Readers react to President Barack Obama, the Koch brothers and Bernie Sanders
Obama’s courage
Our current president may have attracted the hatred of many because of his color, place of birth or politics. But we cannot fault his courage in his attempt to move the country forward.
His health care plan may be flawed, but as we watch the Republican candidates scramble to repeal it and put their own ideas in place, we see that the Affordable Care Act is the action the American people have sought for many years.
President Barack Obama has never been given any cooperation from a Republican Congress bent on maintaining a tea party that vacillates from a homegrown militia fighting taxes to an evangelical movement determined to create a state religion. No one could overcome this.
The president may not have got it completely right, but I see no one who is to follow who can lead.
John Nelles
Shawnee
Koch on Sanders
Billionaire Charles Koch says he agrees somewhat with what Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is saying. Yet Koch still wants us to believe that poverty is because of government regulations, or what he calls crony capitalism.
But poverty, as we know it today, began when capitalism, replacing agriculture, became the dominate economic force in this country 150 years ago.
Additionally, Koch wants Obamacare repealed. Doesn’t he believe that all Americans should have the same standard of health care? Obviously he doesn’t. But why does someone who doesn’t need health insurance for himself or his family want to deprive it for so many?
Instead of being truthful, Koch clouds reality with statements that he simply opposes “crony capitalism.” But if he were being up front about his politics, he would have stated, for example, that the water crisis in Flint, Mich., was triggered by regulations rather than the state’s billion-dollar tax break to the rich that led to budget cuts, a scenario that most closely fits his views on crony capitalism.
To say that Koch agrees partially with Sanders is another deception to keep Americans from thinking that Sanders might, indeed, have a point.
Michal Betz
Wichita
Bowing to Obama
For the last seven years, the president has persistently searched for ways to force through programs that Americans don’t want, circumvent existing law or stretch the Constitution (health care, immigration, same-sex marriage and the Iran nuclear agreement, to name a few) all to align with his personal agenda.
Now with his gun-control initiative, an assault on the Second Amendment, he is again attempting to sidestep Congress and arrogantly defy his oath to protect and defend the Constitution.
It will likely take decades, if ever, to recover from all he has fostered upon America. But he hasn’t done it alone.
The willing Democratic elites and the acquiescence of the Republican establishment have been factors. Let’s kick them all out in 2016 and elect candidates who will actually behave as representatives of the people rather than only promote their personal agenda or bow to special interests.
Jim Griggs
Stilwell
Protest joins others
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said,“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
A new chapter began in the Chinese-American fight for equality and justice when tens of thousands Chinese-Americans in more than 40 cities, including the Kansas City area, marched peacefully on the streets protesting the injustice against former New York City police probationary officer Peter Liang.
Liang was convicted of second-degree manslaughter over what William J. Bratton, the New York police commissioner, called an “accidental” shooting death of Akai Gurley. Protesters think Liang has been scapegoated to ease tension between the black community and New York police.
They think Liang is a victim of selective justice, especially after Eric Garner’s 2014 death by a white officer. In this context, Liang appears to have been convicted to assuage dissatisfaction over the acquittal of white officers. Chinese-Americans nationwide have never been so enraged.
Members of the Chinese community rallied Feb. 20 in downtown Overland Park to show solidarity for Liang. They first offered condolences to Gurley’s family. They expressed determination to follow civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. for the realization of a shared dream: equality and justice for all.
Yanwen Xia
Overland Park
This story was originally published March 2, 2016 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Readers react to President Barack Obama, the Koch brothers and Bernie Sanders."