Letters: Readers discuss impeachment fiasco, post-truth world and burdened landlords
Bad precedent
The Democratic members of the House of Representatives have created a terrible precedent with their vote to impeach President Donald Trump.
Their case is made of tissue paper. Ukraine received the promised military aid, and its government did not investigate Hunter Biden. No harm, no foul. Case closed. Yet the Democrats marched on, somehow finding that what did happen rises to “high crimes.”
Now that they have voted to impeach the president on this flimsy basis, all future presidents who face an opposition majority in the House will look over their shoulders constantly to see whether the impeachment flag is thrown on any and all decisions. That’s no way to run a government.
- Graham Marcott, Fairway
Impeachment sham
The desire to impeach President Donald Trump was announced 19 minutes after he was sworn into office, and was followed by various searches to find a reason. Why? He announced that he would drain the Washington swamp, Democrats and Republicans alike. He also committed to make America great again by focusing on the United States and not socialistic efforts to change the nation.
Democrats and RINOs — Republicans In Name Only — don’t want the swamp drained. They like the way it has been proceeding with liberal trends.
This impeachment effort is a fiasco. This nation is far, far better off under Trump than ever. There is much more to accomplish, and it won’t get done with a global socialist agenda.
I believe most Americans see what is going on as I do. The problem is we remain silent and allow a minority of vocal liberals to lead us down a path where the majority doesn’t want to follow.
- Paul Wilson, Leawood
Assaulting trust
Donald Trump, as candidate and as president, has successfully run a years-long campaign to create and exploit cynicism, and his success has been our loss. Widespread public cynicism creates an environment in which irrational distrust drives our decision-making and discernment.
The national loss of trust has become a crisis. Distrust, through popular opinion and the votes of senators, will maintain a president’s abuse of power if unanswered. The moment calls us all to decide what truth and trust mean to us.
Our local newspapers would do a service to their readers by continuing to cover and discuss impeachment. Every community is affected, and ideally, every community is represented in the votes of our senators whether to remove Trump from office. We trust our local newspapers.
The issue is timely and important. To speak truth and be heard, one must first earn trust. We truly live in a post-truth world if no one can be trusted.
- Charles Z. Henry, Clyde, Missouri
Landlords lose
Since Kansas City’s new tenants’ bill of rights bars discrimination based on criminal convictions, does that mean a landlord would be required to rent a side of a duplex to a convicted pedophile with children living on the other side so as not to discriminate?
As for Section 8, my experience is that what the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development pays is well below actual market rate, and landlords can’t require tenants to pay the difference.
As for discrimination against those with prior evictions, someone’s eviction history is the best indicator of whether that will happen again. Landlords much prefer avoiding evictions altogether.
Most landlords are honest people trying to provide quality housing while hoping to turn a profit for their efforts. It’s not discrimination to refuse to rent to people because of their histories of criminal behavior or eviction.
- Tim Mense, Shawnee
It’s just planning
Great work by The Star in reporting on the foster care system with its “Throwaway Kids” series. When difficult problems such as this arise, the best effort at finding solutions involves determining the root cause and working to fix that. That sounds easy, but it is not in a complex system that involves human passions.
Doesn’t it make sense that better family planning would result in fewer unwanted children? Our current strategy makes family planning difficult. We have folks who believe Planned Parenthood has an evil agenda. They have done everything in their power to shut down efforts to plan for our families rationally.
To reduce the horrible problem we have created with the broken foster care system, we should promote family-planning efforts and encourage the practice. Planned Parenthood is just as the name implies: a resource for assistance in avoiding unwanted pregnancies, ergo, far fewer foster children.
- Brian Casey, Kansas City