Letters on forces behind Trump, Cruz eligibility, inept GOP leaders

Economic insecurity fueling candidates

Regarding Leonard Pitts’ commentary “Defeating Trump won’t erase forces that made him possible” (March 14 Opinion): Pitts declared the importance of confronting ignorance in the electorate, especially as an infestation spread by Donald Trump. But would the data reveal that Hillary Clinton supporters are better educated and less susceptible to “authoritarian” figures, as Pitts implied?

Pitts placed blame on conservative school board agendas. But over the past 45 years, hasn’t local control of education decreased while federal oversight and union protectionism have increased? Do today’s students really have a clearer historical perspective, a tighter logical filter and a more value-free approach to data?

Pitts reasoned that bigotry is a function of fear, especially among old majorities feeling under siege by ascendant racial, religious and sexual minorities. Is this ascendance other than numerical? What am I missing? I do see sharp splintering in our national identity, a splintering that Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., find harmful and are railing against – from different angles.

Trump is not to blame for the economic insecurity that has fueled his political rise – and Sanders’ rise. Pitts is right: “Corporations are not people; only people are people, and they are struggling.” Trickle-down economics is fantasy for most Americans in a world increasingly controlled by transnationalists and international capitalists.

Pitts proposes voting, not apathy, as the means to “drain the swamp” of political vitriol – except that both parties are being confronted this year by many new or revitalized voters. This election season’s pyrotechnics is not a function of apathy but quite the opposite. Americans on both sides of the spectrum are saying, “enough is enough.”

Cruz not eligible

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, cannot be president. The Constitution is very clear: You must be “a natural born citizen” to be president.

What does “natural born” mean? It is my understanding that if you go back to old English common law, it means born of the land.

“Natural born” is used in the requirement to be president. All other places, the term “citizen” is used. This would seem to indicate they meant someone who was born in the United States or territories of the United States.

The Constitution does give an exception for “a citizen” to be president – if the person had been a citizen at the time the Constitution was adopted.

Donald Trump is trying to get the GOP presidential race down to Trump versus Cruz. I believe that when it is, he will file a court case saying Cruz is not eligible to be president, and Trump will win.

Some note that John McCain was born in Panama. But he was born in the Panama Canal Zone, which at that time was a territory, making it a part of the United States.

Little to offer

Our inept Republican leaders have made things difficult for Kansas health care, with smaller, rural hospitals on the verge of closing, in part due to the poor decision not to expand Medicaid and other funding cutbacks. Our larger hospitals are having a difficult time recruiting physicians, because young doctors who are raising families have no desire to move to a state where schools are underfunded, quality teachers are leaving and infrastructure is at the bottom of the priority list.

Kansas is not growing or progressing, and now has little to offer. It appears our governor’s dream of turning Kansas into a “truly red state” has come true, as poverty, declining educational opportunities, stagnant job growth and wages, and backward ideology are the norm.

This story was originally published March 20, 2016 at 7:05 PM with the headline "Letters on forces behind Trump, Cruz eligibility, inept GOP leaders."