Readers discuss the American dream, Trump, trampolines, Amendment 4, Sen. Blunt
American dream
Our government has an overabundance of abusers and moochers who aid and abet greedy corporations and the wealthy while Social Security recipients, needy children and unemployed workers continue suffering, trying to make ends meet but to no avail.
Looking back at the start of the Great Depression in 1929, the stock market bottomed out, banks foreclosed on mortgages and closed their doors and a third of our country’s working people couldn’t provide for their families because of the greed of conservatives.
The Republican faction of our country is too conservative in keeping taxes low for corporations and the exorbitantly wealthy. The Democratic faction is liberal in being tolerant toward the working middle class and needy.
The Republican faction opposes reform toward union protection for our workers in pursuing the American dream that made the United States the greatest nation on Earth for almost 50 years.
We need a leader like President Franklin Roosevelt, with honest and fair legislators to represent the middle class and revive the American dream.
Terrance R. Hawbaker
Atchison, Kan.
Truth, dignity lost
Who is Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump? The 25-cent answer is he is whoever you want him to be.
He is all of the basics, of course, of a spoiled rich kid, a bully, a fabricator of tall tales and self-absorbed, totally devoid of the milk of human kindness. I could go on and on.
If this country elects him as president, we will get exactly what we deserve, and if we are perceived as ugly Americans now, just wait, you ain’t seen nothing yet. I won’t waste time pointing out the obvious, but in addition to all that, what it will do to our sensitivities is beyond comprehension.
I have heard more crude language on television the past few weeks than in my previous nearly 90 years. It might be a small thing, but it won’t take long for this discourse to become so common that we will not have to wait until the teenage years for our children to graduate to the really good stuff.
God help us all. Truth will be completely out of fashion, and we will all need spin doctors to get our messages across.
Oh, I long for the good old days when truth and dignity were valued.
Grace Borgmeyer
Prairie Village
Dangerous toy
I never knew how dangerous trampolines could be until I walked into clinic one day toward the end of my medical school career. Our first patient was a little boy who had suffered serious injuries after almost hanging himself while jumping on a trampoline.
Most trampoline injuries aren’t nearly that bad, but it’s important for parents to know that trampoline injuries are more common than they realize. A study published in the Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics in 2014 found that, in a 10-year period, trampoline accidents accounted for more than 1 million emergency room visits. The most common injuries included fractures, sprains, strains, contusions, cuts, concussions, head injuries and cervical spine injuries.
The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly opposes home trampolines. In fact, it recommends trampoline use only in supervised sports training programs.
It is also important to know that many insurance companies’ homeowners policies prohibit trampolines or exclude trampoline injuries.
So the next time you consider allowing your child to jump on a trampoline, think hard about the potential consequences. There are many safe ways for your child to be active.
Trampolines are not one of them.
Sneha
Subbarayan, M.D.
Kansas City
Blunt facts
In your recent endorsement of Sen. Roy Blunt (10-30, 26A, “Roy Blunt deserves re-election to the U.S. Senate”), the editorial board overlooked some important facts about the candidate.
You failed to note, for instance, that Blunt is a leader in the fight to ban same-sex marriage and adoption, and that he opposes any raise to the minimum wage. You also made no mention of his success working with Monsanto to draft and pass the “Monsanto Protection Act.”
And while you state “supporting gun rights” puts him “in tune with the majority of Missourians,” you never mentioned his vote to reduce the waiting period to buy a gun from 72 to 24 hours, or that recent polls show Missourians, in fact, overwhelmingly support sensible gun legislation.
Finally, nowhere in your 1,200 word endorsement did you acknowledge that Blunt is a professed climate change denier. Dangerously and demonstrably wrong, Roy Blunt believes “there isn’t any real science to say we are altering the climate path of the Earth.” Voters deserve to know that this candidate has worked tirelessly to obstruct and reverse any legislation designed to curb the effects of climate change.
Endorsements are tricky, but you owe it to your readers to at least make the case using the facts.
Asa Wilder
Kansas City
Amendment 4
Regarding Missouri’s Amendment 4, would somebody please tell me when the Hancock Amendment was repealed? I’ve voted in every election for decades, and I don’t remember that happening.
The Hancock Amendment, whether you agree with it or not, prevents new taxes from being imposed without a vote of the people. If anybody in the state is paying 10 percent sales tax, it’s only because they’ve voted on it democratically and are paying it voluntarily.
Amendment 4 advocates say that faceless bureaucrats and politicians are able to impose taxes at will. That can’t happen. Any new sales tax on goods or services must be proposed and voted on.
The focus of the amendment seems to be to prevent voters from making decisions about imposing taxes on themselves. Rather than leaving that to the judgment and discretion of the people who would pay the taxes, we’re being asked to forbid them from making their own decisions.
The people who won’t show their faces are the ones who proposed this amendment. This amendment is not about protecting taxpayers; it’s about protecting special-interest groups. They’re spending a lot of money to repeal a tax that does not exist.
Mark Bennett
Fair Grove, Mo.
This story was originally published November 1, 2016 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Readers discuss the American dream, Trump, trampolines, Amendment 4, Sen. Blunt."