Letters to the Editor: Solve the state budget. Legalize gambling and marijuana.

Sure-fire money

It’s time. Looking at the budget proposal from our new governor, there is a big revenue hole that must be filled. One of the proposals is increasing the sales tax on cigarettes and vaping products and on sports betting, but missing is a great way to increase revenues while not saddling the people with extra taxes — legalized gambling and legal marijuana (all types).

I have lived in Kentucky for over 30 years and it still amazes me how legislators refuse to move into the 21st century in terms of revenue production. Practically every state around us has legalized gambling. We are giving at least $200 million of tax revenue to Indiana casinos every year, and passing up millions of dollars in revenue from marijuana. Are there issues with both these revenue producers? Yes, but not unmanageable ones. There also would be benefits that far outweigh the costs associated with these vices. People will gamble regardless of where you make them go to do so. People illegally using marijuana will continue to do so and people using it for medicinal purposes will do so as well under the table. Legalization would benefit the state by getting us out from under our pension and revenue burdens.

Kevin Smith, Lexington

Column off-base

Herald-Leader contributing columnist Paul Prather’s defense of the Christian school that expelled a student for having a rainbow-themed birthday party —”their school, their rules”— would be fair if it had been an issue of theology. But, Prather is making the false equivalency that discriminating against someone who is LGBTQ is like (again using his example) whether or not you deify Jesus’s mother Mary or you don’t. Substitute “LGBTQ” with “African American” and it’s a clear case of illegal discrimination, regardless of whether the school is private or public. The fact that the student is not actually LGBTQ, according to her parents, is beside the point — the school deemed the rainbow theme was in support of LGBTQ rights and expelled her for that reason. I’m honestly a bit surprised to discover Prather’s feelings on discriminating against his LGBTQ brothers and sisters. I know he’s an evangelical Christian, but I thought he was one of the more inclusive ones. And I’m also surprised that the Herald-Leader would pay and publish an opinion writer who would defend blatant discrimination against anyone.

Marianne Mosley, Nicholasville

Insulin costs too high

There is an insulin/diabetes crisis in Kentucky. Several bills in the state legislature this session address this crisis, including House Bill 12 capping monthly insulin cost at $100, House Bill 249 on prescription transparency, and Senate Bill 23 with an assistance program. A vial of insulin can cost over $300 and Tresiba pens on GoodRX are over $600. More than 230,000 Kentuckians are uninsured, and some have been denied assistance by manufacturers.

Recently, a Central Kentucky state senator suggested that I use over-the-counter insulin because I am currently in an employer-insurance waiting period. I have been doing some medical research. I learned that the over-the-counter insulin is different than prescription insulin and could potentially cause a lot of issues if not monitored correctly. In addition, I found out that over-the-counter insulin doesn’t work for those on insulin pumps. I was approved by the Novo Nordisk manufacturer assistance program and don’t need the OTC.

I realize that everyone is not lucky as myself and encourage those to contact the Kentucky Insulin 4 All group or Kentucky for Affordable Insulin. I’m writing to encourage support for SB 23 to help the working families in Kentucky who have diabetes and take insulin to live.

David Johnson, Richmond

‘Twisted logic’

Every public official that I know believes that his election is in the public interest … your election is in the public interest”, said Alan Dershowitz, one of President Donald Trump’s defense attorneys.

“If a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.”

That is the scariest bit of rhetoric I’ve heard in a long, long time.

It’s in the public interest for an elected president to remain in office. That being the case, anything the president does to remain in office is not impeachable. Only one problem. Every four years the public gets to decide what’s in the public interest, not the president. We do this with an election.This is a twisted bit of logic that I would expect to hear coming from the likes of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, or North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Taking Dershowitz’s logic to its conclusion, we could eliminate all elections, for the most powerful person in the country would have reason to stay in office indefinitely because he or she believes it is in the public interest to do so.

Ross DeAeth, Lexington

McConnell’s fiscal failures

In his recent op-ed in the Herald-Leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell listed many expensive pork projects he brought back to Kentucky to counter the criticism that he sits in Washington and doesn’t help Kentuckians. What he didn’t disclose is that he didn’t pass taxes to pay for any of those projects. All were charged 100 percent to the national debt for future generations to repay. When McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984 the national debt was $1.5 trillion. Now, after 35 years of Republican tax cuts and spending increases, the debt has increased to more than $23 trillion.

One of the primary constitutional duties of Congress is to “pay the debts… of the United States”. During McConnell’s tenure, the Congress has only passed a balanced budget in the last years of the Clinton presidency. That’s more than 30 years of deficits charged off to the national debt with no plan to ever pay it off.

Interest payments to the creditors of the national debt are now one of the largest expenses in the federal budget, nearly $600 billion last year. McConnell is fiscally irresponsible.

Kevin Kline, Lexington

It’s a game to him

Sen. Mitch McConnell views democracy as a system to be gamed in order to consolidate his power. He does it by bending constitutional rules. The Senate majority leader’s job is to schedule votes on bills. McConnell bends that rule by blocking all bills except those he approves. That way he alone, not senators or their electorates, decides what happens in this country.

To date he has stopped 400 bills, including bipartisan bills on gun control, healthcare, and election security. Inaction on these bills is crippling the country. The only bill McConnell has let the Senate pass is tax cuts for the rich, which has increased the national debt by $2 trillion. Now he’s using the debt to justify cuts in Medicare and Social Security.

Eastern Kentucky counties are the poorest in America. Yet he blocked the passage of President Barack Obama’s POWER Plus plan, a $1 billion effort to help Appalachia transition away from the dying coal industry. Instead he placed coal companies first, cutting coal taxes in half — taxes that help struggling communities.

Now McConnell is bending the rules to block witnesses from testifying at the impeachment trial, which is the same as blocking the truth from the American public. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Margaret Groves, Frankfort

Party of lies

What sort of person or party would attempt to remove the pre-existing conditions protections through the court system but then tell the court to wait until after the elections to decide on it? What sort of person or party would look a person with black lung or diabetes or cancer or a child born with pre-existing conditions in the eye and lie, “We saved the pre-existing conditions protections so vote for us!”, knowing that they plan to remove those life-saving protections after they have conned people to support them.

This is the reality of today’s Republican Party, that with one hand members would shake a voter’s hand asking for their vote knowing that they are actively working to remove access to health insurance when people need it the most, when it’s life or death for them or someone they love.

This year’s election, more than any election before, literally is a life-or-death vote. As we all go into the voting booth, we need to ask ourselves if we are willing to vote for candidates who expect us to vote against our own survival or the survival of someone we love.

Rene Thompson, Covington

Love and sympathy

Dear Kentucky residents: I’m so sorry for you having Mitch McConnell as your senator. He is not doing anything for you, much less for U.S. citizens I have met many Kentucky residents in my life, and I cannot think of any other people who are so intelligent, warm, compassionate, and wise. To me, McConnell and his family do not reflect the people of Kentucky that I know. I drove through your state intentionally during our move across the country last summer. I knew immediately when we were in another state — McConnell has done nothing for your infrastructure. I am so sorry. I will continually to earnestly pray for all of you, the wonderful Kentucky citizens. I believe the Kentuckians I know can be victorious in the upcoming elections as they were in the governor’s election of the past year.

Kimberly Regan, San Diego, Calif.