Letters on ‘efficiencies,’ truth and lies, merit pay, fixing politics, GOP manure platform

Cuts, efficiencies look like cost transfers

Yes, cutting expenses of government is admirable, especially if it can be done to avoid increased taxes. However, cutting by simply passing the expense back to citizens sounds very much like a tax increase. The governor’s State of the State speech and the recommendations of the efficiency consultants (Jan. 13 Eagle) sound like cost transfers.

Increases in taxes cannot be avoided if government is to be fair and meet all of its obligations. Borrowing to meet current expenses does nothing to reduce the cost of government; it simply defers the cost to future taxpayers.

I have spent many hours concerned about what is happening in Kansas. I am now frightened about the direction I see our governor and legislative leaders taking us during the current legislative session. It is time for Kansas to wake up and demand responsibility from elected officials.

The future now looks very grim. I was so hoping to start off the year with something positive. I guess telling the truth is a positive statement.

Deficiency experts

The article about efficiency experts saving Kansas $2 billion was a sickening display of inept depravity (Jan. 13 Eagle). It has no justification to be under the guise of efficiency and no place in a true capitalist society. It is a clear example of precision theft of taxpayer investment.

Shifting the “enormous burden” of costs to teachers, state employees and other divested taxpayers only redirects the responsibility of being efficient. Another proposal is local outsourcing by utilizing prison labor.

Some of these proposals are extremely efficient methods of funneling tax revenue into the hands of politicians and a few businesses but will create expensive externalities and will do more economic damage in the long term.

A lifetime of paying taxes is a lifelong investment, and taxpayers need to demand the same accountability, management and investment return that shareholders demand. We, the people, invested $2.6 million for an efficiency plan that has the potential for a $2 billion return, but all I see so far is an efficient plan to socialize the costs and privatize the profits.

Guides to truth, lies

Author Terry Goodkind has written rules as guides to truth and lies. They are relevant regarding the rantings of zealots and the extremist rhetoric and hate speech prevalent these days, both foreign and domestic. Here are the two most significant rules:

▪  Given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. People will believe a lie because they want to believe it’s true, or because they’re afraid it might be true. Their heads are full of knowledge, facts and beliefs, mostly false, but they think it all true. They can rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, but are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool.

▪  The only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason. The first law of reason is this: What exists, exists; what is, is. From this irreducible bedrock principle all knowledge is built. It is the foundation from which life is embraced. Thinking is a choice. Wishes and whims are not facts, nor are they a means to discover them. Reason is our only way of grasping reality. We are free to evade the effort of thinking, to reject reason, but we are not free to avoid the penalty of the abyss that we refuse to see.

Reward for harder job

In response to a proposal for merit pay for teachers, John H. Wilson, professor emeritus in the College of Education at Wichita State University, described differing situations for two teachers in the same school district (Jan. 12 Opinion). It shed light on the problem of teacher effectiveness in today’s school environment.

Teacher A has a class in which the students are working at or above grade level, and come from homes in which parents regularly communicate with the teacher and enjoy an active parent-teacher association.

Teacher B has a classroom containing students with a wide range of readiness. Parents of those students consider academic success, or lack of, fully the responsibility of the teacher.

The school of Teacher B is described as less sufficient than that of Teacher A, suggesting it is older and located in a run-down neighborhood made up largely of rental housing units. That may also imply that many of the adults caring for these students are unmarried and not striving for a permanent home in which a family can grow and bond together.

Wilson suggested we should not reward Teacher A for being blessed with a hardworking student body. But what about rewarding Teacher B for taking on a far more difficult task, and reward her for those of her students who experience academic success in such a trying environment?

How to fix politics

Everyone knows that our political system is broken. In every election we hear those running for office say they’re going to work untiringly to fix the problems, but nothing ever changes.

As we gear up for this next election, I predict we will hear more of the same rhetoric. But nothing is going to happen because these elected representatives have no incentive to bring about the needed changes. It will stay that way until several things happen.

The first is term limits. This should help stop big business, big labor and the fat cats from continually funding the guys they have in their pockets. It would also eliminate what is becoming a ruling class, which is a class we really don’t need.

Second, all government employees, and I mean all of them, need to join the rest of us by paying into Social Security. Not one of them is any more special than any one of us.

Third, those elected to the House and Senate should be paid the median wage of the area or district they represent. It’s supposed to be an honor to serve and not just another way to enrich yourself.

If these changes were made, we would all be better off. But it’s never going to happen, because our leaders have it good the way it is. They’re holding the big end of the stick, and with every election the people’s end seems to be getting shorter.

Same old manure

Wandering around the Goodwill store, waiting on my wife, I found a book titled, “The Good Old Days Early 1900s.” I bought it, and at home that evening reading it, I found an interesting part about an auction.

This old farmer named Ike decided to retire and move to California for an easier life. He hired what he thought was the best auctioneer in the business. On the morning of the sale, Col. Woodrow Boone mounted Ike’s manure spreader to start the auction and shouted for attention. “I know I am speaking from the Republican platform,” he said, “but I am not going to make a political speech.”

It sounds like some of these Republican candidates are speaking from that same old manure-spreader platform.

This story was originally published January 16, 2016 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Letters on ‘efficiencies,’ truth and lies, merit pay, fixing politics, GOP manure platform."