Opinion Line (May 22)

Republicans do believe in raising taxes, but as a last resort, not the first.

If all tax increases on business owners are passed on to consumers, then we should have seen a decrease in prices for goods and services when Kansas exempted many business owners from paying income taxes. Instead, because most prices are set by the marketplace, business owners simply pocketed the money.

The new bird in Topeka is the yellow-bellied lawmaker. Just put the small-business tax back and the heck with Americans for Prosperity.

Government should never use tax money to invest in private businesses. When government does so, invariably corruption occurs, like at the Kansas Bioscience Authority, or investment failure occurs, as with Solyndra.

So Gov. Sam Brownback is using private e-mails. Next thing we’ll find out he has a private e-mail server in his basement and has destroyed 30,000 “personal” e-mails. Who does he think he is? Secretary of state?

I’m waiting for the uproar over the news about Brownback using his private e-mail account and cellphone. Where is it? This smells like obvious flouting of open records laws.

I just don’t understand why a person would smoke marijuana. Shouldn’t our goal be to increase our brain clarity, not dumb it down?

Every negotiated plea bargain should count as a prosecutorial failure. It’s the only way the justice system’s unjust practice of overcharging to extract a guilty plea to a slightly lesser overcharge can be stopped. Prosecuting should be about justice, not political ambition.

All of the new school buildings look like prisons. Even the playgrounds are depressing.

Bill Clinton recently said: “There’s one set of rules for politics in America and another set for real life, and you just have to learn to deal with it.” That pretty well sums up the Clintons’ ethical framework.

The Constitution is written to tell us what government can’t do. So if it’s not in the Constitution, it means the government can do it. I hope this helps.

I hope the decision whether to sign up for Costco, Sam’s Club or both is the only thing I have to worry about all year.

Driving along any main thoroughfare, I am pleased to see so many dogs, walking their people and extending the lives of both.

The streets in Wichita are so bad that perhaps car dealers should add mouth guards to their new car freebies.

This story was originally published May 21, 2015 at 7:03 PM with the headline "Opinion Line (May 22)."