Letter to the Editor: Look Beyond Party

A great letter from today's Topeka Capital-Journal:

Can a person be a loyal American and consistently vote a straight-party ticket?

Recently a letter writer stated, "I will not vote for Nancy Boyda because she is a Democrat." Another wrote that he didn't vote for the past three Democratic candidates for president because they were Democrats.

Question: Do men and women serve in the armed forces to preserve political parties or do they serve to preserve our government?

We have a candidate in this district who has gone well beyond the requirements to serve her constituents. She spends nearly every weekend traveling around the district helping people with their problems with government, health, medical drug issues and just plain everyday problems. She has introduced legislation to help veterans of current and past wars. She works with small-business people to solve their problems. She has introduced legislation to remove crooked members of Congress from government pensions. She is available to anyone who needs to talk to her.

I ask, are you going to reward her for her outstanding service to her district and send her back to Washington, or are you going to vote to remove a dedicated public servant just because she happens to be running on the Democratic ticket?

Is party more important than good government? We gripe and groan about our government, but are our real problems with people casting "party" votes?

JACK BARRON, Topeka

Jack, you're right on- and we think most people that live in the Kansas 2nd District think the same way you do. Regardless of the fact, as Lynn Jenkins likes to point out, this is a Republican-majority district, it will support candidates of both parties if they're good at their jobs. Nancy Boyda has been an excellent congresswoman, and, because of that, she'll get re-elected November 4.