Letters to the editor
Identity politics
My fellow Democrats: Of course we’ve been playing “identity politics” (Kansas City Star: After the women’s march, David Brooks, 1/29/17). That’s why we lost the last election, governorships, state houses, and Congress. I was at the Women’s March. It felt good to be surrounded by others who felt the same disbelief that someone as unqualified as Trump won.
But why did so many Obama voters favor Trump? Because we called them stupid; they were ridiculed; their issues weren’t as important as LGBT, women’s issues etc. Other lives mattered more than theirs. And most importantly, Trump promised jobs.
People don’t listen with their ears, they listen with their stomachs. They believed that for eight years Obama did nothing to show he understood their needs. Much of their beliefs are based on the constant repetition of false data from a single news source. Nothing else could break through. You can’t “fact check” feelings. So we Democrats decided they and the states they came from didn’t matter.
We need to stop playing identity politics, climb out of our bubbles and listen to our fellow citizens. Because we ALL matter. Our democracy matters. I hope we are not too late to save it.
Bernadine Kline
Liberty
Help babies
If abortion issues were the deciding factor in voting, please don’t leave your conscience at the polling place. Be a Big Brother Big Sister, adopt a handicapped or minority baby or sign up to be a foster parent. These babies shouldn’t be sentenced to a life of pain and abuse just because they were brought into this world by parents who didn’t want them, wouldn’t or couldn’t care for them.
Brady Craven
Liberty
Abortion policy
As a practicing OB/GYN, I am outraged that one of President Trump’s first actions was to reestablish the Mexico City Policy.
The restoration of the policy means that non-governmental organizations receiving federal funding must “neither perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations.”
Why does this matter? The World Health Organization found that every eight minutes a woman in a developing nation will die of complications arising from unsafe abortion.
I recently traveled to Zambia to work with an NGO dedicated to reducing maternal mortality from unsafe abortion. We visited many health stations, and at each outpost, there were boxes of supplies from USAID; the United States touched even the most remote of villages. I felt deeply proud of my country.
When observing a lecture on unsafe abortion, the instructor asked the audience how many had a friend or family member who died from an unsafe abortion.
In a room of 20 people, every Zambian raised his or her hand.
Because we live in a country with safe abortion care, we forget the devastation that accompanies unsafe abortion — a reality made worse by President Trump’s actions on his first day as president.
Valerie French
Parkville
Trump terminology
I was looking forward to the administration follow up to coining the phrase "alternative facts." I am so glad I didn't have to wait too long as I just learned that the DHS Secretary has stated that portions of the border wall will be transparent. I, however, will continue to refer to transparent walls as "fences."
Joe Parnacott
Gladstone
This story was originally published February 7, 2017 at 8:47 PM with the headline "Letters to the editor."