If the Republican Party wants to regain its national competitive advantage, conservative columnist David Brooks has suggested it build a “new wing,” that separates the Midwest and South from the rest of the nation’s Republicans. THE MORE Kansas distances itself from the rest of the country, the more we become an outlier; the less important we become.
The party needs a wake-up and shake-up after the dismal showing in November. The presidential election revealed a party growing more distant from some realities, including immigration, health reform, and the ever-increasing gap between the haves and have-nots.
“It’s probably futile to try to change current Republicans,” Brooks wrote in Tuesday’s New York Times. Those in the Midwest and South, particularly, hold strong anti-government and anti-urban sentiments that make them skeptical of any reforms, including those to Medicare and Social Security.
“It’s smarter to build a new wing of the Republican Party, one that can compete in the Northeast, the mid-Atlantic states, in the upper Midwest and along the West Coast,” Brooks said.
In other words, the areas where progressive Republicans live. Where people see change as necessary in order to build a credible opposition to Democrats.
Here in the backwaters, people still refute evolution and global warming. We disband the income tax — the tax that falls most heavily on the rich — to instead raise the sales tax — the tax that falls most heavily on the middle- and lower-income classes.
These are trends that the greater public does not appreciate.
The question is, why do we?
Time was Kansas legislators held key positions in Washington. Sen. James Pearson was a member of the Appropriations and Commerce Committee. Sen. Bob Dole was a candidate for vice president. Nancy Kassebaum was on the prestigious Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Heck, former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is now Secretary of Health and Human Services.
But today, none of our legislators hold sway. In fact, Rep. Tim Huelskamp was stripped of his posts on the Budget and Agriculture committees because of his intransigent nature during budget talks.
Gov. Sam Brownback’s refusal to deny an expanded Medicaid program also gives Kansas a black eye, not to mention denied benefits to an estimated 150,000 Kansans.
The longer we allow our state leaders and those in Congress to take us as a state in a backward direction, the deeper we are digging ourselves into a hole.
It doesn’t matter if we’re Republican or Democrat. What matters is that as a state we are losing clout among our peers.
The very thought of a divided Republican Party where Kansas is written off as a lost cause, should send shivers down GOP spines.
— Susan Lynn
