Letters: Readers discuss St. Patrick’s Day, immigration, and the ‘deep state’ attack on Trump
On stereotypes
As we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, we should remember that when thousands of Irish immigrants came to America fleeing the potato famine they were not welcomed.
They were seen as lazy drunks who were a drain on society. The want ads of the day for jobs and for apartment rentals often included the line, “Irish need not apply.” They were Catholics whose Sunday church service was in Latin, a language most Americans didn’t understand.
When John F. Kennedy ran for president in 1960 many people still were concerned that he would take orders from the Pope. He lost more than a few votes because of it.
Now we all claim a little Irish as we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
Every new wave of immigrants is seen as a threat. Slowly we begin to enjoy their food, music and holidays, and eventually they’re woven into the cultural mix that is America.
Everybody claims to be Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, and I think our new immigrant groups will be no different.
Mary Mitchell
Kansas City
Accurate names
Almost immediately, the Affordable Care Act became known as Obamacare. Many people still think they’re two different health programs — liking the ACA and hating Obamacare.
So now, why the hesitancy to call the American Health Care Act “Trumpcare”? Or perhaps “Republicare.” Or maybe even “WeDon’tCare.”
In one report, I saw “Obamacare” and “American Health Care Act” used in the same sentence. Please, media, let’s start using proper names or nicknames in a consistent fashion.
And I think it would do everyone a service to refer to them by their legal names or abbreviations: ACA or AHCA only.
Gerald Valet
Kansas City
Obama’s agents
The Star’s editorial on the recent sacking of the Democrat U.S. attorneys (March 14, 8A, “Justice Department’s dismissal of U.S. attorneys is not a scandal”), while largely reasonable and on point, deliberately misconstrues the “deep state” because the “deep state” promotes the hidden agenda of The Star.
The “deep state” consists of bureaucrats, like those who leak parts of classified information to fuel partisan leftist rants, who further their own political agendas under the camouflage of doing the nation’s business.
I am sure The Star would like to see the bureaucracy push former President Barack Obama’s agenda even though the Democrats are no longer in power.
Unelected bureaucrats who try to implement the agenda of a political party that has been constitutionally thrown out by the voters do not deserve civil service protections and should be summarily terminated. They are just out-of-power pols.
William Nowack
Leawood
Cheers for KC arts
Reading that our Kansas City Ballet has been invited to perform its production of “The Nutcracker” at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. (March 10, 1C, “KC Ballet is invited to perform ‘Nutcracker’ at Kennedy Center”), I wanted to share my experience.
Last Thanksgiving we had two grandchildren visiting. We noticed the Moscow Ballet was at the Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland. We decided to treat them to the “Great Russian Nutcracker.”
There is no way the Moscow Ballet’s version can compare to the beautiful extravaganza put on by our own Kansas City Ballet. The music alone, played live by our great Kansas City Symphony versus a recording in the Russian show, was a huge difference. The staging, talent, scenery and visual excitement of our production greatly outshown the Moscow version, and the local interpretation of the story made a lot more sense.
If our grandchildren return and the Kansas City Ballet is performing “The Nutcracker,” we will be sure to take them so they can see what the word “spectacular” really means.
Thanks and accolades to our Kansas City cultural organizations for consistently bringing us the highest caliber of entertainment.
Larry Bilotta
Kansas City
A good rep
I would like to thank our State Rep. Melissa Rooker for being the voice of pragmatism in Topeka. She has consistently supported adequate funding of our schools, a farsighted solution to our budgetary woes, the expansion of Medicaid for 150,000 Kansans and finally (why haven’t we done this before?) coordination of firefighting resources with neighboring states.
It is reassuring in an unsettling political climate to know a politician has the welfare of her constituents at heart.
Jan Faidley
Roeland Park
This story was originally published March 16, 2017 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Letters: Readers discuss St. Patrick’s Day, immigration, and the ‘deep state’ attack on Trump."