Letters on failed state policies, Medicaid expansion, food sales tax, meal budget, presidential race, Trump, food desert, car show

Time to dismount from failed state policies

My dad had an expression: “When your horse dies, dismount.” I wish Gov. Sam Brownback were smart enough to follow this advice.

It is obvious that his business tax cuts are not providing a “shot of adrenaline” to the state economy. But instead of having an honest evaluation of the situation, he would rather “snatch and grab” funds designated for other purposes or deny funding for needed services.

The primary snatch and grab would be the highway fund and the Children’s Initiatives Fund. He and others also want to reduce funding for the Kansas Bioscience Authority and require Medicaid patients to use cheaper prescriptions.

The state has a shortage of adequate personnel in the highway patrol, forensic lab and prisons. Brownback has allowed a mess to happen at the state hospitals for the mentally ill and the foster care system.

The refusal to consider an expansion of Medicaid is selfish and heartless. In my opinion, the all-out attack on public education and the court system should be considered the equivalent of acts of treason.

I have genuine sympathy for those legislative members who do want to do the right thing. They are kicked around, criticized and removed from committees. We all need to take the time to encourage and appreciate those who want to do the right thing.

Expand Medicaid

Kansas elected officials have refused to expand Medicaid or to even seriously debate it, even though doing so could provide health insurance for an estimated 150,000 low-income people, most of whom are counted among the working poor.

This refusal to take action is a serious mistake with flesh-and-blood consequences that play out daily around us.

Individuals with serious mental illness are overrepresented among those most likely to lack health insurance coverage. As a result, they often go without the effective treatments that could benefit them.

The cost of this problem is enormous in personal and financial terms for the individuals and families that are directly touched, and also for employers stemming from lost productivity. In Kansas, these costs exceed $1 billion per year.

Expanding Medicaid would dramatically reduce this financial burden on our state. Most importantly, it will change the lives of thousands of uninsured Kansans coping with untreated mental illness.

Lost appetite

Rep. Marvin Kleeb, R-Overland Park, saying they can’t lower taxes on food this legislative session made me lose my appetite (“Study: State losing food tax revenue,” Jan. 16 Eagle).

Gov. Sam Brownback and his followers raised our state’s sales tax on every elderly person, every struggling citizen among the working poor, every Kansas student going into debt trying to get an education, and every one of his volunteer “mentors” who give time and money to help hundreds of our fellow Kansas citizens. Kansas lawmakers take from the poor to give to the upper-middle-class business owners and the wealthy.

That is what the Republicans in our state have an “appetite” for.

Spending too much

If a two-person household using a moderate cost plan spends $619.10 for food a month on average (“Study: State losing food tax revenue,” Jan. 16 Eagle), then a lot of people must be very uninformed about how to nutritiously feed themselves at a reasonable cost, and they must buy too much prepared food.

My husband and I eat very well, meaning we eat delicious and healthful food, for less than $500 a month, including wine and various toiletries – actually a bit of a splurge. I fed a family of seven for years, having learned to cook from people who lived through the Depression. I can, therefore, make good meals out of almost anything – a lost art, apparently. If anyone wants to know how to do this, just ask. I am on Facebook.

Boiling down

Boiling down is a process of refining, of evaporating light gases and impurities, leaving the desired product. The current political situation appears to be a boiling down of the election process, to leave a pair of candidates who previously would have evaporated at first heat.

Voters from both major parties are supporting angry, aggressive candidates operating outside old party rules to give voting Americans what they can’t get from establishment candidates.

The past fades and the new comes to the fore to deliver us from the days of old. Hang on, let’s go.

Trump an alpha male

Donald Trump reportedly once stopped his car and prevented a man from further beating another man with a baseball bat. This is an earmark of an alpha male. He says he has never smoked a cigarette and has never used narcotics or consumed a drink of alcohol. Also, he does not drink coffee.

From military school, Trump went to Fordham University, then to the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. At Wharton, Trump’s strength was recognizing opportunities where others saw nothing. When a man is taught to be a manager and he is given responsibility, he acts as a manager.

Trump keeps lots of balls in the air at one time. He earns so much from his vast empire that his political campaign will not require other people’s money. If elected, he is smart enough to have smart people around him.

His business management shows leadership and cunning. His presidential Cabinet would call for a particular display of talent.

Rather than being a mousy president, Trump wouldn’t “take any crap.”

Left in food desert

As president of the Fairmount Neighborhood Association, I must strongly voice my disapproval and disappointment with the decision by Wal-Mart to close its Neighborhood Market at 13th and Oliver (“9 Wal-Mart stores to close this month in Kansas,” Jan. 16 Business).

The neighborhoods in this area, including ours, are part of what is known as a “grocery desert,” an area in which grocery facilities are woefully inadequate or simply unavailable. Our neighborhood, and those around us, were fully prepared to support this endeavor. In fact, we had speakers from the market speak at our annual meeting in November, so our members could be aware of the great new services available.

Now Wal-Mart as well as QuikTrip are abandoning the 13th and Oliver area, and depriving an already underserved area of needed services.

Frankly, I am not terribly surprised that it is another lower-income area that is being slighted. More and more, good and plentiful services are moving out into the suburbs, and away from the inner city.

Our historic and vital neighborhood will continue to fight for better services for our members. Food retailers in Wichita: You haven’t heard the last from us.

Bad move on car show

I do not think much thought was put into moving the BlackTop Nationals car show to the Wichita River Festival venue, given the likelihood of rain, parking problems, fees, etc. (Jan. 13 Eagle). I have a lot of money in my car. I do not want it rained or hailed on. If that were to happen, there would be no way for participants to get their investments to safety. I will not be entering my car this year.

This story was originally published January 23, 2016 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Letters on failed state policies, Medicaid expansion, food sales tax, meal budget, presidential race, Trump, food desert, car show."