Letters on tax freeloaders, GOP collapse, Trump, bigots, Turkey

‘Freeloaders’ free to make a donation

Overland Park attorney James P. Zakoura feels wrong about pocketing an extra $6,000 at tax time due to the state’s so-called “LLC loophole” (“They get Kansas tax breaks, and many ‘feel like freeloaders,’ ” Aug. 29 Eagle). Here is a suggestion:

He can make a visit to a local public school of his choice. I am sure the principal would be thrilled to meet him and collect a donation of $6,000.

Don’t extradite

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has demanded that the United States extradite the Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen from his self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania. Erdogan blames Gulen for ordering the recent military coup against the Turkish government.

In fact, there is no evidence that Gulen ordered the coup. Erdogan has long used Gulen as the scapegoat for political problems in Turkey.

I am a retired history professor at Bethel College. I visited Turkey in 2014 and 2015. While there, I learned that Gulen’s movement is not a political party, not a religious denomination, and does not have a militia. The movement known as Hizmet – which means “service” – is a non-governmental humanitarian organization. It has educational and service ministries with branches in 160 different countries. It is said to have more than 5 million members.

Gulen gained a great following as an exponent of a progressive understanding of Islam. Hizmet focuses on broad humanitarian ideals common to all religions.

It would be a great injustice for the United States to agree with Erdogan’s unwarranted demand for extradition.

GOP collapse

The GOP lies before us like a dead armadillo, feet in the air.

The superficial nature of its national convention made clear that the Republican strategy of the past eight years – to obstruct rather than participate in governance – remains the extent of the party’s vision.

Has anyone heard Republicans speak about how they intend to address the problems of homegrown terrorists, growing racial turmoil, the repair and updating of our infrastructure, the updating of the tax code, the rising costs of health care, the growing population of the poor and homeless, the global warming that may eventually lead to the flooding of our great coastal cities?

This GOP is anti-Libertarian because its platform calls for controls on how to conduct our private lives and condemns all who wish to live otherwise. This GOP is not conservative. It offers no cogent plan about how to revive the general prosperity and employment opportunities of their mythical yore, no plan to keep America out of wasteful destructive wars, no plan to correct wasteful spending in the military or in social programs without severely damaging both.

The GOP offers no dream for America.

The GOP has collapsed into the personality cult of a man who declares that he alone is the fixer of all ills. There is no better example of delusional ignorance.

Crazy like a fox

When Donald Trump announced a run for president, the Democrats and many Republicans laughed him off as a big joke. Now their laughter has begun to fade away.

Could a man like Trump really be president?

Trump is crazy like a fox. How else could he get millions of dollars of free coverage from a liberal press that hates his guts?

They say Trump has no experience. They are right. He has never been a community organizer like President Obama. He has never lied and purged himself before a tainted FBI. When he leaves the White House, he will not be broke like the Clintons were and then in a short time become a millionaire.

The Republicans say Trump will destroy their party. Is that a bad thing? Sometimes you have to dismantle an old, worn-out machine and rebuild it.

When this great country hits bottom, there is only one way to go, and that is up. God bless the good old USA.

Bigots and racists

Our presidential candidates have been calling each other names again. In the latest tirades they are calling each other bigot and racist.

I thought I knew what the two words mean. I was wrong. I looked them up in my 50-year-old dictionary. (I keep an old set of encyclopedia, too, because in today’s world, words morph.)

Bigot is a person obstinately and unreasonably wedded to a particular opinion, party, religion, etc., and bitterly intolerant of those who believe differently.

A racist believes that a particular race is inherently superior.

All racists are bigots but not all bigots are racists.

You have to admit these guys are putting on quite a show. Hope we survive the alleged machinations of the winner.

Lazy mowers

Regarding an Aug. 22 Opinion Line call telling people concerned with grass clippings in the street to “get a life”: I have a life. Other people are just lazy.

When their sewer clogs up and the street floods (mine, too), don’t call the city. You can be ticketed and fined. Plus, the clippings make entire neighborhoods look trashy.

Tip: Just turn the mower away from the street. Simple.

This story was originally published September 2, 2016 at 5:03 AM with the headline "Letters on tax freeloaders, GOP collapse, Trump, bigots, Turkey."