To the editor:

It seems Kansas isn’t so socially right-wing after all. If the primaries have given us any indication, the people in the sensible middle are starting to wake up. They’ve figured out that they can’t just sit idly by during elections/primaries and then wring their hands and shake their heads after the fact.

The activists on both the left and the right will always be more motivated than moderates. That’s always been the predictable problem. What happened to the Kansas Republican of old? Alf Landon, Nancy Kassabaum and others wouldn’t come close to measuring up to today’s religious and social litmus test in the Kansas GOP. As well as the GOP nationwide.

I’ve been a registered Republican for quite some time, and I have never even thought of switching parties until the last few years. When did we stop being about minimal sensible taxation, good schools, attracting business and good jobs? When did those core political and business values start taking a back seat to social and religious topics ?

It’s simple. Let government be in the business of governing. Let science be taught in classrooms. Let religious values, morals and teachings be taught from the pulpit. But most of all, this election year, let’s make it perfectly clear that we want our elected officials to return to old Kansas GOP core values of common sense and getting the job done. Let’s put the social agenda aside and set an example for the rest of the nation that we are serious about the practical problems at hand.

Rex Russell,

Lawrence