Letters to the editor on masks, immigration and voting
Mask mandate
The recent CDC decision to lift the mask mandate for vaccinated people (under most circumstances) is a significant, positive move reflecting substantial and solid evidence of the effectiveness of the vaccines not only to protect the individual but to protect others through the prevention of transmission. What a momentous point in time! Thank you to all those who followed public health guidelines over all these many months and to those that have been vaccinated. Your commitment to protecting yourself and society at-large is to be commended and celebrated! To everyone else, I have no words.
Immigration reform
On May 11 the Bush Institute and more than twenty organizations released a letter to Congress urging leaders to reform the immigration system with the future prosperity of the nation in mind. This letter was co-signed by groups including Americans for Prosperity, the U. S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. This is not a far-left socialist group but groups that do have the interest in the economic future of the United States. The letter is found at the Bush Center web site: www.bushcenter.org/publications/index.html.
They applaud bipartisan efforts “to advance the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, create a permanent pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, and allow those on Temporary Protected Status to apply for green cards.” They know the importance of addressing root causes of migration to the United States including violence, corruption, economic turmoil, and recent natural disasters. They note the economic importance of immigrant’s contributions by stating that data shows that increased immigration spurs U.S. economic growth and productivity.
Sadly, our Washington representatives seem to be out of sync with these conservative organizations. As such, they seem willing to let our country fail. They need to hear your voice!
Voting law
Americans deserve a fair and accurate election process. Kansas has worked hard to ensure the integrity of our votes and security of our election process, but now it is being actively undermined by D.C.
In March, the US House passed the “For the People Act” (H.R. 1 / S. 1). In reality it should be called the Corrupt Politicians Act.
H.R. 1 / S. 1 will force the American people to spend millions of dollars to fund the campaigns of political candidates via a six-to-one matching program financed by taxpayer money. It also allows candidates that take a salary out of their campaigns to be paid with funds provided again by us taxpayers.
This bill also would sabotage state voter ID laws like we have in Kansas, meaning someone could simply sign a statement in which they claim to be who they say there are and vote without verification. This would be on top of mandating same-day voter registration. This is an open door for massive fraud.
This bill does nothing to protect our votes or increase trust in our election process. I urge Senators Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall to reject H.R. 1/ S. 1.
House vote
Our US House members recently voted in secret to oust Liz Chaney from her leadership role in the GOP for having the temerity to state publicly that the election was not rigged as Trump and others in her party have claimed and that Joe Biden is our country’s president. Want to know how our representative Ron Estes voted on that issue? Good luck, Its a secret. Shhhhhh.