Letters to the editor (Jan. 20, 2019)

Mischaracterizing Reagan

In “Reagan’s Hopeful Farewell” (Jan. 12 Eagle), Jon Meacham infers that President Reagan approved of illegal immigration and quotes his farewell speech where he tried to explain what the term “shining city,” used in many of his speeches, meant to him. It stated “If there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here,” Meacham says adding that’s “not how Trump sees it.” But that’s exactly how Trump sees it, walls with doors called ports of entry. A generation of Americans aren’t old enough to remember President Reagan. He never championed illegal immigration.

Meacham is writing revisionist history. Millions of people with “will and heart” have persevered to get to this country legally. Meacham closes by saying President Reagan was about hope not fear. The people who legally persevere today to get here have more hope than Jon Meacham can imagine. He is peddling fear with unwarranted false hope to those who would bypass the legal system. Many arriving illegally will live in the fear of being found out. Others will create the fear of being a victim of an illegal immigrant. This is what Meacham champions.

Head

I don’t keep track of things perfectly, but I do know that there already is a wall and fence barriers along our border. I do think for our well being just one thing should be considered: finish what we started many years ago and move on.

Accountability

Thank you to Wichita for holding Fiber Dynamics accountable. I am sorry they were not able to achieve their goals. However, it is rewarding to know someone is keeping an eye on promises not kept. Good job!

Kelly speech

Wow, what a speech delivered by Gov. Laura Kelly on Wednesday. Emphatic and no nonsense in its tone, its was a rebuke on the Brownback tenure, “the last eight years have been a hardship, there’s no doubt about it” and then she proceeded to give a clear eyed vision of Kansas’ future going forward. Getting past the “budget catastrophe” of her predecessor and envisioning a state where education and our children’s welfare is paramount. Also, expanding heath care to the least of our citizens is high on her list. Of course Republicans will begin immediately to undermine her ability to pay for it all by suggesting a state income tax cut to offset the extra state withholding under the new federal tax laws. Never mind that’s how Kansas got in a fiscal pickle last time.

It’s refreshing to hear a clear and concise plan from a politician. Would that we had such people in Washington. Boy, I’d hate to lose you Laura, but are you sure you don’t want to run for president?

Walls that don’t work

In response to Peter Hanas’ letter (“Walls work,” Jan. 15 Eagle), if he has been to the DMZ and seen a wall, I offer my apologies for being misinformed, but any photos or videos I have seen show only barbed wire on the North Korea side. Of course there also land mines in the north zone. I can’t argue with his Berlin Wall statistics, but where is the wall now? Both east and west Berliners took their sledge hammers to it. The other item is the guards along the Berlin Wall had orders to shoot to kill if they saw anyone trying to escape, which is a great deterrent in itself

Examples of walls that didn’t work: The walls of Jericho, Great Wall of China and the Maginot Line in France.

The border wall with Mexico is nothing but an ego trip for Trump. Will he demand Trump gold lettering on it?

This story was originally published January 20, 2019 at 4:21 AM.