Letters: KC readers discuss Missouri’s great outdoors, trusting Biden and COVID vaccine
Lawless pardons
Law and order? The very rule of law is being undermined egregiously by President Donald Trump’s pardons Tuesday of people who have killed innocents and violated the public trust.
If we are to accept pardons such as these, then I suggest it is long past time to commute the sentences to life, at most, of all those on death row awaiting execution in this country, and to pardon and expunge all felonies for those incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses stemming from the failed “war on drugs” initiated in the last century.
These would be more humane steps than what I see being perpetrated in these presidential pardons. It is my observation and assessment that such action is malign in its nature.
- Martin Dressman, Prairie Village
Natural benefits
If you love the Missouri outdoors and its wildlife, then you need to check out the Conservation Federation of Missouri. Consider joining this group dedicated to preserving and enhancing Missouri’s natural resources.
CFM was organized in 1935. It was instrumental in getting conservation out of politics and into the hands of professionals by helping in the formation of the Missouri Department of Conservation. CFM is a citizen-based organization that represents more than 100 affiliate organizations representing hunters, fishermen, trappers, canoeists, birders, hikers, outdoor photographers and others who love the Missouri outdoors.
Share the Harvest, Operation Game Thief, Conservation Leaders Corp and the David Risberg Memorial Affiliate Grant Program are all CFM initiatives. But perhaps CFM’s most important function is to monitor and testify in legislative hearings for conservation and natural resources.
The Conservation Federation of Missouri helps ensure our natural resources will be here for all to enjoy, now and in the future for our kids and grandkids. For more information, visit confedmo.org.
- Tom Westhoff, Montgomery City, Missouri
Help the helpers
I would like to urge officials in Kansas and Missouri to include in-home and group home essential workers in the first round of vaccines.
There has been a dire shortage of in-home workers, even before the pandemic. Those receiving in-home care are vulnerable, perhaps more so now because community spread of the coronavirus is at its peak and climbing.
People are being left alone. If a care attendant is exposed or has COVID-19, he or she must stay away for 10 to 14 days. The work being done in homes is essential. It’s how people get out of bed, get a shower and get their meals.
Every person who receives in-home care qualifies for nursing home care, which is not simple house cleaning. A nursing home is the last place a person needs to be.
By allowing in-home essential workers to be among the first to receive the vaccine, those who are isolated at home and vulnerable will be saved. Essential workers will be able to continue to work, and we can work to rebuild the workforce so fewer people have to go into nursing homes.
- Janet Williams, Overland Park
Set us straight
Congratulations, President-elect Joe Biden. I am a right-leaning moderate who voted for you based on your promise to serve all Americans, not just those who voted for you.
You will preside over a nation that remains deeply divided. Should you move too quickly to implement the extreme leftist goals of much of your party, you will not only sustain that divide, but also perhaps widen it.
I implore you to not let your leadership be co-opted by the far left of your party. Please cast aside immediately ideas of statehood for Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., packing the Supreme Court, “defunding the police” and so on.
Please work on COVID-19 by convincing everyone that vaccines will be safe and effective. Work to separate health insurance from employment so that if a person loses or quits a job, affordable insurance is still available. Have cities examine their policing policies and revamp as necessary.
And last, put to rest the notion that after a year or two in office, you will retire and hand the presidency to Vice President Kamala Harris with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi becoming vice president.
Sir, you made promises. Please keep them.
- Janette C. Borst, Overland Park
Come and get it
The COVID-19 vaccine offers an end to the pandemic, but unfortunately, many are reluctant to take it despite rigorous safety testing. My wife, Carolyn, came up with a brilliant idea that could ensure that every person takes the vaccine.
It’s simple: Hire fleets of ice cream trucks. When people hear the bells and the music coming down their streets, they will rush out to the trucks. People get the vaccine first, then an ice cream cone. Problem solved.
- Kirk Duncan, Overland Park
I don’t need it
Assuming the unpredictable President Donald Trump signs the new pandemic relief bill passed by Congress, I will receive a $600 check from the U.S. government. It is a waste.
The $600 gift to millions of Americans like me who have suffered no financial loss during the pandemic should go instead to those who are suffering. People who have lost jobs, who are threatened by eviction or who can’t pay rent or utility bills and the like are the ones who need help.
The bill also provides unneeded tax relief to wealthy businesses that have already received forgivable government loans. There are likely other similar gifts in a bill so large that it is doubtful any one person has read it all.
Our federal government is borrowing money at near-record rates and driving the budget deficit to seemingly insurmountable heights. Under these conditions, one would think that our leaders would be thrifty enough to help only the needy and avoid handing out cash only for political purposes.
- Keith Evans, St. Joseph
GOP’s path forward
As Republicans remain divided on whether to defend President Donald Trump’s continued attempts to overturn the election, it is increasingly clear that the path the party chooses after he leaves office will be crucial to its long-term viability.
The GOP will have a choice of branding after Trump leaves. Will the party continue to promote his platform, or will it default to a more stable conservatism? The only fact that should matter: Trump lost.
A redefinition of the party after the ousting of a polarizing chief executive followed the collapse of Richard Nixon’s presidency. Trump’s impeachment and handling of his loss provides another such opportunity.
In a nation that is increasingly diverse and divided, Trumpism is not a stable long-term electoral strategy. In 2016, Trump used the resentment and frustration of Americans who felt left behind. However, his base cannot continue to deliver elections for GOP candidates in a nation that will have no clear ethnic majority by 2050.
The Republican Party should use the next four years to reshape its vision, advocate for fiscal conservatism and adopt a more inclusive social policy.
Trump will leave office Jan. 20, leaving the Republican Party with an important choice.
- Nicholas Cornell, Lawrence
Saying sorry
Congratulations on The Star’s apology for failures in its historical coverage of Black Kansas Citians. (Dec. 20, 1A, “The Truth in Black and White.”) I’m hearing about it on CNN.
Merry Christmas to you and all your staff.
- Terry Hughes, Port Moody, British Columbia, Canada
This story was originally published December 24, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Letters: KC readers discuss Missouri’s great outdoors, trusting Biden and COVID vaccine."