Skip to main content

What the hell is the matter with Kansas?




It’s not even worth getting worked up about anymore…Dems win big in high voter turnout elections; lower turnout favors the GOP.So the GOP has won big in the midterms and they’ve taken control of state and local houses too. They’ve also consolidated a number of Governor’s seats. That was a surprise!
Because Sam Brownback put forward legislation that slashed taxes, but also contributed to a huge budget shortfall in Kansas. Yet they voted him in again and that’s not all. They also re-elected a Congressman from Staten Island, Michael Grimm, who is currently facing indictment on 19 counts of tax fraud. And in Florida, my home state, Rick Scott was considered one of the most vulnerable and least popular Governors in the Nation. Yet he won a narrow margin of victory.
 
Rick Scott poured millions of dollars of his own money into the race in the final days. And Florida became one of the most expensive races in the country. That’s saying a lot. 4 billion dollars in total was spent on this election cycle.  All of this occurred in order to bring us the same old group of players: John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid were all re-elected as leaders of their respective parties in Congress.
 
And the Koch Brothers? Instead of simply wasting money on ad campaigns, they worked behind the scenes in many states, including Florida, and funneled undisclosed amounts of dark money to seed the ground game for 2016. While governors like Rick Scott worked tirelessly above ground to continue his get-out-of-the-voting booth campaign, the Koch brothers astutely worked below the radar to fund lots of undisclosed organization groups. We’ll never know, thanks to Citizens United. It turns out we have the best government that money can buy. That is, dark money funneled in through undisclosed sources.

 
It’s the Perfect Storm. And until the Citizens actually do unite and rise up against the Corporate Takeover of our Political system, we have only ourselves to blame. As Barney Frank so astutely pointed out, “These people didn’t just suddenly parachute through the roof of the Capitol Dome. They were voted in to office!” It’s not just Kansas that I have a funny feeling about these days. I have a feeling we’re never going to be back in Kansas again. Thanks to dark money and Citizens United, we may never return to a government duly elected by the people, made up of the people and elected to enact laws for the people.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Top 5 Under the Radar Stories

  Here's another installment of our popular Under the Radar series. Check out the new "Under the Radar" online magazine to read even more stories that may have been under-reported.   1)       Surging Foreign Arm Sales:   Sales surged 36% in 2015 and are set to remain strong in the coming years. ISIS has fueled demand among our allies for US missile defense equipment, helicopters and munitions. 10 years ago, the focus was on fighter jets. Europe, the Pacific and even Centcom have provided the demands. The total value of sales in the works is around 500 billion dollars.The Pentagon vets all requests, including those from countries with weak human rights records.   2)       139 Countries get power from Renewables :   There is a blueprint released within the last few years giving details of how all 50 US States may run on renewables by the year 2050.   The plans include wind turbines, solar...
Post a Comment
Read more

Are we even asking the right questions?

    What is this about really? Are we somehow conflating this withdrawal with the idea of America as a superpower?  Is it about American Exceptionalism and the idea that we have lost our innocence? Is this something that we will use to justify what we are doing in the world; where we are going, and what we want to be known for in the world? Just asking what we want to stand would be a good start in terms of questions going forward. This may be a conversation that needs to be had in the coming years. All of the talk,   and the hopes and aspirations were discussed and mapped out before being put into the small 21st Century online political group that was created in 2017. The thoughts & ideas came from a hopeful take on the dark reflections seen in the election of Trump in 2016. Are we a country and a people that are even capable of building a better tomorrow?   We need to be able to have this serious talk with Allies and others of good will;   T...
Post a Comment
Read more

What hath We Wrought?

If someone waking from a deep freeze just saw that tape where Trump was bragging off the record about the way he treated women, grabbing them by the crotch because they "let you do it", it would seem that so many red flags are raised that they would immediately conclude it as disqualifying for any candidate for higher office. It goes without saying that women are not objects, or something lesser to be grabbed and treated as toys or groped simply because someone believes themselves immune from the rules of polite society, an ethical code of conduct or common human decency. It was obvious that Trump couldn't handle even the small amount of power that is bestowed on a Hollywood TV Reality star. Why would anyone think that this person could handle the immense power and pressure that the highest office in the land entails? That does say something about the voters. Voters didn't vote simply for change, they voted for the strong man who didn't just fall to the top...
Post a Comment
Read more