The mid-term primary election season is over – thank goodness! I’ve spent a couple of weeks just shaking my head and reflecting on what was witnessed by voters in Kansas. The Republican primary races were just plain nasty I’m confident many good Republicans are taking a collective sigh of relief to have them over. I would think it was a little to a lot embarrassing to watch these. With all the finger pointing, name calling, criticism, questions of opponent’s character, along with the gross amounts of money spent, one has to wonder whether any of the winners are qualified to hold public office.
Add to that the almost total lack of substance and detail of what policies should be sought to solve the problems our country faces. All we heard was the same old tired rhetoric that has proven over the last 10-plus years to be meaningless, resulting in failed government policy.
I am curious as to whether these nominees give the Kansas voter any credit for intelligence. Do they really think that they will casually dismiss what we have just witnessed over the last few months as just another “tough election?”
We’ll be moving on to the next part of the election process – I can hardly wait. Some of the Republican nominees have huge “war chests” of contributions from special interest supporters who already have and will continue to “pay their dues” expecting these nominees to do their bidding once elected to office. And, we will get our first look at impact of recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that opens “Pandora’s Box” to almost unlimited campaign contributions by special interest groups, corporations, and union groups. I suspect it will not be pretty.
Another issue I am a bit puzzled by is why Kansas voters would support Jerry Moran for U.S. Senator and Sam Brownback for Kansas Governor? The U.S. Congress consistently has had low approval ratings from the voting public over the last 10-plus years. Yet, Republican nominees Moran and Brownback have served in Congress the whole time and more. Most of their tenure they were part of a Republican Congressional majority and over most of that time they worked with a Republican president. I won’t repeat the whole laundry list, but certainly two wars, Great Recession, and going from a government surplus to irresponsible deficit spending represents a sample of the body of work they were part of. A recent example is their opposition to a bill that would provide financial support to states for education, first responders, and necessary local services that will be paid for by eliminating corporate tax breaks given for sending American jobs overseas.
Plus, neither of them has reached a position of leadership within their own party at the national level. They have simply demonstrated their ability to do or say whatever they deem necessary to get elected. When it comes to governing, they are well under the radar offering legislation that seldom goes anywhere. They keep themselves visible to their constituents with frequent speeches and pleasant glad handing back home in Kansas. However, they don’t hold a candle to the Republicans Bob Dole or Nancy Kassebaum that served Kansas so well in the past.
Maybe Kansas voters – Republican, Democrat, and unaffiliated – need to take an early, hard, and honest look at the quality of Democrat nominees Lisa Johnston and Tom Holland for these offices. They may be under-funded and inexperienced, but they are potentially capable choices that warrant serious consideration. “If you always do what you always did, then you always get what you always got.”
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The mid-term primary election season is over – thank goodness! I’ve spent a couple of weeks just shaking my head and reflecting on what was witnessed by voters in Kansas. The Republican primary races were just plain nasty I’m confident many good Republicans are taking a collective sigh of relief to have them over. I would think it was a little to a lot embarrassing to watch these. With all the finger pointing, name calling, criticism, questions of opponent’s character, along with the gross amounts of money spent, one has to wonder whether any of the winners are qualified to hold public office.
Add to that the almost total lack of substance and detail of what policies should be sought to solve the problems our country faces. All we heard was the same old tired rhetoric that has proven over the last 10-plus years to be meaningless, resulting in failed government policy.
I am curious as to whether these nominees give the Kansas voter any credit for intelligence. Do they really think that they will casually dismiss what we have just witnessed over the last few months as just another “tough election?”
We’ll be moving on to the next part of the election process – I can hardly wait. Some of the Republican nominees have huge “war chests” of contributions from special interest supporters who already have and will continue to “pay their dues” expecting these nominees to do their bidding once elected to office. And, we will get our first look at impact of recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that opens “Pandora’s Box” to almost unlimited campaign contributions by special interest groups, corporations, and union groups. I suspect it will not be pretty.
Another issue I am a bit puzzled by is why Kansas voters would support Jerry Moran for U.S. Senator and Sam Brownback for Kansas Governor? The U.S. Congress consistently has had low approval ratings from the voting public over the last 10-plus years. Yet, Republican nominees Moran and Brownback have served in Congress the whole time and more. Most of their tenure they were part of a Republican Congressional majority and over most of that time they worked with a Republican president. I won’t repeat the whole laundry list, but certainly two wars, Great Recession, and going from a government surplus to irresponsible deficit spending represents a sample of the body of work they were part of. A recent example is their opposition to a bill that would provide financial support to states for education, first responders, and necessary local services that will be paid for by eliminating corporate tax breaks given for sending American jobs overseas.
Plus, neither of them has reached a position of leadership within their own party at the national level. They have simply demonstrated their ability to do or say whatever they deem necessary to get elected. When it comes to governing, they are well under the radar offering legislation that seldom goes anywhere. They keep themselves visible to their constituents with frequent speeches and pleasant glad handing back home in Kansas. However, they don’t hold a candle to the Republicans Bob Dole or Nancy Kassebaum that served Kansas so well in the past.
Maybe Kansas voters – Republican, Democrat, and unaffiliated – need to take an early, hard, and honest look at the quality of Democrat nominees Lisa Johnston and Tom Holland for these offices. They may be under-funded and inexperienced, but they are potentially capable choices that warrant serious consideration. “If you always do what you always did, then you always get what you always got.”
