To the editor:

The proposal by Kansas House Republican leaders to divert highway funds to pay for a cut in state income tax is a striking example of what my mother (in my youth) would have called “cutting off your nose to spite your face.”

When ideology (lower taxes lead to less government) trumps common sense (better highways lead to a stronger economy), what the residents of Kansas get is not less government but less effective government.

Similarly, many of Gov. Brownback’s recommendations to privatize — e.g. the administration of Medicaid — are likely to lead not to enhanced economy and efficiency but to 1) an added layer of bureaucracy and 2) diminished resources available to Medicaid clients.

The balance between government and private enterprise that, in the long run, works best and most equitably and fairly in both the public and private arenas, seems to be getting tipped on its head in Kansas at present.