Letters to the editor (Jan. 12, 2021)
Rise above
Like many, I watched the chaos in Washington, D.C., with heartbreak. What I saw from my fellow citizens was unthinkable and made our nation’s capital an almost unrecognizable place.
I’m a red-blooded Republican and I voted for Donald Trump twice, but this is too much. Joe Biden was duly elected and is a statesman who has dedicated his life to service. I honor that and I’ll stand with him.
To protest is innately American. So important, the right was explicitly stated in the Constitution. However, to attempt to use intimidation or force to reverse the result of an election is as un-American an act as I can conceive.
It’s time seek common ground where we can find it and debate when we can’t. My opponent is not my enemy. We all want a better nation; we simply have different ideas on how to get there.
There was a British historian and philosopher named Arnold Toynbee who once said “An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.” Those words are frighteningly applicable to what is unfolding right now. What happened in Washington, D.C., has weakened our national mettle, and if it continues, moves us all the closer to our demise.
I’ll pray for our nation, our leaders and our people. We are better than this, we must be, because if we aren’t, the sacrifice of millions of soldiers since our nation’s founding will have been made in vain. We owe it to all great patriots, ourselves included, to rise above this.
New kid on the block
Our retiring U.S. Senator, Pat Roberts, kept his job largely by keeping his mouth shut and avoiding controversy. His replacement, newly elected Sen. Roger Marshall obviously doesn’t intend to follow suit, having already distinguished himself on the Senate floor by delivering a meaningless speech challenging the popular vote from the people of Arizona, which helped to put Joe Biden in office. And this he did even after the assault by Trump supporters on the nation’s capitol.
Let us hope that his future speeches and contributions to our country are of a more substantive and relevant nature. As the new kid on the block, he might want to follow party leadership for awhile and consider just hanging around the Senate chambers until he comes up with something worth saying on behalf of us Kansans.
Speak out
I commend Sen. John Danforth and donor Sam Fox for coming out against Sen. Josh Hawley. However, the only difference between Hawley and Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall is Josh beating Roger to the podium. Why haven’t Sen. Bob Dole and Charles Koch raised their voices here? If they love democracy, they should be voicing their displeasure.
Let the conversations begin
To call these trying times is an understatement. COVID-19, a bitter election, and now armed insurrection in our Capitol in place of the expected peaceful transfer of power leave each of us feeling lost, with our world out of control.
Americans, Kansans, Wichitans are all wondering right now: What can I do? How can I help to make this better?
Thank you to Neal Allen, Dalton Glasscock and Joseph Shepard for a clear, thoughtful and doable answer to that question on The Eagle’s Opinion page (“Republican or Democrat, our system requires accepting facts and losing with grace,” Jan. 10). These men from different political persuasions understand that working together to better our country and our citizens is the very purpose of government. And they make it clear that each of us as citizens has power to help create this better world, and they explain just where to begin.
Let all of us respectfully share our opinions, fears and hopes, but always with an eye for truth in the conversation. Let the conversations begin.
Shame on them
The Eagle’s Jan. 8 editorial regarding how four of our Kansas congressman pledged to support overturning the presidential election was right on. Not only should they be ashamed, they should be recalled and replaced!