Readers react to Social Security, guns and child safety
Social Security
To paraphrase former senator Barry Goldwater, this should be titled “Conscience of a Welfare Recipient.”
After an adult lifetime of supporting welfare families I am, unlike Odysseus, unable to ignore the modern version of the siren call of Scylla and Charybdis, now named Social Security and Medicare. I must abandon my previous belief in the principles of the Founding Fathers of liberty, small government and individual responsibility and submit to dependency on the federal government.
I should also reject libertarianism for the welfare philosophy of the Democratic and the Republican parties. I must also thank those productive members of society whose taxes support my aid-to-the-elderly lifestyle.
Karl Marx and President Barack Obama have added another convert.
Randy Cousins
Olathe
Guns, militia
It is amusing that we are placing so much emphasis on the danger from terrorists and acts of terrorism in the U.S., when in fact a more significant and realistic danger is from U.S. citizens with guns.
The number of citizens killed by other citizens (non-terrorists) with guns is significantly greater than the number killed by terrorists with guns, bombs and everything else.
The difference isn’t even close, and yet no meaningful objection to gun ownership is being expressed to solve the problem. To substantiate the degree of the problem, gun homicide rates are highest in states where gun ownership is highest.
If gun ownership is permitted by the Second Amendment for members of a “well-regulated militia,” then let people insistent upon owning a gun join a well-regulated militia as the Constitution requires and let them be trained in weapons use and the weapons registration.
Hugh J. Taylor
Overland Park
Avoiding tragedy
The two weeks ahead of the Super Bowl are some of the biggest for television sales. But these TV purchases could pose a danger to children.
We lost our 2-year-old son, Charlie, to a furniture tip-over incident, and we are writing to try to prevent other Kansas City parents from experiencing a similar tragedy.
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, every 24 minutes a child visits an emergency room because of a tip-over injury, often when they attempt to climb furniture or televisions.
Since losing Charlie, we started Charlie’s House, dedicated to preventing injuries to children in and around the home. We also partnered with the Consumer Product Safety Commission on its Anchor It! Campaign, which provides tip-over prevention information.
Anchor existing furniture with inexpensive anti-tip brackets available at hardware or electronics stores, and install anti-tip brackets that come with new furniture. If a flat-screen TV isn’t wall-mounted, anchor it to the wall or furniture.
If anchoring isn’t possible, place TVs on a low television stand. Always remove toys from the top of TVs and furniture that might tempt kids to climb.
Visit CPSC’s anchorit.gov to learn more. We urge all area residents with children in their homes to take our advice and avoid a similar tragedy.
Brett and Jenny Horn
Kansas City
Yael Abouhalkah
I appreciate Yael T. Abouhalkah’s close monitoring of the Kansas economy (1-28, Commentary, “Facts beat fiction spewed by Kansas governor”). However, he dwells way too much on job growth in Kansas.
Back in the years of Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, we were told that 5 percent unemployment was equivalent to full employment. The Kansas unemployment rate is 4 percent.
It only makes sense that job growth would be slower in an economy with nearly full employment.
Thomas A Hardy
Olathe
Brownback’s flop
I wonder what Crosby Kemper III and his Show-Me Institute think about the Kansas experiment as Gov. Sam Brownback is now joined by former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, placing both states in a financial disaster.
Fortunately, the people of Louisiana were smart enough to elect John Bel Edwards, who is equipped to solve the state’s problems. One can only hope there is someone in Kansas the electorate will bring on board with similar ideas, allowing Kansas to return to its once-held glory.
Everett Murphy
Kansas City
This story was originally published January 29, 2016 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Readers react to Social Security, guns and child safety."