I really enjoyed the paper – reading about family and friends back home. But, after this election, I had all I could possibly stomach with the newspapers political endorsements. The reason I am sending this to all of you is because I highly doubt the editor will publish it. What they don’t understand is the people in Western Kansas have had enough, and didn’t go along with them and vote for the person who will be our next president.
I know this is long, but I hope you take the time to read it, just as I took the time to write it from my heart.
Thank you,
-Terry
Mr. Ron Fields, Managing Editor
The Hays Daily News
507 Main Street, P.O. Box 857
Hays, KS 67601-0857
November 14, 2008
Dear Mr. Fields:
I recently received my subscription renewal notice to the Hays Daily News. After being a loyal subscriber for the better part of the past 23 years, I will not be renewing my subscription. However, I felt that I should write you concerning the exact reasons for my cancellation.
While I enjoy reading all of the local stories, keeping-up with family, friends, and old acquaintances back home in Hays and Northwestern Kansas, I cannot – and will not – continue to tolerate and subscribe to the liberal rhetoric which has come to be synonymous with the Hays Daily News. For years, I have bit my tongue when the paper endorsed political candidates who are liberal, not pro-life, in favor of increasing taxes and are basically against small businesses and supporting hard-working people – the very people who comprise nearly 100% of the population in the Hays and Northwestern Kansas areas.
I am proud to say that I am 100% Volga German. I am proud of my heritage, my lineage, and the traditions of the Volga Germans. I would suspect that the majority of the circulation of the Hays Daily News is also comprised of mostly or at least partly Volga German heritage as well. We respect life, liberty, and the freedom of religion. We are a very hard-working people, and we help our neighbors when they need our assistance. We don’t wait for the government to do it – it is how we were taught to be. Our ancestors began leaving Russia in 1876 when these very liberties were in danger of being taken from them (and eventually were taken from them in Russia), and they searched out a new home in the U.S. - a country which promised that we all have certain unalienable rights – including life, liberty, and freedom. These were hard-working individuals, not unlike their descendants who are still today in Ellis, Russell, Barton, and Rush Counties, among many, many other counties in the Hays area. Now, we could possibly be facing losing those same liberties here in the U.S. as well.
However, the Hays Daily News has always pushed a more liberal agenda. I could not believe some of the editorial cartoons by Mike Lukovich, which were in my opinion, borderline treasonable. I also had to really bite my tongue when the paper continually supported pro-choice candidates such as John Kerry, Kathleen Sebelius, and Jim Slattery.
Now, this country is facing the presidency of someone who has socialistic views, someone who has referred to our Constitution as “limiting,” and someone who has a track record of being against everything that has made this country the greatest nation on earth. This is a personal offense to me, as my father served in the U.S. Army, fought for this country, our freedoms, and the defense of our Constitution. Now we have a President-elect who will not wear the United States Flag on his lapel nor will he say the Pledge of Allegiance or salute the Stars and Stripes of this great country. What a slap in the face – literally – to the many service men and women who sacrificed everything - including their own lives – to protect this country.
The good people of Ellis County have voted for the Republican Presidential candidate in the last three general elections. In the most recent election, Ellis County voted for the GOP candidate over the liberal, pro-choice, anti-small business candidate by a margin of almost 3 to 1. I shall like to think that the Hays Daily News would surmise that the majority of their readership is not akin to the very left-leaning, socialist viewpoints espoused by the winning candidate, Mr. Obama. However, Jim Slattery’s campaign ran a radio ad in the Kansas City area that quoted the papers who endorsed him . . . The Kansas City Star, The Wichita Eagle, and the commercial continued with, “ . . . but the Hays Daily News said it best in their endorsement of Mr. Slattery . . . “ I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
I’ve tolerated the past rhetoric, the endorsements of prior candidates, Ms. Sebelius, Mr. Slattery, and even the very liberal local State Senator, Janis Lee. However, I can no longer – and will no longer - subscribe to a newspaper that is supportive of this type of political philosophy – especially when we are facing probably the most dangerous period in U.S. History.
I am guessing that by the huge increase in the subscription fee that the Hays Daily News is losing subscribers – along with other larger, national newspapers – such as the Kansas City Star, New York Times, Los Angles Times and Chicago Tribune. The majority of the people are not ignorant, and those who actually can and do think for themselves are not about to be duped by the continual liberal rhetoric they read in the liberal, drive-by media.
I would hope that the results of this last election – and the overall vote of the people who subscribe to the Hays Daily News - will be some kind of wake-up call to the future endorsements and opinions published by the Hays Daily News. I will sincerely miss reading many of the features, especially the Nor’Wester, as it was always a pleasure reading about my old friends and former neighbors celebrating weddings, anniversaries, and births. After nearly 23 years of subscribership, this was definitely not an easy decision for me to make.
However, I suppose in accordance with the new battle cry of the recently elected new president, I am choosing to “redistribute” my wealth . . . while I still have the freedom and the choice to do so.
Sincerely,
Terry A. Batt
Overland Park, KS
I asked Permition to publish:
Ask, Terry
This is a excellent letter, I think most descendents of Volga Germans would agree with. If Terry would agree with it, I would like to put the letter on my Kratzke web site at www.Berschauer.com.
Bob
Bob,
Please be my guest! I’ve been very passionate about this. The Hays Daily News has always used the excuse that Ellis County is a Democratic County, and therefore, they just “assume” that everyone goes along with their liberal trash. Well, as a native Russell Countian and Northwest Kansas, a converted Catholic, and someone who attended Fort Hays State University, I can tell you that the majority of the Catholic Democrats in Ellis County – and the remainder of the readership of the Northwestern Kansas area – is fed-up with being spoon-fed how to think and being told how to vote. I live in the Kansas City metro area now, and up until this week, I was still receiving the Hays Daily News. But no more. In a way, this letter isn’t only to them – it’s to every major paper in the U.S., too, that continues to spew this trash.
Please forward my letter and message to all whom you may care to send it. I can tell you that after reading my letter, a few others – in Ellis County – are taking the same action I have. I’m voting with my checkbook – which, could be a very dangerous thing to those who think we no longer have a voice.
Take care,
-Terry