Letters: Readers discuss ‘Selfish’ Justice Ginsburg, MO Amendment 3, KCK crime fight

Not their point

The good senators from the GOP shouted at the Twitter and Facebook CEOs this past week, questioning who they think they are to decide what is and is not published in America’s media.

Perhaps now is a good time to remind the senators that these platforms were never created to be arbiters of truth. They were not created to replace experienced and unbiased journalists. They were created so I could send a quick message to people letting them know that I just had a really good glass of wine at (enter winery here), or that my dog and I found a really great hike at (enter national or state park here). The social networks are merely for entertainment and are so designed.

Perhaps our senators would do better service to our country by promulgating that sentiment and focusing on what they could, and should, be doing at their jobs.

- Meredith Walsh, Kansas City

Injustice unseen

A Thursday letter writer criticized late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her “selfishness” for not retiring during Barack Obama’s presidency. (10A) I have heard this argument before from conservatives who overlook the fact that when Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to let Obama’s pick, Merrick Garland, out of committee for almost a full year before Obama was due to leave office. This was unprecedented in American history.

So Ginsburg would have had to retire by the seventh year of Obama’s presidency, and I am sure she would have if she had known McConnell was going to pull a stunt like he did. Has the writer of this letter been hiding under a rock or just ignoring reality?

- James Clock, Kansas City

For the people

Three years ago, special interest groups in Jefferson City passed legislation with no support from Kansas City politicians that cut the minimum wage in Kansas City. It was passed over our objections and imposed on the city.

Now, those same special interests support Amendment 3 to help maintain their grip on power. Blake Hurst, president of the Missouri Farm Bureau, wrote in The Star: “I have a solid suspicion that people living in Lee’s Summit or the Power & Light District would not trust the judgment of me and my neighbors, who live in Atchison County, on Kansas City issues.” (Oct. 27, 7A, “Amendment 3 puts Missourians on the same page as one another”) But where was he when our wages were being cut? Cheering it on.

Amendment 3 is about putting special interests back in charge of our democracy, two years after we overwhelmingly voted to kick them out.

No matter where we come from, what we look like or what is in our wallets, we all share a common demand: a democracy that works for the people. That is why AARP, the League of Women Voters and a bipartisan coalition of former legislators all oppose Amendment 3.

Let the voters demand for a fair democracy stand. Vote no on Amendment 3.

- Richard von Glahn, Policy director, Missouri Jobs with Justice, St. Louis

Is it enough?

I read with great interest the caption under the photo on Thursday’s front page regarding the Kansas City, Kansas, school board’s “Enough Is Enough” campaign to curb violence in the community. I abhor the violence prematurely ending young lives, and I applaud the sincere feelings motivating yet another campaign to reduce violence.

Sincere feelings and emotion fire the passion to act. Measures of performance and effectiveness sustain practical, realistic campaigns. I hope the worthy members of the school board invest the time and brain power to come up with these necessary measures so the next senseless act of violence does not doom yet another campaign before it gets under way.

Are there existing efforts in action right now? Are all these efforts tied to some achievable goal? Has the community bought into existing efforts?

The pressure to “do something” can be irresistible, but taking time to follow through is really necessary. So bravo, school board. Now, follow through.

- Kevin Benson, Lansing, Kansas

This story was originally published October 31, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Letters: Readers discuss ‘Selfish’ Justice Ginsburg, MO Amendment 3, KCK crime fight."