Letters: KC readers discuss Trump’s lackeys, pricey Royals games, vaccine passports

Binary answer

For our elected officials, here is a simple question — but one that measures your loyalty to your oath of office, the people you were elected to serve, the Constitution, democracy and, of course, honesty. I am directing this question specifically to our senior Sen. Roy Blunt and junior member insurrectionist Sen. Josh Hawley of the Trumplican cult.

Was the recent presidential election stolen as Donald Trump and cult members claim with the Big Lie?

Yes or no?

- Bob Riddle, Lee’s Summit

She’s no liberal

All independent voters and the few Republicans who still believe in the truth should take notice of what is happening to Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming. She is speaking out against Donald Trump’s 2020 election Big Lie. And because she refuses to lie on behalf of the party, she will soon be out of power and out of a job.

Liz Cheney is not a closet liberal. She is a staunch, old-school Republican. Progressives have little in common with her except a desire to maintain personal integrity.

This is where the Republican Party is now: Lie, cheat and steal, whatever it takes to stay in power as America continues to diversify.

Please respond accordingly with your votes against their madness.

- Scott D. Roby, Lenexa

Royal heist

Another winning season might be here for our Major League Baseball team. Yet at what cost to everyday people?

Kansas City is among the few cities where there is no public transportation anywhere near the ballpark. Buses are not allowed to drop people off and pick them up after games.

Prices at Kauffman Stadium are prohibitive to low-income folks. It’s $20 for parking at a complex built with public funds, and it opened in 1973. That parking lot ought to have been paid off long ago.

So, add the price of parking, plus a $3.50 order fee, a $4.75 per ticket fee and an additional $1 per ticket fee to a $14 ticket in the upper nosebleed section, and there you have it: It costs $43.25 to attend only one of 81 home games.

- Donald Robert Sartain, St. Joseph

Fair shares?

The Biden administration wants about $6 trillion in new spending. Polls show it’s popular. I just wonder how much support it would have if the IRS directly billed Americans their proportional share.

If we were to divide the U.S. population of about 331 million into about 83 million theoretical families of four, each would owe more than $72,000 to make up that $6 trillion.

Everybody loves government programs as long as someone else is paying for them.

- Hoyt Marquis, Leawood

Compassion needed

Missouri state Rep. Hannah Kelly, I am missing something.

I read that you think a way to honor children is to jail or fine a woman who does not pay for burial or cremation of body tissue after a legal abortion. (April 28, 10A, “Bill would force painful ritual on women who abort”)

As far as I know, Rep. Kelly, you have the right to do anything you want after a medical procedure — say, pickle your appendix, save your finger in a jar, post a video of your yanked molar.

But as far as I know, adults rarely, if ever, have an opinion about what another adult wants to do with his or her body. You, however, do. And what’s more, you insist your opinion trumps any other.

My goodness, Rep. Kelly, I’m afraid that the something I am missing is yours to find — compassion, humility and respect.

- Stephanie Reynolds, Kansas City

Carrot, stick

As the vaccine rollout continues, it seems we might not reach herd immunity. We all might end up wearing masks for a long time. There are many in state legislatures who want to make laws so businesses cannot demand proof of vaccination from customers.

I think that large gatherings such as NFL games should be allowed full capacity (some 75,000 people) if everyone has a “vaccine passport” showing they’ve been inoculated. I am sure teams would prefer that to having 20,000 people. (And, yes, I know some cannot get the vaccine because of allergic reactions.)

If the passport was required for these venues until enough people are immunized to achieve herd immunity, more people would get the shot.

- Robert Rouen, Blue Springs