Plog Number 38
And What About Kansas
Hello ploggers. I hope you all are feeling great. I am finding myself particularly excited about Kansas for the first time in my life. As a kid I liked it because of The Wizard of Oz. Later I was memorizing all the names of the NFL and AFL teams and I remember The Kansas City Chiefs. I also found it fascinating that there is a Kansas City, Kansas and a Kansas City, Missouri. Besides these three things I know nothing about Kansas. I have never been there and have had no reason to go. But Kansas has put itself on the map. I would like to congratulate them for being the first to put Women’s Reproductive Rights on the Ballot. They voted to uphold those rights. They did not leave it up to a legislative vote. They let the people who’s lives would be affected, weigh in. I also think that they are a litmus test for the rest of the country. Many states are more liberal than Kansas. I think most Americans would vote as Kansans did if given the chance. But as I have been plogging for the last two days, this election was a sleeper. No one was at the polls except the workers. There were no lines at all. They got a huge turnout because the topic was just that important to the voters. So I am hopeful.
I have been doing some research on Kansas, as I am sure many people are these days. As I thought, Kansas is a Republican dominated and conservative state since it got statehood in 1861. Their current Governor is Laura Kelly, a Republican. The current Senators are Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall both Republican. 29 of Kansas’ Senators have been Republicans. Only 3 have been Democrats. Kansas has 4 House Members, 3 of whom are Republicans. So it is obvious that Kansas is a Red state which 45 won in the 2020 election. There was no need to call and ask for more votes from the Kansas electors because they had already given the Vote to 45. So from what I gather the state is Midwestern, conservative and kind of flies under the Political radar. That is until this week.
My theory on why Kansans turned out in the way that they did has to do with the fact that Reproductive health is a strongly unifying issue. The issue surpassed beyond Left or Right, Democrat or Republican, and everyone in between. The issue involved the majority of the population, by that I mean women. So I can’t help but be hopeful that Kansans voted how most of the country would vote if given the chance. The fact that the law was even on the ballot this fast is incredible to me. Somehow Kansas had reproductive rights, up to 22 weeks, in their State Constitution. The vote was for an amendment to change their constitution. I think it was assumed that they would say "Yes, Amend the State Constitution" but they did not. Will other States get the same chance to vote on the issue? Kentucky, Michigan, Vermont and California will be voting on the issue in different ways in November. So lets watch those states. But in the case of Kansas, they did exactly what the Supreme Court said and regulated it themselves? I think that the Supremes meant the State legislature more so than the people. But the people have spoken loudly and you cant un-hear what they said. I hope that we can get it on the ballot in Ohio. I see other states learning from Kansas and trying to avoid the same outcome. Pro Life is a huge movement. But I also see petitions being circulated and everyday citizens demanding to have a say in the matter. I see people starting to RECLAIM!
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