Letters: KC readers discuss Hawley’s feint, politicians’ orders and Christmas ‘classics’
Take a stand
Asked if President Donald Trump could overturn the election, Sen. Josh Hawley was noncommittal: “Anything’s possible,” he said in Sunday’s Star. (12A, “With silence, GOP enables Trump’s risky endgame”)
Exactly, Senator: Anything is possible. Which is why you and other Senate Republicans need to stand up to the undisguised attempts to subvert the will of the people and turn our country into a banana republic under the thumb of the narcissist in chief.
At least the ancient Roman senators who caved under Caligula, Claudius and Nero were afraid of being murdered. You guys are afraid of being primaried. Meanwhile, our laws and customs are openly attacked.
We will not forget: Sen. Roy Blunt in 2022, and you in 2024. With senators like you, who needs traitors?
- Mark Johnson, Kansas City
I have to ask
I have questions about mask mandates: Why do we have to live our lives at the whim of a politician? Aren’t they our employees and not our masters? Why should the government be our parents?
- Michael Partain, Kansas City
Rights, responsibilites
Barry Cowden, owner of Don Chilito’s in Overland Park, was quoted as saying about Johnson County’s mask mandate, “I’m not going to enforce it because I think it’s against my constitutional rights, and it’s an invasion of all of my rights to mandate me to do anything in my business.” (Nov. 18, 14A, “Restaurant won’t mandate masks; will the JoCo DA?”)
Really? Constitutional rights?
How does he feel about food safety rules, restaurant inspections by government health departments and employee safety and wage rules? Are these mandates ones that he can pick and choose which he likes and will obey and which he doesn’t and won’t?
As Kathleen Parker of The Washington Post wrote, “The gift of free will was predicated upon an assumption of intelligent life.” (Nov. 17, 9A, “COVID-19 has one big symptom that stays invisible: anxiety”)
I suspect this restaurant operator is one taco short of a Tres Taco Luncheon Special, but I just can’t understand how he can be so oblivious to the real harm his behavior can cause.
Protecting our constitutional rights is a well-founded and practiced obligation, but we have no right to harm the health and well-being of our fellow citizens with ignorance and obstinance.
Who put these notions in this man’s head and why?
- Michael Martin, Independence
Not yet classic
It’s that time of year when it’s cold outside and the fire is warm inside. You go out to do a bit of Christmas shopping, and on the way radio stations are playing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
When you get to the store you hear similar mixes of songs, but you keep going. As time passes you think, “Didn’t they just play this song?” You’d be right, for all the wrong reasons.
For too long, the Christmas season has given retail workers trauma as they listen to the same songs on repeat all day. They begin to hear Mariah Carey in their nightmares. And why is this? Why should we be limited to the “classics” that never went away long enough to become classics because they’ve been center stage year after year?
We need to say, “No more.” For years, companies have played these songs earlier and earlier to take advantage of our nostalgia. We need to say no, for our sake and for the sanity of our retail workers. So when we finally band together, give new artists a chance and topple the reign of the old kings and queens, everyone will be better off.
- Hunter Smith, Blue Springs
Letters of thanks
What are you thankful for this holiday season? Submit your letter of gratitude at kansascity.com/letters.
This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Letters: KC readers discuss Hawley’s feint, politicians’ orders and Christmas ‘classics’."