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:rofl:
Yeah, sure...they're a lot of devote leftists and liberals here in NE Kansas!
The irony is that Kansas was once considered a progressive state—a hotbed of radicalism. When it was granted statehood in 1861, Kansans were advocating the abolition of slavery and supporting women's suffrage. This progressivism carried over into the 20th century with farmers and workers alike embracing populism (Kansas went with the Populist Party in the election of 1892).
But why is Kansas now such a paragon of conservatism? I believe the answer is the "Three Gs"— "God, guns, and gays." It's likely Kansas has many "one-issue voters" who use the "Three Gs" as a political compass. I think this all began with Richard Nixon's "Silent Majority" and culminated with the "Reagan Revolution"—a voting block of Americans who felt alienated and threatened by the "liberals" and "radicals" of the 1960s and 1970s.
I've read Thomas Frank's book What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America and found it to provide a good oversight not only of how conservatives "won" Kansas but the nation itself.
Frank begins his book with this paragraph—
"The poorest county in America isn't in Appalachia or the Deep South. It is on the Great Plains, a region of struggling ranchers and dying farm towns, and in the election of 2000 the Republican candidate for president, George W. Bush, carried it by a majority of greater than 80 percent."
He's referring to McPherson County, Nebraska, but acknowledges his description as apt for many other counties on the Great Plains, a region of economically depressed communities whose citizens constantly vote against their own self interests in favor of the "Three Gs." It's as if the Three Gs are all that matter to them. And neo-conservative Republicans, hell bent on dismantling FDR's "New Deal" while raiding the US Treasury (no-bid contracts for Dick Cheney's Halliburton, for example) have seized on this phenomenon to advance their own agenda.
Frank further describes how neo-con Republicans exploit the Three-G voters—
"…the trick never ages; the illusion never wears off. Vote to stop abortion; receive a rollback in capital gains taxes. Vote to make our country strong again; receive deindustrialization. Vote to screw those politically correct college professors; receive electricity deregulation. Vote to get government off our backs; receive conglomeration and monopoly everywhere from media to meatpacking. Vote to stand tall against terrorism; receive Social Security privatization. Vote to strike a blow against elitism; receive a social order in which wealth is more concentrated then ever before in our lifetimes, in which workers have been stripped of power and CEOs are rewarded in a manner beyond imagining" (p. 7).
When you stop and think about it, from 2000 to 2006 the Republicans controlled all three branches of government. Yet, they were unable—or unwilling—to pass legislation favored by Three-G voters, the very voters who put them in power: No "anti-abortion amendment," no "flag-burning amendment," no "anti-gay marriage amendment," and so on. But what the neo-cons did accomplish were tax cuts for the most wealthy, privatization of public services and resources, and deregulation of the nation's many industries, including bank and finance, resulting in the economic mess we find ourselves in today. All the while claiming to be "more moral," "more responsible," "more patriotic," "more American."
The Republicans are masters of projection—
What I would find amusing if it weren't so tragic is the degree of "wackiness" in neo-con, Three-G thought. And we've had our share of wackiness here in Kansas. Just a sampling (I've only included excerpts to avoid copy-write infringement)—
Wacky Kansas Republican No. 1—State Senator Kay O'Connor.
O'Connor became (in)famous in 2001 for making the statement that "men should take care of women" and if they had been doing so, "(women) wouldn't have to vote"—
Senator: Women should not vote
Bristol Herald Courier 9/29/01
The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. — A female state senator says if women's suffrage were being voted on today she would not support it, because the 19th Amendment was the start of a decades-long erosion of family values.
"I'm an old-fashioned woman, Senator. Kay O'Connor told The Kansas City Star. "Men should take care of women, and if men were taking care of women (today) 'we wouldn't have to vote."
Delores Ftlrtado, co-president of the Johnson County League of Women Voters, had asked the 59 year-old Republican to the league's "Celebrate the Right to Vote" luncheon, and O'Connor responded: "You probably wouldn't want me there because of what I would have to say."
Furtado said she was shocked by O'Connor's view. As a state senator, Furtado said, "she is the beneficiary of a system she doesn't support."
Wacky Kansas Republican No. 2—Phill Kline, Kansas Attorney Gerneral.
In 2005, Kline was on a personal crusade to outlaw abortion and in doing so became the darling of the Religious Right here in Kansas. He attempted to gain access to the medical records of a family-planning clinic in Wichita claiming he only wanted to investigate late-term abortions. But it was obvious that it was an attempt to harass clinic staff and dissuade women from seeking help. He said he was "looking for evidence" but don't you have to establish first that a specific crime was committed before "looking for evidence?" It seems to me you can't just go fishing through private medical records hoping to find a crime, but then I'm not a lawyer—
Kansas Abortion Clinics Fight Data Request
Criminal Inquiries Trump Issues of Privacy, State Says
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 15, 2005; Page A03
Two Kansas clinics are opposing efforts by the state's attorney general to obtain the medical records of more than 80 women who received late-term abortions in 2003.
The attorney general, Phill Kline, has argued that he is looking for evidence of child rape and violations of a state law restricting abortions performed after 22 weeks of pregnancy. But clinic supporters contend Kline is on a fishing expedition that invades patients' privacy and is making a calculated effort to hamper the clinics from performing abortions.
Kline's push for medical records, backed by a judicial subpoena, is the strongest move yet by a state law officer against providers of late-term abortions. Abortion rights activists say Kansas heralds a growing risk to the rights of women seeking to terminate pregnancies without government interference.
"It really is scary for patients," said Priscilla Smith, director of the domestic legal program at the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York. "As more and more restrictions are placed upon abortion, there's more and more opportunity for self-righteous and right-wing antiabortion attorneys general and prosecutors to do these kinds of investigations."
For his part, Kline -- who has said he would like to see Roe v. Wade overturned -- contends that "the issue is whether abortion clinics are above the law."
Wacky Kansas Republican No. 3—The Kansas State Board of Education.
In 2005, the Kansas State Board of Education wanted to downplay the importance of teaching evolution in favor of "intelligent design." This would have been a disservice to Kansas students. Can you imagine graduating Kansas high school seniors wanting to apply to MIT or Stanford, or some other prestigious institution with classes in "intelligent design" on their transcripts?—
Kansas Education Board First to Back 'Intelligent Design'
Schools to Teach Doubts About Evolutionary Theory
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 9, 2005; Page A01
TOPEKA, Kan., Nov. 8 -- The Kansas Board of Education voted Tuesday that students will be expected to study doubts about modern Darwinian theory, a move that defied the nation's scientific establishment even as it gave voice to religious conservatives and others who question the theory of evolution.
By a 6 to 4 vote that supporters cheered as a victory for free speech and opponents denounced as shabby politics and worse science, the board said high school students should be told that aspects of widely accepted evolutionary theory are controversial. Among other points, the standards allege a "lack of adequate natural explanations for the genetic code." The bitterly fought effort pushes Kansas to the forefront of a war over evolution being waged in courts in Pennsylvania and Georgia and statehouses nationwide. President Bush stated his own position last summer, buoying social conservatives when he said "both sides" should be taught.
"This is a great day for education. This is one of the best things that we can do. This absolutely teaches more about science," said Steve E. Abrams, the Kansas board chairman who shepherded the conservative Republican majority that overruled a 26-member science committee and turned aside the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Teachers Association.
Opposing board members accused Abrams and his colleagues of hiding behind a fiction of scientific inquiry to inject religion into science classrooms. They said the decision would be bad for education, bad for business and bad for the state's wounded reputation.
"This is a sad day, not only for Kansas kids, but for Kansas," said Janet Waugh, who voted against the new standards. "We're becoming a laughingstock, not only of the nation, but of the world."
The Board of Education does not mandate what will be taught to public school students, a decision left to local school boards. But by determining what students are expected to know for state assessment tests, the board standards typically influence what students learn.
Wacky Kansas Republican No. 4—Rev. Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church.
Rev. Phelps and his followers travel the nation to protest at the funerals of soldiers. Their premise: "God Hates Fags." Phelps believes God is showing His contempt for a nation that tolerates homosexuality by killing American soldiers. Quite a charmer, wouldn't you say?! I would call him the "Wackiest Neo-Con Kansan" of them all!—
Church ordered to pay $10.9 million for funeral protest
BALTIMORE, Maryland (AP) -- A grieving father won a nearly $11 million verdict Wednesday against a fundamentalist Kansas church that pickets military funerals in the belief that the war in Iraq is a punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.
Albert Snyder of York, Pennsylvania, sued the Westboro Baptist Church for unspecified damages after members demonstrated at the March 2006 funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.
The jury first awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages. It returned later in the afternoon with its decision to award $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and $2 million for causing emotional distress.
U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett noted the size of the award for compensating damages "far exceeds the net worth of the defendants," according to financial statements filed with the court.
Church members routinely picket funerals of military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, carrying signs such as "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God hates fags."
A number of states have passed laws regarding funeral protests, and Congress has passed a law prohibiting such protests at federal cemeteries.
But the Maryland lawsuit is believed to be the first filed by the family of a fallen serviceman.
The church and three of its leaders -- the Rev. Fred Phelps and his two daughters, Shirley Phelps-Roper and Rebecca Phelps-Davis, 46 -- were found liable for invasion of privacy and intent to inflict emotional distress.
Snyder claimed the protests intruded upon what should have been a private ceremony and sullied his memory of the event.
The church members testified they are following their religious beliefs by spreading the message that the deaths of soldiers are due to the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.
Their attorneys argued in closing statements Tuesday that the burial was a public event and that even abhorrent points of view are protected by the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech and religion.
The judge said the church's financial statements, sealed earlier, could be released to the plaintiffs.
Earlier, church members staged a demonstration outside the federal courthouse.
Church founder Fred Phelps held a sign reading "God is your enemy," while Shirley Phelps-Roper stood on an American flag and carried a sign that read "God hates fag enablers."
Members of the group sang "God Hates America" to the tune of "God Bless America."
Snyder sobbed when he heard the verdict, while members of the church greeted the news with tightlipped smiles.
********
Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think I'd have a chance here...:hi:
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