YOUR VIEWS

Setting it straight

“Officials should tout state economy” (Our Views, Aug. 8) incorrectly stated that sales taxes imposed on vehicle purchases are included in state reports under the category of motor vehicle tax collections. State officials say they do not include those motor vehicle taxes in the motor vehicle tax category.

Questions for conservatives

Many days I read letters to the editor from good, earnest people denouncing abortion and supporting the rights of the unborn. I assume most consider themselves conservative. Respectfully, I ask what they say about the living. When our president took innocent children away from parents fleeing their crime-ridden countries, what did these conservatives say about his policy? Is it OK to put innocent children in government “prisons” and deport their parents, losing track of where the parents are? If a woman becomes pregnant she must have the baby, but after a child is born we don’t care so much? Where are local conservative voices denouncing this president and his anti-family, anti-woman policies?

Donald Trump must live in fear of real conservatives waking up and holding him accountable for his despicable actions, awful words and assault on objective truth. If only they knew as well as he does their power to stop him. “Conservatives” enjoying economic benefits and judicial picks while ignoring the societal and long-term damage from this president are not conservative. Who guessed Trump’s payoffs for manipulating this constituency would prove to be so morally compromising and so silencing?

Jon Womastek, Oklahoma City

Misguided

The world is like different petrie dishes. If you want to see what political system you want, just look at other countries that you wish (hope) to change from the America you live in. Mitchell Leasure (Your Views, Aug. 3) said our constitutional republic has failed and needs to be replaced by democratic socialism. Free stuff for everyone, let the producers pay the government their hard-earned money to support the do-nothing, hands-out people. This person has no clue as to what socialism does to a society and its people. Leasure should study Venezuela, Cuba, Russia or other socialist utopias he thinks will work in a free republic and come back and tell us “we want that for us.”

Dan Ruster, Edmond

Trim the statutes

I applaud “Reform could help set Oklahoma apart” (Our Views, July 30). I would add that before the Legislature can reform our agencies, it must reform our statutes. If the Legislature simply

cuts agency budgets, then agencies cannot timely carry out their statutory duties. And there are way too many statutory duties. How do we know that? The Oklahoma Statutes are republished every 10 years, and the four volumes of 1971 doubled to eight by the 2011 edition. If our Legislature would trim the bloated statutes to eliminate no-longerneeded and outdated laws and duties, then it would have more money for what we really need.

Bob Kellogg, Edmond Kellogg is a former general counsel of the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality.

Look at the present

Ernest L. Bereman (Your Views, Aug. 4) writes that during his years in journalism, “ethics was always part of the courses of study at the university level, and in the field, we never had the occasion of having to deal with a fabricated story.” Personal experience is not a basis for drawing universal conclusions; e.g., during my experience, probably in some of the same years as Bereman, you could leave your house unlocked, even at night, leave your car keys in the ignition or even with the motor running while you went into a store, walk safely down most streets with no fear, have packages stay on your front porch in plain sight for days and you never encountered criminal behavior from anyone. That was my experience shared by many of The

Oklahoman’s readers. To draw accurate conclusions about what’s going on in the world today, one must look at what’s going on, not past experience.

David Browne, Oklahoma City

Pot calling kettle black?

Regarding “Tribes sue opioid makers” (News, Aug. 4): Is this not the pot calling the kettle black? Gambling addiction is a serious problem and is just as devastating to affected families as opioids are. Do the tribes not knowingly prey on the addiction of people by flooding the mailboxes of frequent casino customers and “rewards” members with enticements to get them back into the casino? Are the tribes not making millions of dollars at the expense and suffering of addicts and their families? You can blame the drug companies for the opioid addiction epidemic, but the billboards and TV advertisements that purport the “glamour” of the casino are no less of a deception for an 18-year-old high school junior or senior, and anyone inclined toward addiction.

Ann Wilson, Ardmore