Letters: Readers are mad at U.S. senators and representatives from Kansas for infrastructure vote
Roger Marshall, are you reading this?
A letter to Roger Marshall: I read with disgust the article in the Topeka Capital-Journal about the report you released, that mandates will cost Kansas businesses $43 million. I urge you to research the cost of COVID-19 deaths and illness on our economy. Your insistence that the mandates are “a slap in the face to so many people, including essential workers” is ludicrous.
If people would get the vaccine voluntarily, mandates might not be needed. Individuals who quit their jobs, refusing to get the vaccines, are the problem. The costs of COVID include deaths and serious illness. Dollars or lives and health. We see your priorities.
It is elected officials like you who fuel the misinformation about vaccines. They are safe and prevent deaths and illness. I ask you to represent Kansas with compassion and common sense. To this point, you are doing neither.
Scott Henson, Topeka
Hitler and Nazi rules should apply to both parties
Mr. M.H. Hoeflich is correct when he says that facile comparisons between mask and vaccine mandates and the murder of 6 million-plus people by the National Socialists are inappropriate and ought not to be tolerated in our public conversations.
On that much, we agree. He would have a stronger argument if so many of the same people who claim outrage at references to Nazi atrocities had not poisoned that well with four years and more of “Trump is Hitler.”
The debasement of the conversation had already begun in the early years of this century with the entry of “Bushitler” by self-identified serious writers. The next Republican president will likely be subjected to similar abuse.
It is true that there are some things that, despite our national tradition of people saying whatever pops into their heads, there are some lines that should not be crossed and some things that ought not to be said.
If National Socialism and the Holocaust should be left out of our public dialog (as they should), the prohibition should not apply only to one side, with the other side being allowed to say “anything we don't like is Hitler.”
RE Ramcharan, Topeka
Kansas has five Republican naysayers in Congress
Of the six Kansans in the U.S. Congress, all five of the Republican men outrageously voted against the recently passed infrastructure bill. Needs addressed by this legislation have been ignored and neglected for decades. Conditions are bad and getting worse — in Kansas and most other places.
The votes of the five naysayers mean they don’t support expenditures to improve roads, bridges and public transportation. Neither do they want high speed internet expanded, improvements to the quality of water so it’s fit for human consumption or any of the many other actions called for that’ll improve life for millions of citizens.
Rest assured, when infrastructure improvements become evident in Kansas, the five phonies will be first in line to brag about what they did to make miracles happen. They’re a disgrace to Kansas and should be ashamed of themselves. The same goes for voters who sent them to Washington.
Richard Schutz, Topeka
Kansas senators, representatives in Congress voted against needs
President Joe Biden signed the infrastructure bill into law this week. Kansas Republican senators and representatives, who are supposedly elected to “serve” Kansans, all chose to vote against it. I would like to know what part of this our elected officials have a problem with.
Sam Brownback stripped over $2 billion from KDOT during his “experiment” and it took a noticeable toll on our infrastructure.
Under this law, Kansas will receive $2.7 billion for highways, bridges and airports, $450 million for water and lead pipe removal and $100 million to fill the gap in broadband.
Our only Democrat representative voted for the best interests of the people of Kansas. Now our Legislature wants to gerrymander districts so that Sharice Davids, the only one who seems to view her constituents as more important than politics in Washington, will possibly not be re-elected.
I thought possible that our Kansas Legislature was going to do something positive about the fact that Kansas is 5% behind the national average in COVID-19 vaccinations. Much to my chagrin, all they want to do is reward those who choose not to get vaccinated and make it easier for them to be irresponsible and selfish.
It’s a sad commentary on our politicians and the voters who put them there, without question.
Sandra Burton, Frankfort
Customers are no longer appreciated
Bribery is something given or promised to induce a person to do something against their will. Buy one get one free. Buy five items on this page and get 25 cents off each. Use your receipt in a week for another purchase get % off. Use store card to get lower price. Answer survey from receipt to win prizes. Don't tell you the price, only the amount you will save.
What about people who don't need more than one or do not have storage for more? Why do they get penalized? Now comes the APP discount to receive extra savings, but only on certain days of the week.
All this seems to defeat the COVID distancing plan, along with no one has enough check out to lower stress, germs, agitated customers, less service.
The customer used to be important to the industry. Now the customer is not a valuable part of a functioning market, just a $$$.
Bribery is an offense, not a gift.
Joyce Stuckey, Topeka
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Letters: Readers are mad at U.S. senators, representatives from Kansas
