Letters on mass transit, Topeka debacle, tax failure, Hutton, self-identifying, gun control

Mass transit is not an option

Our current Wichita city leaders don’t understand that a mass transit system (in this case, buses) is no more of an option than supplying water, sewer, power services or a public school system. It’s not an option. Are we going to make this known to conventions we compete for?

If our “leaders” aren’t smart enough to figure this out, maybe they need to visit other cities and see how they do it. Some run far better transit systems, and do it seven days a week.

Now Wichita officials are considering cutting transit services (“7 long-term council priorities,” June 18 Eagle)? Are they kidding? The current transit system doesn’t even have the routes, hours, fares, etc., that meet the needs of the people. That’s why it’s not successful.

Business 101 states that businesses fail because they didn’t meet the customers’ needs. Is there a bus route to our No. 1 city attraction, the Sedgwick County Zoo? Silly question – the answer is “no.” Get this: An all-day pass cannot be purchased on a bus – you have to buy it downtown.

As far as I know, Wichita has had a transit system since the early 1900s. How can I believe these city leaders can make intelligent decisions for the future of Wichita when they claim to be clueless on such an old and worldwide item like mass transit?

Topeka debacle

The great philosopher Pogo once said: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

The debacle in Topeka is the fault of Kansas voters, nonvoters, uninformed voters, one-party voters and one-issue voters. Next will be the call to “throw the bums out.” How? The same people will be re-elected, except for our esteemed governor.

If you thought this year’s session was intolerable, wait until next year when the tax revenues are low and there is no more money in the transportation budget to steal – I mean transfer. Add in the school funding lawsuit. A witches’ cauldron of financial doom and gloom.

Unfortunately, many Kansans will believe our governor, who stated that this sales tax increase and the loss of many tax deductions are actually a “tax cut” and that it is the fault of the Democrats. I’m surprised he did not blame President Obama this time. I do not remember Democrats and moderate Republicans voting for the 2012 tax bill.

What really is a shame is that a majority of Kansans don’t even know what is going on. They pay no attention, and that is what the extreme right-wing conservative Republicans are counting on.

Math wins out

News flash: Once again plain old arithmetic wins out over pretty economic theories about how reality works, especially when it finally comes down to balancing the checkbook. But the stubborn true believers will still try to find someone else to blame for messing up their cute experiments.

What were the Democrats supposed to be doing? Holding the tissue boxes for the tearful, whining bullies controlling our state government?

Got caught

I could hardly hold back the tears when I saw Gov. Sam Brownback and his selected state legislators crying because they had to vote for the largest tax increase ever put upon Kansans. I totally understood the pain they were experiencing.

When I was 8, I stole cookies out of my mother’s cookie jar. Oh, the joy I felt when I was eating away at those cookies. But then came the time of reckoning; my mother busted me. Yes, just like the legislators, I cried and really ached when I received her famous “silent treatment” for a week.

But these adult legislators deserve much more than my mom’s silent treatment. They have raided the future of Kansas for short-term political gain, and they got caught. They have to be grounded and never returned to Topeka again.

Shame on all of the legislators who screwed up and are now blaming their failed tax redistribution plan on the people of Kansas.

Proud of Hutton

We are proud to say that Mark Hutton is our state representative from west Wichita.

We want to thank him for his efforts to roll back some of the income tax cuts and develop a fair tax plan. Even though the outcome didn’t turn out the way he and many other Kansans wanted, at least he had the courage to address Gov. Sam Brownback and the 2012 Legislature’s unfair income tax cuts.

Hutton needs to regroup, gather his strength and work hard while the Legislature is out of session to convince Republican lawmakers that everyone needs to pay his fair share of taxes in Kansas. Until that happens, Kansas will continue to deal with the budget woes.

Threats that the governor would slash the budget across the board are part of the reason Hutton decided to vote for the plan that passed. We believe he didn’t want to risk cuts to services for people with disabilities. He has reached out to many people with disabilities who depend on those services, including our adult son with severe autism, and he knows the system has already been cut to the bare bone.

Hutton joked that he may no longer be on Brownback’s Christmas card list, but he is certainly on ours.

Self-identify?

Many liberals (including left-wing race-baiter Al Sharpton) are standing up for Rachel Dolezal, the now disgraced former head of the Spokane, Wash., chapter of the NAACP who lied about her race. They say there is nothing wrong with Dolezal “self-identifying” as black.

I wonder how many high school seniors are going to “self-identify” as black to take advantage of preferential college admittance policies enjoyed by minorities, or to get grants set aside for minority students. After they graduate, they can again “self-identify” as black to take advantage of affirmative action hiring policies. If they decide to start a business, they can “self-identify” as black to receive government grants and contracts restricted to minority-owned businesses.

Liberals may want to rethink their position on Dolezal.

End love affair

I was raised by a father who loved to hunt. I have fond memories of our time together walking fields, crawling up on ponds, or sitting in a blind.

But I do not understand our country’s love affair with firearms, with tools of violence. I do not understand the desire to stockpile, buying more and more guns and ammunition. The idea that putting more guns on the street will make us safer is, in my mind, simply ludicrous.

When will we finally listen to the cries of our mothers and fathers, our grandfathers and grandmothers, our friends and families? How many children have to die before we admit that we and our warped fascination with weapons designed to kill are the problem?

There is rampant violence across our nation, rampant hatred, bigotry and racism that continue to raise their ugly and evil head, and the continued passing of laws that allow for the purchase of guns without background checks, registration and training is irresponsible, ignorant, and killing our friends and families. Gun control is not the enemy. Guns in the hands of those who long for violent resolution are the enemy, and we need sensible gun laws, now.

When will we finally say, “Enough”? When will we finally admit we have a problem?

Until we stand and admit we have a problem – not just with humankind, but with guns – there will be more such incidents like this tragedy in Charleston, S.C.

This story was originally published June 20, 2015 at 7:04 PM with the headline "Letters on mass transit, Topeka debacle, tax failure, Hutton, self-identifying, gun control."