To the editor:

As election season starts to heat up, here are two fun facts to ponder: (1) as of 2024, only 10 states tax retirees’ Social Security benefits; (2) as of 2024, only 10 states have refused to expand Medicaid benefits to lower-income people. Only one state has the dubious distinction of making both lists. Any guesses? That’s right: Our own Sunflower State!

It appears that the Kansas Legislature, which has been controlled by Republicans for my entire lifetime (I am starting my eighth decade), is too busy to get around to these mundane little tasks. Instead, they spend their time going after the phantom menace of election fraud and discriminating against transgender people. When will this lunacy end? Only when enough voters (and that term is important) get fed up. Had enough? I certainly have.

Jeff Southard,

Lawrence