Letters on GOP fear, cure for ‘affluenza,’ entitlements, liberal voters, refugees

Don’t let fear drive response to terrorism

Republicans deserve better representation than those who would channel fear into anger.

At present we are dealing with enemies who are attempting to spread their tentacles of death by physical and mental violence into every aspect of our world. Our “business model” for dealing with this should include a resilience based upon a toleration of our own inevitable differences and an awareness of the dangers of extreme factionalization, as well as an aggression toward those who are attempting to destroy our American community.

The capitalization on anger will only lead to an ineffective “whack-a-mole” approach to problem solving. In this complex age of social media, situational awareness of imminent threat may be hard to come by, and thus effective countermeasures as well.

We have the opportunity to mature in our understanding of social/economic issues fostering the destructiveness we are faced with. We can attempt to use this knowledge in a preventative fashion in an attempt to make difficult situations better, not worse.

In order to do this, we have to have effective dialogues concerning a variety of issues on multiple levels. These cannot take place effectively if anger and partisanship distort our thought process and blur our vision.

ISIS and its like would have us war among ourselves and bring us down from within. Let us not allow them that victory.

We will do well to lead our leaders, and ourselves, toward a collaborative, reasoned path, utilizing mutual support, to bring about more productive consequences than a legacy of anger will produce.

Cure for ‘affluenza’

And so, Ethan Couch’s mommy drove her son from Texas to Mexico. Couch had been given probation for a period of 10 years after driving under the influence. In that accident, four lives were lost and others changed forever.

It seems that justice has not been served well – not to the victims, and not to Couch, who ought to have been punished for his crimes. The cure for his bad case of “affluenza” might just be a good dose of jail therapy.

Last on the list

After reading “Are social programs really a bad thing?” (Dec. 19 Letters to the Editor), I thought: “Well done.” The arguments were hard to argue with, but even so were wrong.

The letter writer noted the security benefits of Medicare, Social Security and a few other government programs to support her thesis: If we did not have these programs, think of the hardships we would have to endure. If that were to happen today, there would be immeasurable suffering.

But what if it never was, and each and every adult worked hard, paid his dues and got ahead, or just made enough to get by? I submit that if this were so, Abraham Lincoln’s famous words from the Gettysburg Address would still hold true, in the sense that we would all be able to write our own ticket insofar as the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That government of the people, by the people and for the people would never have perished from the Earth.

As it is now, we have a government of the government, by the government and for the government. We the people are last on the list of the Creator’s certain inalienable rights. And unless there is a spiritual awakening unlike we have ever seen, this will remain.

Liberals need to vote

As a Kansan whose political views have become increasingly liberal over the course of several years, I still recognize an admirable trait among conservatives that I wish liberals could emulate: They vote. Always.

It would seem this phenomenon occurs on a curve as well. The “average” conservative will turn out reliably for a presidential election, but the hardest-core, gun-toting, uber-religious among them will hike naked 5 miles through a snowstorm to vote for county clerk or dogcatcher. The 2014 governor’s race in this state was a perfect case in point.

If we are to stem our country’s slide into anti-intellectual, xenophobic isolationism, people of conscience on the left must make it to the ballot box.

Allow Syrian refugees

Closing the U.S. borders is not going to solve any of the problems we are facing. Actually, it is making the problem worse. We need to show that we are not afraid.

At a young age we are taught in school the hardships we have faced and how to grow from our past.

Our teachers stress the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. We are taught equality, how to treat people with respect, and love.

Not allowing Syrian refugees a safe haven in a time of need goes against what we have spent our whole lives working hard for.

In the words of President Obama, “Slamming the door in the face of refugees would betray our deepest values. That’s not who we are. And it’s not what we’re going to do.”

What we need to do is come together as one, not sign petitions about closing our borders.

This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Letters on GOP fear, cure for ‘affluenza,’ entitlements, liberal voters, refugees."