Readers share views on American progress, Kansas taxes, Iran nuclear deal

American progress

The last few weeks have been exciting for human rights in our country.

The Affordable Care Act is intact. Gays’ rights to legally marry are extended to every state.

A worn-out vestige of slavery, the Confederate battle flag, is being removed from state offices.

This current wave of tolerance is humane and compassionate. It’s also common sense.

Those threatened by such trends lag behind.

After waving his bigotry like his comb-over, Donald Trump’s business relationships with NBC and Macy’s have been severed.

Human rights versus the right to bear arms is next. Many think the National Rifle Association holds too much clout to even hope that it could be silenced.

But remember the demise of the Berlin Wall.

It seemed impossible not so long ago, but here we are on the other side of history.

The same public voice of common sense should (and I believe will) trump the nonsensical lack of gun control.

Those who still hold tight to our country’s unregulated free-for-all for guns are surely a fading breed.

Patricia Gray

Kansas City

Kansas tax burden

I bought a bag of ice for $1.88 and paid 18 cents in taxes.

Being liberal, I am for taxation because I know we need that money for infrastructure, education, defense and programs to make this a great society for all.

The problem I have is with tea party Republicans’ hypocrisy on government and taxes.

They say their party is against government and taxes.

They claim to want to tax less and provide tax cuts for businesses and the rich, who drive this economy, and money will trickle down with benefits for all. How’s that been working?

We’re being patient with the trickle-down theory.

But how long must we be patient with this tea party Republican ideology?

Republicans still get their money.

Like that 18 cents on a bag of ice, taxes on food, gas, vehicles and so on are paid mostly by the people who can afford them the least.

They are the middle class and the poor.

Tell the truth, Gov. Sam Brownback.

Your party is against taxation of the rich and businesses.

Tax the rest of us.

Paul Wickingson

Overland Park

Iran nuclear deal

When parts of the nuclear agreement with Iran were announced recently:

1. They were dancing in the streets in Iran.

2. The Iranians were still chanting, “Death to America.”

3. The Iranians were still chanting, “Death to Israel.”

4. In a secret side deal, the Iranians are to be allowed to basically self-inspect their military base.

5. When polled, the majority of Americans opposed the deal.

Recently, Sen. Claire McCaskill declared her support for the deal.

Does she represent the people of Missouri, or does she represent President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party?

Andy Fisher

Pleasant Hill

Paying in Kansas

Not all Kansans are paying state income taxes, and you already know many who don’t.

It is likely that your attorney and your accountant do not pay Kansas income taxes.

And, when you make a purchase from a local retail business, pay your mechanic or buy vegetables, beef and bread using grain produced by a Kansas farmer, you are probably increasing the sizes of their checking accounts because many do not pay income taxes.

If you are a salaried or hourly employee, or a retiree, you are paying for their children’s public school education, the roads they drive on, the Kansas Highway Patrol troopers who protect them and even the state employees who collect your taxes.

If you think this is unfair, do not vote for those who caused this absurdity — the Republican legislators and Gov. Sam Brownback.

Dave Peterson

Lenexa

Voting in Kansas

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach wants voters to provide birth certificates to register to vote.

He says he is only trying to root out rampant voter fraud taking place in Kansas.

As proof, he cites the close elections last fall of Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and Sen. Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican.

Kobach wants us to believe that the job performances of these two men had nothing to do with it and that it must have been voter fraud at work.

Another way of looking at it, however, is that both men might have lost their jobs if Kobach hadn’t been successful in placing thousands of Kansans in what has become known as “voter suspension.” Of course, Kobach, ever the right-wing demagogue, won’t consider this possibility.

But here’s the problem with the birth-certificate mandate.

Kobach was one of the most vocal when it came to challenging the validity of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate once it was made public.

He and others like him wanted to see the “long form.”

So won’t the same thing happen when registered Democrats show up to vote?

Michal Betz

Wichita

Minimum wage

OK, I can get very angry at times. Normally I am a mild-mannered person, but some things get under my skin.

I grew up in Kansas City. I still live in the suburbs.

My first full-time job was at the minimum wage of $1.25 an hour working at Montgomery Ward at what used to be the Blue Ridge Mall.

With that wage, I had more buying power than minimum-wage workers have today.

The state minimum wage has not kept pace with the cost of living.

I was proud of the Kansas City Council when it passed a bill to increase the wage to $13 an hour by 2020.

That is five years from now, and costs will be higher by then.

The city did the right thing.

Now the state legislature has stepped in to stop that increase.

The state legislature should not interfere with local jurisdictions on matters like this.

That is the kind of thing that can make me very angry.

Gene W. DeVaux

Greenwood

Conservation fund

The Land and Water Conservation Fund has provided more than $11 million in matching grants to Jackson County.

From building hiking and biking trails to improving community parks, playgrounds and ballfields, these federal funds ensure that families have easy access to public, open spaces.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund has also provided $47 million to help protect some of Missouri’s most treasured places, such as the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, the Mark Twain National Forest and the Harry S. Truman National Historic Site.

Created more than 50 years ago as a bipartisan program, the Land and Water Conservation Fund uses revenues from offshore oil and gas companies — not the taxpayers.

On Sept. 30, the Land and Water Conservation Fund will expire. Our U.S. senators and representatives should permanently reauthorize it and fund it at the full $900 million.

Only twice since 1965 has it been fully funded because more than $18 billion has been sent elsewhere by congressional meddling.

Eileen McManus