Readers share thoughts on voting, Rep. Lynn Jenkins and money in politics

Have a voice, vote

Imagine you go into a grocery store, restaurant or clothing store and when you arrive a small group tells you what groceries to buy, what meals to get and what outfits to wear. You’d probably find that frustrating and hate that you have no say in what you are getting.

About 20 percent of the eligible Kansas voters participated in the latest primary. Voting is a privilege and a right and one in which we should be extremely proud.

Make your voice heard, get out, get your family out, get your friends out and go vote on Tuesday.

Barbara Nichols

Leawood

Oust Rep. Jenkins

During Rep. Lynn Jenkins’ first term in Washington, I asked her whether Congress was as bad as she thought it would be. She said that it was worse.

Tragically, now that she is part of the leadership, she has failed to make it better, and Congress has become even more dysfunctional. Never have the people held it in such low esteem.

When leaders fail to lead they are fired. So let it be with Rep. Lynn Jenkins.

John Bishop

Atchison, Kan.

Money in politics

My thanks to the right-wing Enterprise Virtuous Independence Liberty (EVIL) PAC for the many TV ads, mailers and robo calls exposing the harmful practices of Greg Orman and Paul Davis. EVIL documents how, with virtually every breath, the liberal twosome exhales carbon dioxide, a proven greenhouse gas.

They’re just like President Barack Obama. Clearly, we don’t want these polluters on the government payroll. Thank you, EVIL, for bringing this to my attention.

Tom Stroud

Overland Park

Brownback’s promise

My friends in Kansas seem eager to vote against Gov. Sam Brownback to punish him for the fiscal catastrophe his tax policies have created. I think it would be much worse punishment to re-elect him.

Poor creature. He’d be forced to spend the next four years undoing the mess he made in the last four.

John Lee

Kansas City

End coed schools

For many years, children went to schools for boys and schools for girls. One-room schoolhouses in farm communities were different at the elementary level. Big city high schools and colleges were separated.

Now we have a crisis of sexual assault in colleges. When young adults with raging hormones are together with minimum supervision and a dose of alcohol mixed in, it is no wonder there is sexual activity. Consenting or non-consenting, it will exist.

Coed schools and then coed dorms were touted as a way to help young people mature into society. The old way of separation until the mind had caught up to the raging hormones worked for many centuries.

But, it was not good enough for the progressive thinkers. This crisis is an unintended consequence.

President Barack Obama has declared “we are all in this together.” Well, I am with you. Fix it by going back to separate schools.

Get the education done. Well-educated young adults can then find their own way.

Richard Blaisdell

Kansas City

Media, Holocaust

We Americans, regardless of partisan politics, and our allies are aghast at the Islamic State beheadings as seen on television and in social media. This leads me to wonder whether we might have shared a similar feeling if we had witnessed the Holocaust tragedies in real time had we had TV coverage and social media then.

Would we have been motivated enough to destroy the Nazi rail depots and the ovens? Today we are willing to fight over witnessing individuals being beheaded, but more than 70 years ago the Nazis were killing 6 million Jews.

Steve Katz

Leawood

Mystery about Orman

It’s time for Kansas voters to find out where Greg Orman stands. As an independent candidate for the Senate, Orman could, if elected, vote with the Republican Party or the Democrats.

Oddly, he has so far refused to tell us his intentions. This is critical information for informed voters.

If you love Obama’s policies and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s control of the Senate, go ahead and take a chance. If you are conservative — as most Kansans are — demand to know which party Orman will caucus with.

Or be safe with Pat Roberts. Thank you for being an informed voter.

Marjorie Hall Bicker

Winfield, Kan.

Steve Rose column

Steve Rose’s and Dick Bond’s recent endorsements of Democrat Paul Davis for Kansas governor are just the latest in a string of actions that make conservatives dubious of moderates in the party (10-26, Commentary, “Call me a RINO and hear me roar for Davis”).

It seems when things get a little difficult, moderates too often abandon their principles and vote with the Democrats. Bond’s and Rose’s endorsements of Davis are just the latest examples.

Rose tries to establish his conservative credentials by endorsing Sen. Pat Roberts and Rep. Kevin Yoder.

Roberts is a proven commodity. His opposition’s whole campaign is based on trying to convince the electorate he is not a liberal Democrat. But his checkbook says he is. Yoder has no real opposition.

These endorsements cannot provide Rose the salve for his conscience.

Rose abandoned Gov. Sam Brownback because (and I paraphrase) he cut taxes too much and put too much restraint on spending.

Rose abandoned Brownback because of fiscal spending restraint and pro-growth tax policies. He abandoned Brownback because Brownback governs as a Republican not as Kathleen Sebelius, Joan Finney or John Carlin.

And Rose wonders why many conservatives refer to moderates as RINOs.

David Mertz

Lenexa

Seeking better GOP

We liberals owe heartfelt thanks to our conservative Republican brethren for their special contribution to tickling the nation’s funny bone.

The rich vein of absurdities and comic characters they’ve produced have given humorists pure gold.

They hit the mother lode with ol’ Dubya, who was heard to say such things as “Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?” Or “I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.”

Picking Sarah Palin, that Alaskan Kardashian, for vice president on the 2008 GOP ticket demonstrated that Republicans were not about to give up the fight to provide us with laughs in a post-George W. Bush era.

Ted Nugent, Rush Limbaugh, Rep. Michele Bachmann, Glenn Beck, Christine “I-am-not-a-witch” O’Donnell, Texas Gov. Rick “Oops” Perry, Karl “Bad Math” Rove and Mitt “Etch-A-Sketch” Romney have all carried on the conservative tradition of leaving us laughing.

But I’d give up the laugh riot gladly if only we could have some of the old Republican Party back, moderates such as Bob Dole who were willing to engage in productive compromise for the sake of their country.

We’re a two-party system. We desperately need a competent and pragmatic GOP, not the present bunch of clowns.

Michael Zygmunt

Kansas City

Champion Royals

The Royals may not have won the World Series, however, they are champions in many unforgettable ways. Just think of the fellowship that grew between the different areas.

The Royals generated excitement, happiness and the opportunity to see some of the greatest plays made by our team. They inspired heartwarming gifts from those able to share tickets with happy recipients.

The super coverage, pictures and articles in The Star put me in a choice seat at the stadium, even though I did not attend.

We will miss seeing that sea of blue and hearing the chant of “Let’s go Royals.” But you can bet we'll all be eager, dedicated and on deck next season, and yes, they will be champions in the hearts of many baseball fans forever.

Mildred Herzenak

Overland Park

This story was originally published November 1, 2014 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Readers share thoughts on voting, Rep. Lynn Jenkins and money in politics."