To the editor:

Kansans (and maybe all Americans) keep betting that, sooner or later, by changing their party preferences from one election to another, either the Democrats or the Republicans will actually understand their purpose is to serve the fragile democracy of the United States. Beware of optimism. There are two problems. The first is that political office seems to cause atrophy of the brain and the soul, while at the same time exacerbating arrogance and stupidity. I’m told modern medicine has no cure, no doubt owing to the current lack of research grants. So, moralis turpitudinis and intellectus defectus continue to infect our elected officials. The second problem is that to serve the citizens of the United States — that would be all of us — both parties must learn to play together in the same sandbox at the same time, something they find impossible because it requires cooperation, which is a casualty of the first problem. So, counting on our votes to fix our democracy, now on life support, might be a mistake. Instead, we need to learn all we can about procedures for removing those politicians who abandon the reasons why they were elected.

John L. Gronbeck-Tedesco,

Lawrence