To the editor:

Recent cuts in funding of the Kansas Arts Commission and Planned Parenthood have led to some very impassioned but misguided letters of recent. By eliminating the Arts Commission we would be led to believe that there will no longer be art in Kansas. By eliminating funding to Planned Parenthood we would be led to believe that women will no longer get health care in Kansas.

Supporters of these organizations need to find another way to fund them. The government can no longer bilk the taxpayer for these programs and support basic safety like firefighters and law enforcement at the same time.

Folks, let’s talk common sense for a moment. The taxpayers of this state and country cannot continue to pay for every feel-good program in existence. We have spent like a drunken sailor, both parties guilty, to the point of insolvency. Some will scream, “Tax the rich fat cats!” We could confiscate every thing they own and not have enough to balance our state and federal budgets. We could just tax them until it really hurts, you say? They pick up and leave the state or country and then you have no tax base.

There are hard choices to be made if we are to move forward as a nation. Stopping unnecessary spending, by making hard choices that we as citizens make in our homes, around our dining table, every day, is just a first step.