Letters on voting law, sales-tax referendum, Orman, strong defense

Felt like criminal in my home state

My great-great-great-grandfather Lorenzo D. Payne came to Kansas in the 1860s and settled in Lawrence. He was a physician who treated runaway slaves who came through on the Underground Railroad. My great-grandfather Walter L. Payne was Kansas’ 20th state treasurer. I am a sixth-generation Kansan.

I recently returned to Kansas. Upon applying for my Kansas driver’s license and trying to register to vote, I was flabbergasted at the documentation I was required to produce – either a birth certificate or a passport, my Social Security card, two documents with my current address and my Texas driver’s license.

I felt like a criminal in my home state.

I was told this was because of increased security in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001. But we all know this increased documentation requirement is an effort to disenfranchise voters. It is a disgrace to America.

I was a registered voter in Kansas from 1974 to 2004. To be required to submit a plethora of documents is scandalous at best.

An election is soon upon us. Vote these people out.

Invest in future

I’m voting “yes” on Nov. 4 to ensure that Wichita has the innovation and infrastructure needed to move forward.

Attending one of the “branding summits” held last week strengthened my conviction that we must do everything we can to propel Wichita to the next level. One of the presenters at the summit reminded us that if you’re not reinvesting in your product (your city), you’re going to be left behind.

We must invest in ourselves and our city’s future.

Tax considerations

Consider the 1 percent sales tax that will be on the November ballot. Aside from this being a regressive tax, there are other things to consider.

One dollar will be added to a $100 purchase. It doesn’t take many groceries to equal $100. Few hotel rooms cost less than $100. An average new car would cost $300 more in sales taxes.

We hear that we have one of the lowest sales tax rates in the state. Some cities are approaching a 10 percent tax rate. Just because others are paying more does not justify Wichita joining that higher rate.

Good times will take care of our infrastructure. Our leaders need only to commit to job creation and a future water supply. They need to commit to seeking additional manufacturing clusters and have an advanced, progressive plan for future water.

Let’s hold them to big thinking. Target manufacturing clusters in areas of the country where the corporations are showing dissatisfaction with their location, such as arms manufacturers in Connecticut. Much of our treated water goes to irrigation. Campers know about brown water and gray water. Wouldn’t it be superb if we could be provided with a second pipeline system with gray water to use mainly for irrigation?

Both of these things, correctly applied, would assure Wichita’s successful future. Let’s hold them to it, or, if not convinced, vote it down.

Owe an answer

With Democrat Chad Taylor trying to pull out of the U.S. Senate race, the race seems to be between Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and independent Greg Orman.

Obviously, Roberts will caucus with the Republicans. I called Orman’s campaign office and asked whether Orman would caucus with Republicans or Democrats. The answer I got was that he would caucus with whatever party won the majority in the Senate. He doesn’t know which team he is going to root for until he finds out which team wins the game? Unbelievable.

I believe that Orman owes Kansans an answer. It’s the only right thing to do.

Learn history

Considering what Russian President Vladimir Putin is achieving in Ukraine, it is obvious that he was attentive to his history lessons growing up in the Soviet Union. He learned that Karl Marx and Josef Stalin called for world domination, and today Putin is responding.

Similarly, the leaders of ISIS know the history of the powerful armed Islamic force that swarmed out of Arabia into Europe and western China, only to be finally stopped in central France and Hungary. They again want to pursue world domination.

Unfortunately, our leaders seem to have slept through their history classes. We are now reducing our military to a size not seen since the start of World War II. We are vainly trying to tell the world that our severely impaired military will eradicate these two enormous new threats to world peace. How unrealistic. They failed to remember that when President Reagan rapidly expanded our military strength, the Soviet economy collapsed from trying to compete, causing communism to fold. This is what Putin feels was the greatest tragedy in the 20th century.

In light of these two rapidly growing great threats to our safety, should we not try to imitate Reagan and rediscover the value of a powerful military? We can excuse poor study habits, but we must expect our leaders to learn from their errors and rapidly correct our preplanned military weakness.

This story was originally published September 11, 2014 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Letters on voting law, sales-tax referendum, Orman, strong defense."