Readers share views on Harry Truman, America, junior high bully
Truman’s Fair Deal
What people should hope for after the elections are policies that reflect the values represented by President Harry Truman’s Fair Deal.
Truman opposed the trickle-down economic policies that right-wingers continue to favor, which have brought a grossly unequal distribution of income.
Instead, Truman’s policies helped expand the middle class to its greatest extent before or since, and he promoted, although unsuccessfully, a national health insurance system.
To Truman, the key to a strong economy was to enlarge the purchasing power of the middle class.
Truman also said that when tax relief can be given, it should go to those who need it most and not those who need it least.
Truman led the charge to expand Social Security coverage to millions of workers who had been left out and persuaded Congress to raise the minimum wage substantially.
His goal was to help workers, farmers and small businessmen, in particular, obtain their fair share of national income.
And fairness also included defending civil rights for all Americans, including minority racial and ethnic groups.
Niel Johnson
Independence
God bless America
The old white men who created the United States and Europe must have done something right because minority groups from around the world risk their lives to get to the countries the founders created.
I haven’t seen any Mexicans or Syrians storming the beaches of Cuba or China. If the Black Lives Matter movement thinks the United States is so bad, try Mozambique or Angola and see how that works out.
European people have done more than any other group to bring equality, prosperity and stability to the turbulent world. That is why the world wants to be in this country.
Anytime Americans think they have it so bad, remember, they are always free to find someplace better.
Gregory H. Bontrager
Hutchinson, Kan.
Junior high bully
Do you remember junior high school, when the popular kids were followed and adored even though they didn’t deserve admiration? They might have been pretty, rich or good at sports, but they just weren’t that nice.
Under the layers, they only cared about themselves. They had no respect for others or even common decency.
The Republican Party is blindly following a junior high school bully. It’s almost as if people don’t care who is insulted or what horrible things are said.
Just because a candidate has the “Republican” stamp by his or her name doesn’t mean this person is fit for the most important job in the country.
In junior high, emotions run amok. It’s easy to say and do things that are inappropriate. At that age, it’s difficult to care about anyone but yourself. It’s especially hard to apologize for wrongdoings.
Does any of this ring a bell?
Most of us grow up and mature, though at times we fall back into those patterns. Obviously, others never get over this stage.
Please, America, let’s leave the junior high bully in the past.
Catherine Skaer
Augusta, Kan.
Steve Rose column
In an Oct. 2 column, “Tax incentives can make good things happen throughout area,” Steve Rose wrote that I made a “fallacious point on a recent television program” and that he does not want “to hear about (my) research because libertarian think tanks cherry pick their numbers.”
The exchange was a discussion of the InterContinental Hotel in which I referenced a study that concluded tax subsidies have little to no effect on economic development.
Mr. Rose responded, “I don’t care what the research tells you.” Rose cast a broad attack against think tanks. However, as I told him, this study was from the University of North Carolina. There is no indication he read the independent, publicly funded university study he so grossly mischaracterizes.
Instead, Rose offers anecdotes and ends with, “Good things can happen with tax incentives that probably would never have happened otherwise.” He can only assert that they “probably” helped.
But with millions of dollars at stake, how are policymakers to weigh that probability?
UNC helped answer that. Tax subsidies divert millions from schools, libraries and county services. Assessing their value is a legitimate area of academic study.
Mr. Rose may disagree with their findings, but I hope he would at least read them first.
Patrick Tuohey
Kansas City
This story was originally published October 8, 2016 at 3:00 PM with the headline "Readers share views on Harry Truman, America, junior high bully."