By admin You’ve heard this phrase before, but I’ll say it again because it’s true: the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting something to change.
Which means Kansas and Missouri voters are in trouble.
Why? Because they don’t seem very happy with elected officials right now. But they’re about to vote them back into office.
Evidence of this comes from Midwest Newsroom – a collaborative effort of NPR stations in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas – which commissioned Emerson College Polling to conduct a survey to take the pulse of voters in those states.
The results were not very encouraging.
Voters in each state were asked a simple question: Do elected officials in state government act in the state’s best interest or their own?
Fifty-seven percent of Kansas voters said their representatives take care of themselves. Only 20% said that officials have the good of the state in mind. In Missouri, the numbers weren’t much better, with 55% of respondents responding unfavorably and just 26% saying good things about elected officials.
This certainly seems like overwhelming dissatisfaction, doesn’t it?
However, you can’t blame voters for being dissatisfied. What they want is vastly different from what elected officials in Kansas and Missouri – both states that are majority Republican – are giving them.
Some examples:
▪ In Missouri, 56% of respondents believe the state’s abortion ban is too strict. About one third think the current law is reasonably correct. Only 10% believe the rules should be even more stringent.
The Republicans who govern the state clearly disagree: They are not relaxing the law – and in fact, they have made every effort to ensure that a constitutional amendment on this issue is not included in this fall’s elections. They failed.
▪ Fifty-two percent of Missourians believe the state’s minimum wage of $12.30 an hour is too low. Sixty-four percent believe employers should offer paid parental leave. As many as 72% believe employers should provide paid medical leave.
Voters could get some of these things this fall – but only through a citizen-led petition process in Missouri. The good people in Jefferson City certainly don’t help.
At least Show-Me State voters can bypass elected officials if necessary. Kansas voters are not so lucky. That means they’re stuck with whatever Republicans who hold majorities in the Kansas House and Senate are willing to give them.
It’s not much.
▪ Fifty-six percent of respondents in Kansas want the state to legalize recreational marijuana. An overwhelming 73% want at least medical marijuana. So far, however, the legislative effort has been stalled by the Kansas Legislature.
▪ Finally, 49% of Kansans think it is “good” that abortion remains legal here, providing reproductive health services both to residents of the Sunflower State and to other Midwestern women who come here because of prohibitions in their own country. standing. It’s not a huge majority, but it’s much more than the 38% who think it’s a bad thing.
There’s nothing strange about it. Two years ago, Kansas residents voted overwhelmingly to protect the legality of abortion. Kansas Republicans continued their efforts to restrict access. Attorney General Kris Kobach – along with Missouri’s Andrew Bailey – is leading a federal lawsuit seeking to end the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of abortion drugs.
So much for the will of the people. Why this discrepancy between what the people of Kansas and Missouri want and what their representatives are willing to give them?
I don’t have a good answer. Voting is hard. We all have to hold our noses a little when we enter the ballot box, knowing that the people we elect will be with us on some issues and not others. Everyone has to find their own balance.
However, recent poll results suggest that most of us are not very happy with this balance.
This is my advice to the people of Kansas and Missouri: if you continue to vote for Republican domination of your state governments, you will continue to have Republican governments. And you probably won’t be happy with the results.
It’s your choice.
Joel Mathis is a regular correspondent for the Kansas City Star and Wichita Eagle Opinion. Previously, he was a writer and editor for Kansas newspapers and was a columnist for nine years.