Letters: Readers discuss the Chiefs’ banner, the GOP and politically correct nonsense
Hold off, Chiefs
For their whole lives, many Chiefs fans have stared at the sole Super Bowl banner at Arrowhead Stadium, pondering whether another will be hung in their lifetimes. Of course, fans think, now that the Chiefs have finally reached the summit, the world seems to be ending.
I plead to our world-champion Kansas City Chiefs: Do not hang a banner without the fans present.
With the coronavirus pandemic hitting its second wave, having fans at Arrowhead in the fall appears unrealistic. However, I have no doubt that Chiefs Kingdom can wait a little longer.
- Max Smith, Olathe
Economic cure
Gov. Mike Parson, by giving Missourians the right to decide for themselves whether they will wear masks in public, you have essentially killed our state economy. The sooner we get control of this virus, the sooner people can get back to work.
How hard is that to understand?
- Corva Murphy, Kansas City
Show-Me backslide
What’s happened to Missouri? We’ve gone from conservative Midwest values, which everybody respects, to knee-jerk defiance of authority, which everybody laughs at.
Did you know that Missourians created a massive wave of social media posts to support a boycott of NASCAR over its Confederate flag ban?
That resistance to change recalls the 15 years it took for Missouri to be dragged kicking and screaming into the post-9/11 Real ID security program and the shameful distinction of being the only state without a prescription-tracking program to counter opioid abuse. We even walked back Proposition B so we could remain the puppy mill capital of the world.
Unsurprisingly, most of the top 10 NASCAR-boycotting states are also experiencing record spikes in COVID-19 infections weeks after proactive states and cities have flattened their curves. Missouri’s refusal to follow their lead by adopting statewide safety measures recommended by medical experts has allowed the virus to explode in rural counties.
Missouri, show me common sense.
- John McDonald, Ferguson, Missouri
Don’t forget
Thank you for printing the Declaration of Independence in the July 2 edition of The Star. (7B) This document needs to be remembered and reread to remind people of our history.
- William Baxter, Kansas City
Consequences
Let’s not discuss the deficit, Black Lives Matter, this alternative-reality presidency, white supremacy, tax breaks to the wealthy, recession, rule of law, immigration, racism, coronavirus response or lack thereof, policing Black and white people differently, murders of Black men or Russian bounties on American soldiers.
Instead, let’s discuss voting for the next 25 years. In the next quarter of a century, all candidates at the city, county, state and federal level with “Republican” behind their names must be voted out of office. I don’t mean just in 2020; I mean for the next quarter of a century.
This party must be marginalized so that the needs of all Americans — white, brown, Hispanic, Native American and all others — can be met, rather than just those of the white elites.
As an elderly white man, I will not be alive at the end of this period. But a party that has allowed this administration to compromise the American experience with its silence for its own enrichment needs to be sidelined.
- Christopher Pirnie, Kansas City
Choose freedom
The lack of creative leadership by public officials in this pandemic has become painfully obvious. Political correctness has pushed common sense aside.
Kansas City’s mayor has chosen political correctness in issuing his edicts on how to deal with the pandemic with a woeful lack of empathy for that strata of the population truly affected by the resultant closing of too many small businesses. I find it ironic that those imposing these restrictions all have jobs and receive salaries while the affected work population struggles to pay the rent, put food on the table and care for the health of their families.
We need leadership that considers everyone. Common sense tells us the affected work force cannot continue without relief.
It strikes me that the defiance against wearing masks or social distancing after four months of quarantine is a demonstration of American resilience. Freedom is the cornerstone of this nation, and freedom of assembly is only one of those principles.
Being politically correct has overtaken common sense. Leadership by our elected officials is bereft of creativity. We need a change of leadership, and I hope voters remember who put them out of work when the next election occurs.
- Tom O’Donnell, Kansas City