Readers Write (Sept. 7): Vikings, President Obama, GOP debate, 'racist' coffee

Two Sept. 6 letter writers decried the need for referenda and took elected representatives to task for "not being willing to vote either way, do their job" and "conduct the business of the people" on a tax to pay for a new Minnesota Vikings stadium.

I can only assume that they are not acquainted with state statute 297A.99 subd. 3(a): "Imposition of a local sales tax is subject to approval by voters of the political subdivision at a general election." In other words, elected representatives cannot singlehandedly imposed a sales tax; that is not legal.

The only way a sales tax can be imposed without a referendum is if the Legislature grants a special waiver (i.e., strips voters of their rights), and if that is going to become the norm, then why even have the law in the first place?

One of the reasons America was founded was to guarantee representation during the taxation process; 297A.99 is Minnesota's way of doing that. Yes, it slows down some things and requires voters to be well-informed.

A small price to pay for retaining control over (some) of your taxes. Especially when they may be used not to improve a school or build a community center but to further enrich the owner of a major league sports team.

LAURA J. LEHMANN, EDINA

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It appears that the cost of land acquisition, trail engineering and construction, along with some infrastructure costs, were shy of $37 million. What a bargain, compared with Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway's new five-year salary.

DAN JOHNSON, CRYSTAL

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Count me among the former Obama supporters. First he didn't stand with union folks in Wisconsin, and now he opts for air-quality standards lower than Bush proposed.

We must hold him accountable for the preventable sickness, suffering and shorter lives. Investments in clean air create jobs, so now there's even less hope for the jobless. I'm not donating a dime or lifting a finger for him or his party next election.

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I think I've finally figured out Obama's strategy. He's not selling out all his supporters. He's simply making sure that there's a center-right, moderate Republican (himself) in the 2012 presidential race along with whomever the far-right-nutcase Republican candidate will be. Who says we don't have choices in American politics?

JAMES MANGAN, HUDSON, WIS.

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In the upcoming Big Speech from the president, you should expect the following: "Let's put partisan differences aside," he said partisanly. "Let's leave politics out of this debate," he said politically.

What they invariably mean is, "Everyone should agree with me." The truth is that most differences concerning the most important issues are based on sincerely held principles.

"Politics" and "partisanship" are simply the way the differences are worked out in a democracy. It can be messy. It can seem like the system is "broken" or "not working like it should." I say, thank God for the messiness. In some countries the differences are resolved with bullets.

RICHARD DAHLBERG, MAPLE GROVE

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Republicans all agree that federal spending needs to be cut. I would like to hear their plans for doing so. Here are the four questions I would like answered so that I can intelligently judge which candidate has the best approach.

2) Health care costs are doubling every 8.5 years, and Medicare is spending more than it takes in. How will you reduce the growth in health care costs and balance medicare taxes and spending?

3) U.S. military spending exceeds that of China, Russia, North Korea and all of Europe combined. How will you reduce our military budget and commitments around the world?

4) Income taxes can never be fair, because fairness is in the eye of the beholder; they can only be transparent and uniform. How will you change the income tax to make it more uniform and transparent?

Anyone can judge the quality of Wednesday's debate by how closely it touches on these four real problems.

ROBERT KAUL, ST. ANTHONY

"The subtle racism around us" (Opinion, Sept. 3) is sometimes not racism. Hinda Mandell is dissecting the English language to formulate an innocent question at a coffee shop into a racially charged dialogue. That she is a communications professor is quite frightening to me. If we are to continue looking for racism in everyday words, we will have no words left to describe the beautiful array of objects, ideas or people in our lives.