Letters: Readers discuss gerrymandering Missouri, ‘terrorist’ parents and MLB lockout

Electoral math

Republicans hold a supermajority of seats in the Missouri House and Senate, plus the governor’s mansion and all but one statewide office. Obviously, Missouri is an extremely Republican state. Right?

Actually, Missouri voters are fairly close to the middle.

The fact is that Missourians vote roughly 54% for Republicans and 46% for Democrats, according to Harvard Dataverse’s Voting and Election Science Team. For redistricting purposes, the Missouri Constitution requires the use of voting data, which averages the statewide races for governor, U.S. senator and president in the last three general elections.

Currently, state Senate Republicans are arguing among themselves over redrawing Missouri’s congressional districts: Shall they give Democrats one or two of the eight seats?

Six seats equals 75% of the eight. Seven seats would equal 87%. Doing the math, 54%-46% (the statewide voting split) should give Republicans a 5-3 split of the state’s seats in Congress.

Meanwhile, a panel of state judges is drawing the new state Senate districts. I hope the new map will be more representative of Missouri’s actual voting pattern than is the current 70% of state Senate seats held by Republicans.

Clearly, 70%, 75% and 87% all far exceed Republicans’ 54% split in statewide elections.

Is gerrymandering the difference?

- Mary Lindsay, Kansas City

Christian creed?

I read with interest about Christine Kraft’s fight with the North Kansas City Board of Education. (Feb. 16, 1A, “Angry parents; After two years of pandemic restrictions, parents are mad as hell”) I believe she loves her daughters and wants a good education for them. She says she is a Christian, and I accept that.

Kraft believes her right to have her children not wear masks in schools is greater than those of parents who want their children to wear masks for a safe educational environment. What branch of Christianity ignores Christ’s commandment to “do unto others as we would have them do unto us”?

Kraft vilifies members of the school board and calls them “tyrannical” because they are community volunteers who are attempting to do what is best for all children. What branch of Christianity rejects Christ’s mandate to “love thy neighbor as thy self”?

After viewing Kraft’s T-shirt, which said she supports “parents as domestic terrorists,” in a photo accompanying the story, I have to wonder: What branch of Christianity prefers its members to be known as terrorists as opposed to disciples?

- David Ambler, Lawrence

Parents’ priorities

Kudos to the reporters for Thursday’s article on proposed legislation requiring teachers to post online every bit of material used in class. (1A, “Teachers feeling attacked as states pursue education changes”) Some legislators are using this moment to push their education-stifling agendas, largely without cause, as seen in the lobbyist equating “suspicion” and “concrete evidence.”

The authors did an excellent job outlining the ramifications of laws. Many teachers routinely work 50-to-60-hour weeks. Where will more time come from? Teaching only pre-posted material stifles creativity, individualized instruction and discussion. Avoiding “public policy issues of the day,” as in a Missouri bill, leads to a disengaged citizenry and enables autocrats.

I have moderated rich discussions ranging from the racism and colonialism depicted in Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” to the lived reality of Ta-Nehisi Coates. These are exactly the issues we need to be exploring, even when they are uncomfortable. Denying the inequities we see all around us will lead to more of the same.

Concerned parents should discuss the lessons and books their children have in school. When they have objections, they should contact the teacher or school. Legislators should address actual not phantom problems and pursue solutions that improve the daily lives of their constituents — all of them.

- Kevin Day, Overland Park

Foolish games

Here we go again with baseball owners feuding with players — billionaires fighting with millionaires over my dollars. Many owners use their teams as toys and don’t know much about or care about baseball. Players want all of the pie instead of just a fair share. Star players sign multimillion-dollar deals and then pretend to care about younger players’ lesser salaries.

Here is my proposal: The owners should give the players what they want, because they will end up doing that anyway and it would save everyone the frustration of these pretend negotiations and a delayed season. In turn, the players would agree to this new contract for at least 10 years so we don’t have to go through these shenanigans again for a decade.

Please, let’s just play ball.

- Tony Michaels, Kansas City

Another divide

During the Kansas redistricting conversation, did anyone ever stop to consider the tens of thousands of Democrats in Districts 1, 2 and 4? What about the thousands of Republicans in the old District 3? Are their equal rights, free speech and right to suffrage being considered? Do the old districts “impose a severe burden on their right to vote,” in the words of the ACLU’s lawsuit, on those same people?

In a republic, we elect people to represent us regardless of their race, color or creed. The notion that minorities, college students, LGBTQ people and so on can be represented only by a Democrat is mental gerrymandering of the worst sort.

- Mark Salas, Leavenworth

This story was originally published February 27, 2022 at 5:00 AM.