Letters on voting, long-term care, vouchers, Trump, Clinton

Don’t sit out the next election

What has our wonderful and beautiful country come to?

Look at our choice in candidates for president. Again, it’s a choice of two evils.

I’m not going to tell you whom I’m voting for, nor am I going to try and influence your vote. The main thing is get off your backside and vote.

Only 17 percent of the eligible voters in Sedgwick County voted in the August primary. That’s just plain stupid.

Somewhere in your background, it’s likely that you or one or more of your ancestors fought for this country and your right to vote. You dishonor their memory by not voting.

I know Kansas is a red state, but stop and think about the candidates. Don’t pull that handle just because of the “R” by the name. Look what that got you for governor, twice.

While I’m ranting, was that not a stupid statement by a local GOP leader, who said to “hold your nose” and vote for Donald Trump? That’s what I’m talking about, folks.

Cuts affect care

KanCare, Home and Community Based Services, and other state-funded programs have come with a lot of unfulfilled promises. The current clearinghouse in Topeka is doing anything but clearing through applications or questions. The system is backed up, and calls are not answered or even returned.

Additionally, the state has not given long-term care an increase in Medicaid rates since 2011. 2016 finally brought a rate increase of 8 percent. But because legislators ended their session with an unbalanced budget, the governor took 4.47 percent of that 8 percent increase to balance the budget. The result is that long-term care is getting only a 3.53 percent increase, which equates to an average 0.706 percent increase over the past five years.

The cost of care continues to rise, but providers don’t get paid for it.

Long-term care is not the only field taking a huge hit from the governor’s budget cuts. It’s more important than ever to stay educated on current issues, as these cuts affect all of us. Get to know your elected officials. Grassroots efforts do make a difference.

Need vouchers

Many say that the state isn’t treating all Kansas school children fairly. I agree.

The state has been shunning the private and home-schooled children for decades. Yet they continually extract tax money from the parents of these kids to educate public school children who will compete against their children in the workplace. This is fair?

The fairest thing is school vouchers so that the money follows the student. The irony is that vouchers effectively already exist for the magnate school students.

How to make vouchers happen? In late August, the day after the public school budgets are finalized, parents of the private/home school students should take their students to the nearest public school and insist that they be enrolled, and be prepared to leave their students there until vouchers are available or new fully staffed schools are built.

This will show how much money the private schools/home scholars have been saving the state and the cost it would to accommodate them.

Hopefully, some organization or someone will organize this effort.

Overcome self

Jesus summarized God’s Ten Commandments with just two: Love God above all things and love your neighbor as yourself. Both of these commandments tell us to love. That’s all God asks us to do.

Yet no one keeps these commandments perfectly, as Jesus did. We are born with a natural desire to focus on ourselves.

Christians spend their lives trying to overcome this desire to put ourselves first, but because it is our nature, we cannot do it without God’s help. That is what faith in God’s grace does for us. How well we have accomplished this surrendering of our free will to God’s will is the true measure of a person’s faith.

Because I hold these beliefs, the more self-centered and egocentric candidates are at election time, the less likely I am to vote for them. The more they recognize their own limitations, the less prideful they are, the more they trust in God, and the more they place the needs of others before their own selfish needs, the more likely I am to vote for them.

Using these criteria, I don’t think I could ever vote for Donald Trump.

Trump phenomena

The phenomena started as a protest by primary election voters against current economic conditions and the policies of the Washington establishment. The mainly white supporters of Donald Trump have turned from protest mode to mob mode because of the irresponsible rhetoric of Trump.

Trump has advocated action that would violate the Constitution and laws of the land. He has proposed acts that are in deep conflict with our national values. He has railed against races and religions that are not his own. He admires dictators. The list goes on. Trump is not qualified in any way to be president.

A percentage of protesters, no matter what they are protesting, can be incited to destructive behavior as a means of venting their frustrations. Reasonable people know this behavior is not the solution. Imagine the destruction of our country’s economy and values that would result from electing Trump.

So we have a group of voters (primarily white) who would elect an egomaniac whose stated policies would destroy our country. The phenomena has developed into a race riot. Let’s call it what it is.

Don’t elect Clinton

Democrats need to pull their heads out of the sand and not elect Hillary Clinton for president. Think about how she lied to Congress about Benghazi and her e-mails and how she is lying about how great the economy is today. Clinton should never be given any classified security clearance, much less the key for our nukes.

If she were to be elected, our Second Amendment rights would be in jeopardy, the coal industry would shut down, and our borders would effectively be wide open for anyone to enter our country (even ISIS). It would be another four years of President Obama.

To save our country, vote for Donald Trump. He may not be a proven politician, but at least he is telling the truth and wants to make American great again.

This story was originally published August 21, 2016 at 12:04 AM with the headline "Letters on voting, long-term care, vouchers, Trump, Clinton."