Letters on AG’s job, criminal control, paying for defense, Putin, source of morality, city arborists

Advising Legislature not part of job

In his apparent zeal to mock, Davis Merritt got his civics facts wrong when he called me “the Legislature’s lawyer” (“Our paper moon is sailing over cardboard sea,” Sept. 29 Opinion). The Legislature has an entire staff of lawyers whose job it is to advise and assist in their lawmaking role, but I’m not among them.

As attorney general, I am the lawyer for the state of Kansas, not for the Legislature. My role is to defend the laws and constitution of the state, not the separate interests of any branch of state government. Unfortunately, this role sometimes casts me in the middle of interbranch disputes.

That is why I have taken steps to try to calm the waters between the Legislature and the courts, two branches of government in which I do not serve. I don’t think their quarrel is in the overall best interest of the state.

Outside groups are still intent on a fight. But I, for one, think the public interest is best served by an easing of tensions, which is why I have urged humility and restraint by all involved. To that end, Merritt’s comments are neither correct nor helpful.

Criminal control

Enough talk about gun control. When will the real problem be solved – this country’s amazing lack of criminal control? How often do we read how criminals commit crimes, are jailed and soon released, and then more crimes are committed by the same people?

Criminal control should be a major challenge for every Democratic and Republican leader.

Why would any criminal pay any more attention to another hundred new gun laws when so many are now in place yet often go unenforced?

Saw the light

Regarding the recent meeting between President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin: I strongly believe that our president will never say that Putin is a good man because he looked into his eyes and saw his soul. Nor do I believe that Putin will say that he looked into Obama’s ear and saw the light from across the room

Help pay for defense

Here is something Donald Trump brought up during his presentation of his tax plan: We protect Germany and Saudi Arabia, and we do not get paid for that. We spend more of our gross domestic product on the military than most of the countries that we protect. Should we not be compensated for that?

The Islamic State is controlling territory in Iraq and Syria, but not here. How much are those countries paying us to bomb ISIS targets?

We keep taking the role of world police without compensation. Doesn’t this seem unwise? All the presidential candidates seem to be foreign policy experts, but they never seem to answer this basic question. Maybe this would be a good question for the next presidential debate.

Source of morality

Regarding “God’s judgment” (Sept. 13 Letters to the Editor): As far back as Plato’s dialogue in “Euthyphro,” Socrates stated the dilemma of any God being a source for morality.

Socrates’ question was: Do gods choose what is good because it is good, or is the good, good because the gods choose it?

This question reveals that no “God” can be a source of morality without morality itself becoming arbitrary and self-contradictory. For “good” to carry any moral force, “goodness” has to be independent of any god. Otherwise, gods could arbitrarily decide that torture is good, which would destroy any distinction between good and evil.

As for the “God” of the Bible being a source for morality, one need look no further than Deuteronomy 21:18-21, which morally condones parents stoning their children to death for being stubborn.

Above and beyond

I want to praise the city of Wichita’s forestry division. I called in about a huge American elm between the sidewalk and the street that had a number of dead branches overhanging my roof and the sidewalk. At 7:40 a.m. Monday there was a crew on my corner cutting branches, but not out of this tree. I asked the man in charge if they were going to work on my tree. He said he hadn’t planned on it, but he took a look and the crew came back and started working.

They were amazing. These guys went way above and beyond the routine in taking care of my tree. This was a clean, professional job done by skilled arborists. My tree looks balanced, healthy and just beautiful. At the end of the cutting and grinding, they raked up everything and swept the sidewalk. There was no mess left behind.

So often “government workers” get a lousy reputation for being lazy or indifferent toward the public they serve. But these forestry workers really went the extra mile. This was not easy work, and it was done with team cooperation, a willingness to change their plans and absolute professionalism.

This story was originally published October 1, 2015 at 7:04 PM with the headline "Letters on AG’s job, criminal control, paying for defense, Putin, source of morality, city arborists."