Readers sound off on Kansas budget, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump

Crisis deja vu?

Imagine you are one of the 3 million U.S. citizens living in an area hurt by the Great Recession. The lawmakers decide the answer is to induce businesses and wealthy people to move there.

That doesn’t work as planned, so they cut services and close schools. That isn’t enough as tax revenues continue to decline, so business goes elsewhere and the budget deteriorates further.

So legislators decide to make a deal with Wall Street to sell bonds dependent on future revenues. That Band-Aid only makes things worse, throwing the area into deep fiscal crisis.

Kansas? Not yet. It is playing out in Puerto Rico, now $70 billion in debt.

It is well past time to face reality in Topeka as irreparable damage is growing each legislative session, and no legislator will be immune in November.

Shel Roufa

Leawood

Clinton’s baggage

I’m sure it was unintended, but what great timing that the May 26, A1 lead article, “Report blasts Clinton for use of email server,” criticizing Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton appeared the same day as a letter to the editor questioning Republicans who would dare vote for presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.

The letter writer was appalled that a Republican could vote for Trump after questioning the candidate’s qualifications. He continued that the right wing cares only about winning.

After reading the story regarding Clinton and her email scandal, I wonder why Democrats still support her candidacy for president. Could it be that they, too, want to win?

The letter writer said he is no fan of Clinton. I wonder whom he will vote for this November?

Todd A. Scofield

Overland Park

Flexible Trump

Over the years, how many politicians have not fulfilled the promises they made that got them elected? How many have changed sides on issues?

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump changing his thoughts or ideas after he discovers something he didn’t know is not a reason to discredit all his ideas. Being transparent before he gets elected seems like an honorable way to be.

Gary Levin

Overland Park

Vote Democratic

This election, be selfish: vote Democratic. The reasons are simple.

Since World War II, Democratic administrations have been better for the economy than Republican ones. The economy has grown more, on average, when Democrats have been president than Republicans.

Job growth has been higher, thousands of jobs more per year. Business investment has been higher per year. The stock market average growth overall has been higher under Democratic presidents than Republican.

In sum, Democratic presidencies are better for the U.S. than Republican.

On the other hand, federal spending growth has been lower under Democratic presidents, amounting to billions of dollars less per year. Trade deficits have been lower.

Don’t believe me? Check the data out for yourself at presidentialdata.org.

Be selfish this election: vote for yourself and vote Democratic. Alternatively, be unselfish and vote for the rest of us: vote Democratic.

Chris Roesel

Roeland Park

Beyond saving

Kansas is made up of mostly moderate Republicans. Gov. Sam Brownback pushed hard to remove the moderate legislators out of his Senate and Statehouse in previous elections so he could advance his agenda.

And it has worked according to plan. He has the school districts eliminating services and increasing class sizes, and now he wants to oversee any new bond issues brought before the voters.

He will not be satisfied until he has the school districts strapped for money like he has the state. The radical wing of the conservative Legislature in Kansas now wants to make sure gun stores and shooting ranges are not discriminated against, even if they are committing fraud.

This Legislature cannot go to the bathroom without permission from a special-interest group. Bring air guns to school? No problem. What could go wrong with that?

It is difficult to keep up with all the bills that this Legislature is bringing to the table that are really just solutions in search of a problem, following the lead of our next governor, Kris Kobach.

Unless the moderates can get a few more sensible people in their group, we will be beyond help very soon.

Marty Birch

Olathe

Togetherness

What did Memorial Day mean to you? Perhaps you spent the day barbecuing in the back yard with the children running around and laughing. Maybe you sipped a cool one while relaxing after mowing the lawn. Or perhaps you went to the cemetery and cleared out the debris at the neglected headstones of your family.

Your wife meanwhile possibly checked out some bargains from the ads. You may have ended the day at the concert at Union Station and saw a fireworks display. But did you observe the clouds of ominous black smoke that preceded the brilliant colors?

For me, I volunteered at the National World War I Museum and Memorial telling about the war that some historians considered unnecessary, resulting in untold carnage. But the real meaning of Memorial Day came when I visited cemeteries with the grave stones of Union and Confederate soldiers. The soldiers fought each other from a distance, or maybe close range. In death, they lie side by side.

Side by side, we should also be in life.

Nancy Cramer

Independence

This story was originally published May 31, 2016 at 3:00 PM with the headline "Readers sound off on Kansas budget, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump."