Kansas Republican leadership sells out on Constitution

TRACKSIDE © by John D’Aloia Jr. May 28, 2002

Democrats raise taxes so that they can spend money to solve all of society’s problems. At least they are honest about it. Not so Kansas Republicans, not the genus and species now triumphant in Topeka "leadership." They spend with wild abandon, showing no concern about the source of the revenues to cover their spree, knowing full well that come the end of a session, they can raise taxes, claiming that the earth will stop rotating if they don’t make good on all the spending promises. Necessary spending? Frivolous spending? It does not matter. What is important to them is that spending take place, thereby placating favored constituencies and buying power.

If the scenario that played out in the session just concluded took place in the market place, the Attorney General would be coming down hard on the perpetrators for fraud and false advertising. I quote from the Republican Creed, specifically mentioned by the party’s state chairman in the 2002 Handbook of the Kansas Republican Party and featured on page three of the handbook. The creed contains nine stanzas. The 4th stanza reads "I believe government must practice fiscal responsibility and allow individuals to keep more of the money they earn." The 5th stanza reads "I believe the proper role of government is to provide for the people only those critical functions that cannot be performed by individuals or private organizations and that the best government is that which governs least." The 6th stanza reads "I believe the most effective, responsible and responsive government is government closest to the people."

These stanzas articulate a political philosophy established at the founding of our Constitutional Republic, a philosophy which enabled freedom to take root, for our citizens to prosper, and for our country to be the holy grail for people world-wide. These stanzas could just as well have been articulated by Washington and Jefferson. Sadly, in 2002, the Kansas Republican leadership has rejected the Founding Fathers. All those who believe in the founding principles were sold out.

The session brought out the true colors of Republican leadership. They are closet socialists, Republican-In-Name-Only because it enables them to be elected, Kansas historically being a "Republican" state. The purpose of the current party leadership is not to further freedom but to retain power and impose on you a way of life based on the belief that society can do nothing that is not dictated, approved, and funded by government. A dependent society plays right into their hands, thus through their endeavors, they establish, perpetuate, and enlarge programs that will ‘buy’ votes from government-dependent dependencies in November. (Their propensity to reward certain groups with large contracts earned them the appellation Long-Green Party, a term coined by John Altevogt.). The recession should have given a true Republican administration the opening and rationale needed to rein in state spending, to make political decisions based on the party's basic political philosophy and historical view of the purpose of government. But even if they only relied on common sense and prudence, they would have endeavored to hold spending levels to those supported by existing revenues. No such attempt was made. In effect, their actions were evidence of their disdain for the citizenry. Their actions were the equivalent of them telling you: "The heck with you. We must enlarge the power of government and maintain our life style. We care not that you have to tighten your belt. We will not tighten our belt. We will even help you pull your belt tighter so that we can extract more of your resources for our power and glory and our friends."

Another element of the fiasco that was Topeka for the past five months is the silence of the average citizen versus the incessant, loud public pressure put on legislators by those who are addicted to the state trough. The Long-Green Party knows how to stir up the addicts and their lobbies to make sure they descend on the capital, giving the impression that they represent all citizens. It also knows that there are insufficient interested people out there to derail their schemes and dreams, to put similar or greater pressure on legislators in the name of freedom. August and November present citizens who believe in our nation’s founding principles, Republican or not, an opportunity to order a new course for our ship-of-state. Now is the time to cast aside silence and let candidates know that government is a servant, not a master, that it is time to cast away the tax-slave chains.

See you Trackside.