LETTERS [Topeka Capital Journal (KS)]

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Serving and protecting

We are ordinary people, performing community service that is oftentimes marked by remarkable acts of bravery and selfless acts of devotion to a cause bigger than ourselves. We could have done something else, but chose to serve, knowing full well the dangers that we are potentially faced with each and every day.

Every year, on average, more than 150 cops lose their lives in the line of duty. Another officer may have gone to God since we went to bed last night. I can't comprehend what it's like for those families who have to deal with the unimaginable pain that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. But the officers who fall protecting us are not victims, they knew what they were about and were doing what they wanted to do.

Those people out there with less of a sense of service never understand it when strong men and women choose this job, just as they can't begin to understand the price paid so they and their families can sleep safe and protected at night. Every cop's loved ones, who support us and pray for us every day, understand why we do what we do.

My law enforcement brothers and sisters are heroes. They know and understand fear in a way that few citizens do. It is not as much the fear of death or injury they think about, but what they are most terrified of is letting their fellow officers down. Because of that fear, they never do.

I pray to God we never run out of strong men and women like the ones I work with, those willing to look beyond their own self- interest and voluntarily serve and protect this community against those who would do us harm.

JAY SIMECKA, Topeka

Deputy Sheriff, Shawnee County

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Bureaucratic flu

Those of us old enough to be in retirement, or near it, have experienced several of what is being called a government shutdown. Such cases of bureaucratic influenza seem to have a common fingerprint. Its symptoms begin when politicians arrive in office and assume their highest priority is to assure the acquisition of another term. This is accomplished by touting their accomplishments, and ending by saying that more needs to be done and they are the person to do it.

Few, if any, of these claims can be proven to be true. Most folks have been guilty of some form of an untruth, which frequently returns to bite us in the gluteus maximus. Politicians, among them the president, tend to be immune from this.

In a recent speech, the president claimed his administration had reduced the national deficit by 50 percent. That is not true. In a speech on Oct. 3, he listed among his many accomplishments that the national debt was going down. Also untrue.

The actions of both political parties reminds me of the snowball fights of my youth. Each side erects a snow fort, accumulates a considerable supply of ammunition, then spends a lot of time chucking shots at the other side. There is no statesmanship in evidence, only partisan political posturing to vilify the opposition.

I love my country, but I am ashamed of most of the people who run it. They live in a world of privilege unavailable to the average citizen. A smart person once said citizens get the government they deserve. I think that means if we are not engaged, educated and observant, we are negligent in our duty and will harvest the results of that negligence.

SKIP ELLIS, Topeka

HEALTH CARE

Who cares?

So, my dear Republican senators and representatives, just who do you think will vote for you now?

Do you think it will be the women who have been deprived of the WIC program and cannot feed their infants? Do you think it will be parents of children who attend the Headstart programs, when their children are no longer in school in a structured and educational environment? Do you think it will be military families who can no longer shop at the PX on their base while also being furloughed, or all the other federal employees who have been furloughed?

You are holding the president of the United States hostage to your unbending, uncompromising, uncaring and uncompassionate ideologies.

The Affordable Care Act is not perfect, but this nation has to start somewhere with a national health plan. It's no wonder you don't really care about it. You are all fixed with health insurance for life. Why should you have any compassion at all for the working poor who fall through the cracks and have not had access to health insurance options, or those individuals who have not been able to get health insurance because of pre-existing conditions?

Why should you care?

RHODA WISMAN, Topeka