Remember the book “What’s the Matter with Kansas?” If we ask that question today, the obvious answer is Sam Brownback (and in all fairness, the Kansans who elected–and inexplicably re-elected– him.)
Brownback took office in January of 2011. Like Indiana’s Mike Pence, Brownback had Republican majorities in both legislative houses, and together they were able to implement what Rolling Stone has called “the Republicans’ wet dream agenda.”
They passed huge tax cuts for the wealthy along with tax cuts on business profits, significantly reduced business regulations, and at the same time cut spending on welfare, rejected federal Medicaid money, and put the delivery of Medicaid services into private hands.
One of Brownback’s advisors was Arthur Laffer—best known for the “Laffer curve”–the theory that reducing tax rates leads to higher tax revenues. Laffer’s theory was the impetus for Reagan’s tax cuts; he has called what Kansas Republicans did “a revolution in a cornfield.” Other advisors included Steve Anderson, from the Koch brother’s Americans for Prosperity.
Whatever Kansas is these days, however, it sure isn’t prosperous.
As New York magazine recently reported in an article characterizing Kansas as a “parallel political universe,” the “revolution in the cornfield” has left the state in a world of hurt.
Marginal gains at the municipal level were dwarfed by the $688 million loss that Brownback’s budget wrought in its first year of operation. Meanwhile, Kansas’s job growth actually trailed that of its neighboring states. With that nearly $700 million deficit, the state had bought itself a 1.1 percent increase in jobs, just below Missouri’s 1.5 percent and Colorado’s 3.3.
Those numbers have hardly improved in the intervening years. In 2015, job growth in Kansas was a mere 0.1 percent, even as the nation’s economy grew 1.9 percent. Brownback pledged to bring 100,000* new jobs to the state in his second term; as of January, he has brought 700. What’s more, personal income growth slowed dramatically since the tax cuts went into effect. Between 2010 and 2012, Kansas saw income growth of 6.1 percent, good for 12th in the nation; from 2013 to 2015, that rate was 3.6 percent, good for 41st.
Meanwhile, revenue shortfalls have devastated the state’s public sector along with its most vulnerable citizens. Since Brownback’s inauguration, 1,414 Kansans with disabilities have been thrown off Medicaid. In 2015, six school districts in the state were forced to end their years early for lack of funding. Cuts to health and human services are expected to cause 65 preventable deaths this year in Sedgwick County alone. In February, tax receipts came in $53 million below estimates; Brownback immediately cut $17 million from the state’s university system. This data is not lost on the people of Kansas — as of November, Brownback’s approval rating was 26 percent, the lowest of any governor in the United States.
This is what happens when people elect stubborn ideologues unwilling to learn from reality or experience. (Here in Indiana, we’re about to see whether Hoosier voters have learned anything about returning ideologues to office.)
If Brownback had been Governor of Kansas when that storm blew her away, Dorothy probably would have stayed in Oz.
And the Koch brothers go happily to sleep every night knowing that they got what they wanted in their home state. I can’t even imagine how many millions of dollars they spent lying to the public to get their puppet elected.
I imagine the people in Kansas are continuously bombarded with propaganda that tells them the Democrats are somehow to blame for all of their troubles and if they just keep Republicans in office they will eventually be able to overcome their troubles.
It is very frightening to even think about the possibility that we Hoosiers may not have learned our lesson.
Nancy:
Conservatives blame democrats for every problem extant. Just sign up for Dan Coats “newsletter” – you’ll find out everything you need to know.
In the common law of torts, res ipsa loquitur (Latin for “the thing speaks for itself”) is a doctrine that infers negligence from the very nature of an accident or injury in the absence of direct evidence on how any defendant behaved. Although modern formulations differ by jurisdiction, common law originally stated that the accident must satisfy the necessary elements of negligence: duty, breach of duty, causation, and injury. In res ipsa loquitur, the elements of duty of care, breach and causation are inferred from an injury that does not ordinarily occur without negligence.~Wikipedia
Shouldn’t Governor’s Brownbeck and Pence both be sued for negligence? Where are our attorneys when we need them to make a case?
Sorry for the “‘ ” in Governors.
Marv, while I agree with your sentiments, you should know the immunity granted by law for policy decisions made by elected officials acting within the scope of the discretion of their office. As for how Brownback was re-elected, there were indications of what may be called anomalies in votes compared to exit polls.
And during the election which could have doomed Brownback’s second term, they “discovered” that the Democrat attended a lap dance in his youthful days. On the basis of that stellar finding, they re-elected Brownback. If it weren’t for all the good people who had to suffer from that decision, I would say that they deserved the government they got. Is there some sort of unnamed neurological political judgment disease going around that people can catch?
The “Court of Public Opinion” is much more powerful than any court other than, maybe, the Supreme Court. Take a look at http://www.TheAlarmReport.info for a successful application of that premise. That’s exactly how the battle for ONE MAN, ONE VOTE was won.
Mark Small – yes, and the researcher who pointed out said “anomalies” has been denied access to the data that might prove or debunk her theory. That’s what the citizens of Kansas should be suing Brownback (and Secretary of State Kris Kobach) for.
Mark,
There is no immunity in the “Court of Public Opinion.”
Just as an FYI to make sure everyone is aware, the Koch brothers have decided to sit out the Presidential election this year. That means they will spend their PAC money on state and local races. Democratic candidates for every little office in every state can expect to be “swiftboated”. Please pay attention to the man behind the curtain.
Marv; please list any current accomplishments of “the court of public opinion”. Other than the meteoric rise of Donald Trump, our home-grown terrorist and court jester.
Indiana produces a lot more corn than Kansas. The “revolution in the cornfield” was more of a (I wish there was a polite way to put it) “cluster-f in a wheat field.”
Nice to see you back on your game instead of puking out pro-Clinton propaganda.
Good analysis. Spot on.
JoAnn,
“Marv; please list any current accomplishments of (in) “the court of public opinion.”
First, you need an INDICTMENT. In memory of the anniversary of the actions of the “Tankman” who challenged the Chinese tanks at Tiananmen Square, I re-published on June 4th my indictment of The Florida Times-Union at http://www.EthicalForum.net in “the Court of Public Opinion.” That will allow me to START organizing for the Recall of the Mayor of Jacksonville, Lenny Curry, as a co-conspirator. He will be in office 1 YEAR come this July. We’re not talking about negligence. The issue is: EXTORTION.
As I have explained before, you have to do more than communicate on the internet. Jacksonville has been GROUND ZERO for many, many years [25 to be exact] for the spread of the POLITICAl TSUNAMI OF HATRED which has enveloped the Dallas, Jacksonville, and Indiana Triangle aka “The Devil’s Triangle.”
That’s not to say that the COG or Center of Gravity isn’t still located in Dallas.
THIS is what happens when folks elect One-Party Bolshevik ideologues
with no connection whatsoever to experience, history, morality or reality.
Driven wholly by GREED, megalomania, misogyny and bogus fascist dominance
and false sense of superiority, this vermin spreads the cancer of regression to third-world economic conditions (or worse) on the backs of we the 99%
…and generations to come.
“As long as you continue to tar social democracy
with all the crimes of communism,
I feel equally entitled to tar the free market
with the crimes of slavery, segregation, colonialism and genocide;
p*ss me off and I’ll add fascism and the Nazis.”
-Greg Erwin
Hopefully, our posts today will help you all to better understand why the author John Grisham, a friend of the Bush Family, would threaten to blow me up into SMITHEREENS in “The Chamber.”
See http://www.KillingtheMessenger.info
I was a conservative Republican once. Then it seemed accurate to me that people who applied their talents responsibly and judicially and worked hard earned rewards. They created more. Being youthful and full of my new status as a professional I didn’t even notice and certainly didn’t credit all that I’d been born with and into.
Now I’m a liberal Republican without a party. I learned from experience that what was right about my conservatism could be forged into extremes that virtually always failed in practice. My party did too and should have retreated and reformed but instead chased votes and changed to a party of extremists of all stripe. Misogynists, racists, shove it down your throat Evangelists, sexists, white supremacists, Christian Crusaders, racists, gun fanatics, Nazis, oligarchs, aristocrats.
Of course the conservative philosophy still doesn’t work but Republicans did solve the problem of getting elected.
It’s a sad spectacle to have witnessed. I don’t think that it could have happened without TV and all of the small screens that it spawned.
I do feel sorry though who voted for power to convert the world to their narrow view and ended up being imprisoned by it.
Kansas is looking more like a Third World Country everyday.
In case one thinks that the failure of conservatism in Kansas will teach residents there to not vote that way again: the GOP will merely blame it on Obama and the Republicans will dutifully respond “Amen”.
Kansas is experiencing what the folks in Mississippi and Alabama have experienced for a long time now (elsewhere as well, of course). Too many people vote without an understanding of what a candidate’s proposed agenda will actually mean or do. (Those voters are not limited to one party.) It is bewildering when the result is not as promised, yet the voters re-elect the candidate and his or her agenda.
“Thank you, sir! May I have another?”
@Marvin, until today I’d not fully absorbed the validity of your earlier posts re: the prevalence of anti-Semitic groups currently active in the US. Suddenly out of the blue, there’s a flurry of articles across the Internet speaking about Google’s recent ban of a Google Chrome browser app that highlighted those folks with Jewish names (or at least what the app’s developer pinpointed as Jewish names).
Here’s one of the recent articles. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/google-removes-racist-chrome-extension-used-by-neo-nazis-to-target-people-with-jewish-sounding-names-a7066496.html
BSH; I checked it out, computers are amazing and wonderful electronic devices…unless they are in the wrong hands, as the work of that neo-Nazi group proves. Luckily someone at Google Chrome was wide awake at the switch. Thanks for this heads-up.
Peggy,
your prediction is beginning against Gregg here in the MS of the mid west.
BSH,
The anti-Semitism in the U.S. has been growing subterranean in the U.S. since Jerry Falwell’s unofficial trip to Israel in 1967 after the Six Day War. If you’re interested in understanding the beginnings, I recommend “Forging God’s Hand: Why Millions Pray of a Quick Rapture—and Destruction of Planet Earth” by Grace Halsell, Amana Publications, 1999.
Grace Halsell (1923-2000) served President Lyndon Johnson as his speech writer for three years. She covered both Korea and Vietnam as a journalist and wrote for newspapers in the U.S., South America, Europe, Russia, China, Japan and the Middle East. She wrote 14 books among them the well-received Soul Sister, Prophecy and Politics: Militant Evangelists on the Road to Nuclear War, Journey to Jerusalem and the Illegals. (back cover)
“Dispensationalism, a relatively new belief system—less than 200 years old—has become tremendously popular in recent years. There are four main aspects to dispensationalism.” (page 113)
“First: those who preach Armageddon theology are anti-Semitic. Jerry Falwell and other dispensationalists profess a love for Israel. No one, not even Israelis, proclaim more loudly and often their unconditional support for the Jewish state. Their support of Israel does not arise out of guilt for past persecutions or even from sympathy for Jews who suffered through the Holocaust. Rather their support is based on wanting Israel “in place” as the landing base for the Second Coming of Christ. Meanwhile, Falwell and other dispensationalists speak disparagingly of Jews—as Jews.” (page 113)
By the way, just wait and see what happens to the Democratic Party when the massive anti-Semitism finally erupts at the Democratic Party’s National Convention in July over the Israeli-Palestinian issues. The “rumblings” have already started. Just check out the internet.
We do err when we consider that the plan has not worked in Kansas. It worked very well for those who created it and executed it. They are much richer in Kansas. Trust me.
That is what we as Demo or Indies ever fail to consider: There is a means to this madness. We see this issue and then another: Abortion, LGBT, migration, outsourcing, insufficient taxation, health care, election reform, voting restrictions, and on and on ad- infinitum. These issues separate us and sell us signs to protest with. ( They print the signs!)
The opposition views it as a whole: You are the whole!
I am being surrounded by “Trump” yard signs; looking out my front door I now see five. He was the butt of our jokes and the target of our laughter just a year ago – now he is having the last laugh, people. Be afraid, be very afraid.
Put aside our petty differences; and they are petty when you consider the rising possibility that he will win the White House in November. We need to work together to get out the vote; for all elections, not only the presidential. Please; Kansas is Kansas’ problem, we have Indiana problems to deal with. Use Kansas as a warning of what we will live with if Pence is reelected and we don’t oust other Republicans from office. Every one is vital; every vote is vital, every life is vital…but only a chosen few lives matter to the GOP. Are you sure you are among them?
Humans are not static and Indiana’s 92 county properties are each mapped off into owners’ names for taxes, as trustees all for the land portions exactly. In each township or section, are there not places set aside for all of the inhabitants to care for the minors with no political-social human rights knowledge or awareness to have all-day care by parent substitutes? Those schools are material places, like apartment buildings, stadiums, theaters, any ventures for thousands to assemble and disperse on time and efficiently Monday through Friday while the parents, guardians, LEGAL custodians remain responsible for their lifetime care and attentions financially.
School administrators constantly have been consolidating resources, selling off neighborhood walking schools, out-sourcing kitchen, bus, tutorial, medical and health, intelligence and aptitude, achievement tests, textbooks, printers.
It is not the property owners’ children who suffer when buildings are rededicated. Those who out-source their own prospective replacements, their springs on their family vines — like the supporting tendrils or leading blossoms — will shrivel at the roots, fail to thrive. Prisons are built with rocks and mortar, metal and liquid sand-glass, silicon…So are schools. Humans’ labor went into those, paid for at the site.
Phyllis,
should I consider your remarks as unrelated asides?
Make no mistake; I agree with all you say.
And our self adorned knight in armor forges on with his ill advised, ego driven self destructing campaign.
Just as I had predicted. Bernie don’t give a darn who’s on the Court. Ain’t no friggin’ ‘cision gon botha him! Dey wearin’ robes. Can’t be too fur from home.
Earl Kennedy; your uncalled for insults of Bernie lowered YOU a few notches in my estimation, which has always been high, placing you on the level of Trump. It didn’t lower my esteem for Bernie Sanders; merely pointed out that this presidential election has brought out surprising traits in people we thought we knew.
Earl,
“And our self adorned knight in armor forges on with his ill advised, ego driven self destructing campaign.”
Can you believe it, they think Donald Trump is the biggest FOOL in the race. Like you, I beg to differ. Bernie Sanders has no competition. Is there anyone more “bat-shit crazy” than he is?
All I can say is, “Enjoy yourself NOW as much as you can.” After the Democratic Party’s National Convention in July, “it will all be over.” And I assure you, it will be almost impossible to have a “good night’s sleep” again.
Marv; you have just joined Earl Kennedy by lowering yourself with uncalled for insults against Bernie Sanders…you, who warned us of upcoming anti-Semitism against him have joined their ranks. And those of today’s blog, “I am not a racist…” category. I thought you, and Earl, were bigger men than that…but you two are not the first disappointments in my life and won’t be my last. I can only hope the November election will not end in a major disappointment and move down to a dangerous level by Trump winning the presidency.
JoAnn,
“Marv; you have just joined Earl Kennedy by lowering yourself with uncalled for insults against Bernie Sanders…you, who warned us of upcoming anti-Semitism against him have joined their ranks.”
You’re making a lot of accusations, please be more specific as to how I have “joined the ranks of the anti-Semites.” At the present time, I would suggest that if anyone is bed with the anti-Semites it’s the FOOL Bernie Sanders, not me.
Why are you calling me the fool? I’m not the one bringing into the Democratic Party’s National Convention the Israeli-Palestinian controversy. Bernie Sanders, THE FOOL, is delivering the Republican Party all their “prayers” on a Silver Platter.
To be honest, I’m very disappointed in you. I guess I misjudged your intelligence.
Marv and Earl are hateful little men. They hate Bernie Sanders and what he stands for. They support BIG corporate dollars underpinning candidates. They both become aroused when hearing of those outside of the Caucasian persuasion being turned into pink mist in foreign lands. The Vichy Democrats have won. Former Republicans who left the Republican Party because of the evangelicals. They never cared for working people–and that includes the Black-Working Class. They ‘re only accepting of minorities if they’re of the professional class. They have their favored candidate,Hillary Clinton. More war. The privatization of Social Security, More privatization and more corporatism. Dogmatic neoliberalism is their religion–which has two rules:
#1– Because Markets
@2– Go Die
The issues concerning Bernie and his supporters are not going to go away.
Marv; I did NOT call you a fool, you referred to yourself using that word. “…joining the ranks of anti-Semites” puts you on their level, within their ranks, by calling Bernie “bat-shit crazy”. I did not accuse you of being anti-Semite. At this point, it matters not to me that you are disappointed in me. You have been very different since your “return”; lost sight that there are two sides to all of this election fiasco (three, if you want to include Trump in the equation), more insulting in your comments and lost most of your ability to attempt to understand the views of others.
I’m disappointed in your change of attitude and ability to accept the views of others; I remain impressed with your intelligence and your vast experiences in the political field.
William,
“Marv and Earl are hateful little men.”
You have very poor vision William. I’m not that “little.”
JoAnn,I think Marv just called you stupid. Don’t worry. Marv seems like one of those guys that would travel to Romania to find a much younger and subservient wife.
JoAnn,it’s a classic technique. The two of you have been communicating for a lengthy period of time on this forum. Marv supports your comments with a “Ditto” here and there. It makes you feel good and bonded. You eventually become accepting of his views. When you finally deviate from his view, what happens? He summarily denigrates you. You’re supposed to feel stupid and eventually see things his way. At this point,I guess you’re supposed to offer the obligatory mea culpa.
Edith Stifle!!!!!
JoAnn,
When Donald Trump is elected President, let’s see who is going to be called a FOOL. I stand by my earlier statement that Bernie Sanders is “bat-shit crazy” for splitting and jeopardizing the Democratic Party at this strategic time in our history.
I’m finding you very selfish in your lack of concern over the dangers of a Donald Trump presidency.
However, I do understand very well where you and William are coming from. It’s still a free country. At least for now.
Why,yes, JoAnn,YOU are being very selfish!
Stifle,Edith!!
Marv is so enlightened. {Sarcasm mode on high}
Healthcare for all is bats*t crazy–never mind most of the world has accomplished it.
Free College? Other countries do it. The U.S. was among them before Reagan.
Crazy indeed!!
Can you ALL believe this exchange on the racist and anti-Semitic Marv.
Let’s see:
In 1961, I was my father’s strategist in breaking the color barrier in collegiate football in the “Deep South” in the 1961 Gator Bowl.
In 1964, I was the host for Harry Philo and Dean Rabb, Martin Luther King’s top legal advisors, when he came to St. Augustine to demonstrate.
From 1972-1980, I handled more pro bono criminal and mental illness cases than any attorney in Dallas.
In 1980, Kenny Houston, joined Leonard McGowan and me as a partner in the first integrated sports management firm: Victory Sports Management
In 1986, I forced the FBI to investigate racism in the Southern Sector of Dallas County which led to open housing enforcement in Duncanville, DeSoto, and Cedar Hill.
In 1991, my Alarm Report paved the way for the landmark votings rights Federal Court decision on one man, one vote.
In 1992, I convinced the U.S. Civil Rights Commission to convene a special session on the violation of the Civil Rights of African-Americans in Jacksonville.
In 1993, my companion and I self-published “Democracide: The Far Rights to Power.”
In 2004, Harvey Wheeler, the former Program Director for The Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions became my partner in The Political Epidemiology Institute.
In 2013, I charged two City Council members with criminal and ethical violations in their attempt to segregate Hemming Plaza by removing all the trees and benches in the park.
In 2015, I formed the Jacksonville Ethical Forum to challenge the racist oligarchy’s Civic Council.
Are we ALL going “bat-shit crazy?” I think so.
To All with respect to any charge of anti-Semitism:
By the way, through the years I’ve also represented the Presbyterian Church in Texas and also have had very close Palestinian, Isam Mirza, and Jordanian, Shalan Naghwai, friends. Shalan’s brother was a member of King Hussein’s cabinet and I can’t remember exactly, but I believe Isam’s grandfather had been one of the rulers of Palestine.
At the same time, I was also Spokesman for the American Jewish Congress in Dallas as well as the Jewish War Veterans, through my organization B.A.A.D. [Battle Against All Discrimination].
I’m not beyond being criticized. I’m just asking for a little more focusing.
William; thank you for reading what I actually said and also reading Marv’s comments for what they are.
Marv; here is where I bow out of conversing with you (hopefully, only for today), sticks and stones have no place on this blog. That is what happened to Gopper.
Your list of accomplishments deserves kudos; but I see you are giving them to yourself. Please include mine because I remain impressed with your intelligence and your civic, human rights and political history.
JoAnn,
“Marv, here is where I bow out of conversing with you (hopefully, only for today).
It’s going to be a while before that happens again. But my absence will have had nothing to do with our conversations today.
“Your list of accomplishments deserves kudos; but I see you are giving them to yourself.”
That might be your opinion. My accomplishments or those kudos as you called them, sometimes referred to as validity, were meant for those who have been following me on this blog as well as my several websites. Not for you.
By the way, why don’t you get your buddy—William— to give us the honor of at least a short list of his accomplishments? I realize it must be a “mile long.”
A mile long? Naw. I’m just a lowly citizen. I do have morals.
Unlike self aggrandizing lawyers. I get it,you’re special. You’re unique and everyone should bow down to you and accept your opinions as the rule of law. Quite the authoritarian and elitist .
I guess if one doesn’t share a comparable CV as the illustrious Marv…..We should not have ideas,opinions or thoughts. We don’t matter. We don’t count.
This conversation is getting very close to the line. Please remember the rules of this blog: heated disagreements are fine; name-calling and slurs are not.
I tried to tell yawll the teacher was looking!
Predictions confirmed: Barnstorming Bernie is taking it to Philly to kick a.. and take names. It’ll do nothing but good for party unity and voter apathy. No rational person could see this as a good thing for America. People who think like him see it as a good thing for them.
The oligarchy, i.e. the GOP, responds according to the threat. Because , as shown, he can turn out the people but not the vote, they choose to marginalize Hillary and not focus on him. Should they, he would be utterly destroyed. Let’s take a look at this thing called reality:
Black vote 1870. Women vote 1920..
Black prez 2008. Women prez 2016.
Sounds about right. Yet, I can’t see how a Socialist, masquerading as an Independent, running as a Democrat can blur the vision of so many thinkers but fewer voters. California has always been a forward thinking state with more Socialistic programs than Vermont will ever have. Still, they saw that his dreams are no more than that in this world; dreams.
I sent Bernie money at the beginning of his run. He is the only candidate I have contributed to but when I clearly saw that the votes were not there, I switched to the party favorite. Why? Because I am not, nor have I ever been a Republican.( I voted GOP once; for Lugar. And when I told the fools they should do the same, they scoffed. Funny thing: they still don’t get it!) Lugar was one of the first to call Trump out!
With every election the dynamics change. The super rich are in possession of super computers which tell them things you can’t dream of. Things useful to negate the vote of the majority. If your are acute you will have noticed a phenomena recently evolved: GOP get less votes, more seats. The concept of one vote one man is gone. Wherever there is an election deemed to be close, ALEC will insure it will go GOP. They will restrict hours, days, even locations for voting. They will pour in dollars because it’s deductible. They will publish bogus hours or days or even results. They know that even if caught, the lies will not be reversed.
People, don’t let it get close! We can’t chance it. Think!!! The GOP will readily subvert the Constitutions to achieve their goals because they KNOW there is no repercussion.
Remember: “Treason doth never prosper.
Why? What’s the reason?
Because if it doth prosper,
none dare call it treason.”
There are no fools here but only thinking individuals who, at times, see different parts of the same elephant. People, it is a wild animal.