Letters on government jobs, vehicle taxes, Trump, Kobach, school funding

Government jobs are real jobs, too

“Highway raids affecting jobs” (Aug. 31 Eagle Editorial) was right on.

I have never understood the argument that “government does not create jobs.” There are teachers, cops, firemen, social workers, prison guards, construction workers, hospital employees and on and on. Don’t they work at jobs?

Construction and hospital workers may work for private companies, but many are contracted by the state. When the funds for their services are cut or “raided,” they lose their jobs, taking their buying power and tax base with them. And not incidentally, what these people provide – public safety, good roads, education, health care, etc. – goes with them.

Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax cuts went to businesses that aren’t required to hire anyone. Somehow that was a better idea than keeping the people who were already employed and now are laid off because of his cuts. Once out of work, these people are unable to buy from the very businesses Brownback says he wants to help. Ability to buy a product drives business viability; tax cuts are secondary.

A bird in the hand (already employed people) is worth two in the bush, as they say. But Brownback killed the bird for reasons most of us can’t figure out.

Pay Kansas taxes

Regarding the article in last Sunday’s Eagle about Kansans registering their cars in other states for tax-relief purposes: How many Kansas businesses also register their cars and trucks in other states in order to avoid Kansas taxes?

I understand companies may have interests in many places. However, if a truck is solely dedicated to Kansas, the company should pay Kansas taxes for the roads it uses – especially when these heavy trucks cause so much road damage.

Trump makes sense

Donald Trump has more women executives than men in his organization. He pays them equal pay to men. Trump hires people from all backgrounds, faiths, colors and gender. He has a history of people loving to work for him. Trump has a family that he taught to care about everyone in the organization, including those who do the hard work at the bottom.

Trump has a clear path to victory. He said he would follow the Constitution. He said he would not rule by executive orders. He would protect our country from those invading it to provide cells for ISIS. He would help immigration be a safe path to help America grow gracefully, as it has done in the past. Trump would call for a fair flat tax. He would replace Obamacare with health savings accounts.

We finally have a candidate making sense. No wonder he gained traction in the primaries.

Before this election, no one was calling Trump names or accusing him of bigotry. Hillary Clinton has a history of going after women who more-than-loved her husband, of hiding the facts behind Benghazi, of taking in money from domestic and foreign entities while providing assistance so close to the donations that it would be considered bribes if she were only a Republican.

Real voter fraud

There is serious voter fraud in Kansas, and it is being committed by Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

His actions are fraudulent, because he is deliberately misleading the public by claiming that the problem is that some illegal voters are not citizens. Therefore, all voters should be required to prove their U.S. citizenship.

Kobach has obtain four fraudulent voting convictions, and in each case the defendants were U.S. citizens who had homes in two different states. They lived part of each year in each home and, thus, paid property taxes in both states. These citizens made a mistake in believing they could vote in local elections in each state.

As Kobach must know, this problem cannot be solved by proving that one is a U.S. citizen.

Why has Kobach claimed that proof of U.S. citizenship will solve this problem when he must know it will not? My guess is that he believes most of the more than 18,000 Kansas voters who can’t, or haven’t, proved their U.S. citizenship will vote Democratic.

If so, Kobach is not trying to prevent fraudulent voting; he is trying to prevent legitimate voters from voting. If that is the case, he should be impeached.

Legislature funds

Should the Kansas Supreme Court be like Texas on school funding (Aug. 23 Now Consider This)?

The Texas constitution states: “A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people, it shall be the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools.”

The Kansas constitution says: “The legislature shall provide for intellectual, educational, vocational and scientific improvement by establishing and maintaining public schools, educational institutions and related activities which may be organized and changed in such manner as may be provided by law.”

Any “significant differences” (as the attorneys for suing Kansas school districts suggested) between the two constitutions must first get past the single most important similarity that is definitive: It is the legislature that funds public education, not the courts.

If the funding is inadequate, the only power the courts have is to say it is flawed. Texas did the right thing.

Drug price gouging

As a pharmacist, I have been deeply troubled at the direction our industry has taken over the past few decades. There is an ever-increasing cost to the consumer for lifesaving pharmaceuticals. Generic products that should be priced quite reasonably have become outrageously expensive. This is especially true for drugs that treat diseases in small populations.

Recently, more press has been given to these price-gouging tactics. I’ve written our congressmen and senators about the problem. In one instance, I received back a form letter that addressed agricultural problems. So much for writing our politicians.

Surely most of our citizens are now aware of the problem. What will become of it is another question.

This story was originally published September 4, 2016 at 5:03 AM with the headline "Letters on government jobs, vehicle taxes, Trump, Kobach, school funding."