington’s assertion that party politics will rip this country apart. This experience with racism definitely validates Washington’s sentiments.

I pray that what will ultimately be best for this country can transcend race, transcend party politics and, hopefully, quell whatever anger boils beneath the surface.

Amber Mobley

Kansas City, Kan.

Taxpayers carry load

Some counties have said they might try to recover some of their overtime cost for the Kansas Department of Motor Vehicle problems by charging taxpayers a fee because of the new computer system.

How about billing the computer company? It created the problem, not the taxpayers.

Gene Sparks

Merriam

Conservatives, liberals

Over the years, I have seen many commentators attempt to explain the difference between conservatives and liberals.

Some use definitions from dictionaries. Some point to policy positions. The more ambitious have written entire books on the difference.

However, I think I can sum up the difference in just one sentence: Conservatives believe in the 10th Amendment and the 10th Commandment, while liberals do not.

Kevin Groenhagen

Lawrence

Healing partisan hurt

In this era of political turmoil and division, it’s important to remember that those on the right and the left share basic values. Among them are preserving personal freedom, promoting justice, building a strong middle class, creating jobs, educating our children, and ensuring peace at home and abroad.

Republicans and Democrats differ on the means to achieving these shared goals. In times of crisis, those on the left and the right have proved they can work together.

A notable example occurred during World War II, when Sen. Harry S. Truman, a Missouri Democrat, assembled a committee of Republicans and Democrats to investigate waste, fraud and abuse in the national defense industry and saved lives and billions of taxpayers’ dollars.

We have the ability to find the common ground — our shared values — which can help us heal the divisions that separate us.

Sam Rushay

Liberty

Focus on wealth

Most people are disheartened by our country’s numerous problems, and most people agree that there is too much money in politics. I learned a lot by Googling “wealth concentration.”

The top 1 percent of U.S. households own more than a third of all of our wealth. The bottom half of our households own only a tenth of 1 percent of our wealth.

We see now that money really can buy any public office. It was sad to see the extent to which the Republican Party has shifted toward representing only the rich.

At its convention, the crowd wildly applauded possible military intervention overseas, but when the need to help the poor was mentioned, all we could hear was deep silence.

J. Will Hendricks

Prairie Village

21st century solution

I have a solution to the restroom situation concerning gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender individuals. Have three restrooms, one with the female symbol, one with the male symbol and the third one with “?”.

Sue Reich

Kansas City, Kan.

Kansas roadwork

I need assistance in understanding how the construction of the U.S. 69 to Interstate 35 North access interchange made any difference whatsoever?

Yes, there are more access lanes onto I-35, but one must still merge all the way over onto I-35. It remains a bottleneck and as much a hassle as before.

My only hope is that they plan to redo the 75th Street bridge, and that will open up another lane or two on I-35.

Holly Hatfield

Overland Park

Reich columns

Columnist Robert Reich has stated that rich people are not job creators. So I am going down to Fifth and Main and apply to the first wino I run into.

Don Airington

Kansas City

Respect for U.S. flag

Traveling through the community, our American flag, the pride of our nation, can be seen tacked on fences and garage doors, tattered and torn.

The American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars will be pleased to accept and handle disposal of this hallowed fabric.

Patrick Murphy

1st Infantry

Division, Vietnam

1967-1970

Kansas City

Frustrated sports fans

How much longer do local sports fans have to say, “Wait until next year”? It’s getting old, and so are we.

We get pitchers on the Royals who couldn’t strike me out. Then there are the Chiefs.

Enough said.

Donald Witmer

Kansas City