Letters on officer shooting, republic, Obama

Don’t rush to judge police officers

Sunflower Community Action and Walt Chappell already seem to have determined that the trained, experienced law enforcement officers involved in the death of John Paul Quintero didn’t respond correctly. Our officers deserve to have the required investigation before judgment is pronounced.

They also deserve to be respected for the dangerous work they perform on our streets. They don’t deserve belligerent, drunken behavior that puts them in the position of perhaps not returning home after shift. Until we have been in the position of those officers – with all the training and experience – most of the community does not have the ability to determine what was appropriate.

Screaming about body cameras is not going to make it happen any quicker unless a large donation is secured for these items. What will work is teaching our children appropriate behavior.

Anyone with a lick of common sense knows that when an officer asks you to do something, you need to obey for everyone’s safety. Making accurate and specific reports to dispatch is also necessary to receive the correct reaction.

It is time for all citizens to be responsible for their own behavior and their children. Declaring racism and brutality before an investigation is not a responsible action.

Not a democracy

I would suggest The Eagle make a New Year’s resolution to correct misstatements from contributors.

The most common is calling the United States a “democracy” when the Constitution clearly states in Article IV, Section 4: “The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government.” I see “democracy” used by regular contributors and professors, and President Obama even used it recently. The difference is dramatic, and allowing these mistakes does a disservice to The Eagle and the nation.

A second misstatement refers to the Kansas Constitution provision for school funding. The usual mistake is stating that the Legislature must provide “suitable funding” for our schools, which is not the wording in the constitution. The actual wording is: “The Legislature shall make suitable provision for finance of the educational interests of the state.” Note that it does not say “interest of teachers, unions, retirement plans, busing and free lunches.” It allows for fees or supplemental charges as may be authorized by law.

I’m not a judge, but I worked with contracts and legal documents for more than 40 years, and I believe our courts are doing Kansas a great disservice.

Obama chaos

The resounding defeat suffered by Democrats last election wasn’t perceived by President Obama as a rejection of his policies, but a failure to convince the simpleminded proletariat just how good the Kool-Aid tastes.

We will suffer through two more years of delusional leadership that has more resemblance to a bad LSD trip than a coherent strategy for the welfare of the nation.

With the rejection of his policies by the American people, Obama is attempting to circumvent the rule of law through the use of executive orders and regulatory fiat.

With everything he stands for in tatters, representative democracy has been dispensed with at every opportunity, in favor of forcing his will down the path favored by left-wing elitists such as Obamacare consultant Jonathan Gruber and by pandering to the likes of Al Sharpton.

How much more chaos will America suffer before rational government is reinstated?

This story was originally published January 8, 2015 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Letters on officer shooting, republic, Obama."