Unexpected Result in Kansas

 

Unexpected Result in Kansas             Gerry OShea

The state of Kansas has six elected representatives in Washington, four members of the House and, of course, two senators. Both senators and three of the four House members are Republicans, and, true to form, Kansas hasn’t voted for a Democrat in a presidential election since Lyndon Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater in 1964.

In 2004 a journalist and historian, Thomas Frank, authored a book titled What is the Matter with Kansas? It featured for eighteen weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list. In England and Australia they changed the title to What is the Matter with America?

Recalling the history of radicalism in the state at the end of the 19^th and the first half of the 20^th century Mr. Frank enumerated the radical movements in the past that supported the farmers living on the edge of penury and the plucky trade unionists fighting for decent wages and conditions for industrial workers.

The book contends that the political discourse has shifted dramatically in recent decades from basic bread and butter themes to emotional cultural issues encompassing especially abortion and same sex marriage. In later times you could definitely add to these the growth in transgender stories leading to hands-in-the-air bewilderment by many members of the general public. The liberals again!

The finger of blame is pointed at an elitist class which is seen as foisting liberal ideas on ordinary hard-working folks. Churchgoing Christians are particularly offended that their beliefs are devalued by people who come across as dismissive of honest citizens holding on to traditional values.

 Where are these people who allegedly look down their noses at “ordinary” workers in the community? The media get a lot of blame for promoting a different and more complex culture. Immigrants are also suspected of infecting the American way of life with their new traditions and different approaches to music, language and religious practices.

The James Carvill cliché that “it’s the economy stupid” is heard on all sides before elections, meaning that people will always vote their pocketbooks. This touches Mr. Frank’s Kansas conundrum because a clear majority of workers vote for the Republican Party which does not represent their economic interests. Dealing with that question comprises the central theme of What is the Matter with Kansas.

 Think of the last Trump budget which hugely benefited the rich and even more the super-rich and ran up America’s national debt by more than a trillion dollars which future generations will have to redeem – the very antithesis of conservatism. Yet the workers continued their allegiance to the Republican Party or, perhaps, more precisely, their dislike of Democrats whose policies, however, in the central areas of education, taxation and healthcare would be much more beneficial for them.

Mr. Frank asserts that a conservative coalition dominates Kansas politics. He claims that there are two expressions of this important alliance. Economic conservatives are always crying for lower taxes on businesses and for diminishing government regulations. On the other hand, social conservatives, the other half of the equation, focus on culture, pushing for laws that ban abortion and outlaw same-sex marriage.

The economic conservatives have done well on the pro-corporate agenda. However, the group favoring radical cultural changes have a different story.

In April 2019, the local supreme court in Kansas found that the state constitution contained “a right of personal autonomy” meaning no local law could abridge the “right to control one’s own body,” thus affirming that a woman is entitled to terminate her pregnancy.

Four of the justices that signed this decision were appointed by Kathleen Sibelius, a Democrat who moved on to serve in the Obama cabinet, with two of the three Republican-appointed judges agreeing with them in this ground-breaking 6-1 decision.

Understandably, the court statement was rejected by the spokeswoman for Kansas Right-to Life who declared that it was “horrendous and even worse than we anticipated.” The state’s treasurer, Jake LaTurner, a leading Republican, used even harsher language calling it “an abomination” marking “one of the darkest days in the state’s history.”

Opponents of the court reasoning promised a referendum which they were confident would replace this new ruling with a clear pro-life statement that would end the hated “A” procedure in their state. This contentious matter was on the ballot on Tuesday, August 2^nd  this year with the pro-life movement backed by the Republican Party proposing a clear statement that would remove abortion rights protection from the Kansas constitution.

The Supreme Court in late June of this year overturned the 1973 Roe V Wade choice in what is called the Dobbs decision. While a strong segment of the population celebrated this controversial decision, it was viewed negatively by others, especially by females of child-bearing age, who were shocked by the implications of the new ruling.

A few days after the rejection of Roe, a ten-year-old girl was found to be pregnant as a result of a horrendous rape in Ohio, and the governor, Mike DeWine, while decrying the appalling act said that post-Roe an abortion was not legally allowed in his state. Luckily, a doctor in nearby Indiana arranged for the termination for the child, but she warned that local legislators are preparing legislation that would prevent her intervention in future.

This case got national attention because of the age of the child and also because Fox News, backed by prominent Republicans, said the Democrats had invented the story to buttress their own beliefs. However, the awful facts were validated when the alleged perpetrator pleaded guilty to the police. This gruesome case left a deep imprint especially on American women and certainly influenced the mood before the Kansas vote.

The August abortion vote in that state was the cynosure of all eyes because it was seen as having major national implications. Both sides poured money into the canvas with millions of dollars flowing into Topeka to promote one or other position.

 Polls showed an even divide among Kansans, but most commentators pointed to the fact that in the presidential election Mr. Trump won by 16%, so the presumption was that it would require a huge swing to reject the Republican stance.

The result topped the news during the first week of August.  There was a massive turnout for the vote, dwarfing the primary election voting numbers in both major parties, and the proposal was rejected by a massive 18%.

The big question being asked since centers on whether the results will have legs in other states in the mid-term elections in November. As voting patterns were analyzed in all the districts, it became clear that there was surprising support for abortion rights among rural as well as urban voters.

Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives, who felt that he would glide easily into the House Speakership because of high prices and inflation as well as the usual mid-term swing against the party in power, must now confront a far more motivated constituency. The women in conservative Kansas have given notice that he is facing a different electorate since the Dobbs decision overturning Roe.

Gerry OShea blogs at wemustbetalking.com