Balanced-budget amendment

You have printed Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder's article criticizing U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill. The thrust of the column is that a "plan proposed by your colleague in the Senate could cost Missouri an additional $400 million more each year."

It is positive that the lieutenant governor has concern for the state. Does he have a comparable concern for the nation? Our enormous and spiraling public debt of $13 trillion was principally accumulated by presidents Reagan and the Bushes and continues upward with President Obama. My concern is the enormity of public debt that will bankrupt our economy and destroy our democracy by the time our grandchildren reach adulthood.

Does the lieutenant governor share my concern for the survival of the republic? If so, surely he will join with me in leading an effort to enact a constitutional amendment to require a balanced federal budget.

BILL D. BURLISON, Advance, Mo.