From Thursday to Monday, we all saw a lot of consequences play out, plain as day.
We saw the consequence of two parties choosing men manifestly unfit to run for president. One a direct threat to our United States of America, the other barely able to string sentences together and staring blankly into the distance as if trying to process how he arrived there.
We saw the consequences of a U.S. Supreme Court packed with hard-right appointees, eager to hand over practically unchecked power to the man they (likely correctly) assume will be the next president.
Most of all, we’ve seen the consequences of a nation that has for too long gorged itself on cheap cynicism and infantile entertainment.
We picked Trump and Biden. We elected the U.S. representatives and senators who pass budgets and confirm nominees. We have gone along with all of this and have allowed our government to reach this exigency. Changing the situation doesn’t require magic. It requires civic engagement and participation on a level with which most of us are unfamiliar.
I can lay out what I think should happen.
Yes, obviously President Joe Biden needs to drop out. Yes, obviously Republicans should have never countenanced Donald Trump as their nominee after he attempted to overthrow the government he led. One of these situations can still be addressed, while the other one appears set in stone. So Democratic leaders need to decide where they stand.
The Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity can be understood as either dire or limited. I’ve read chunks of Chief Justice John Robert’s majority opinion, as well as Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent. They seem to be writing from different universes, never mind different planets. We have no way to know the consequences without time passing and observing how our presidents and courts react.
No one can change that. At least not right away.
Unfortunately, Kansas has a limited role to play in this upcoming national election. The state will almost certainly vote for the Republican presidential nominee, as it has done in every election since 1964. That’s what happens when the nation still abides by the absurd Electoral College system.
Yet we all have roles to play when it comes to our own state and communities. Elections at these levels matter, and local candidates can present stark choices. But you won’t know about your options unless you pay attention.
Kansas Reflector reporters are interviewing candidates for statewide office. We will be running stories about candidates and what they hope to do.
Read them. Read stories in your local newspaper or news website.
Last month, I wrote about the grimness that hovered over the Kansas Legislature’s not-so-special session. You remember that, right? When all the state lawmakers came back to pass a tax cut plan and big tax incentive packages for sports team?
That session was a consequence, too. So was the dogged refusal of leaders to allow votes on Medicaid expansion or marijuana legalization.
Kansans elected those people. They supported leaders who would rather line the pockets of billionaires than look out for the 12% of Kansans who live in poverty. Every one of those people could be helped, if Kansans decided they wanted to do so. But we haven’t.
No, here in the Sunflower State, voters hand over their brains and willpower to the various dark money groups sending out glossy mailers. In any other situation, in any other area of life, would you believe a piece of mail that arrives at your home from someone you don’t know telling obvious lies about someone else? Of course not. It boggles my mind that these pieces of junk hold such sway in the world of Kansas politics.
They only hold that sway, of course, because voters let them.
The hateful inertia of Kansas politics and the blazing Dumpster fire of the presidential election are one and the same story.
They are both the story of politicians and voters too vacuous to challenge one another to do better. They are both the story of big money interests doing all they can to dominate the discussion and eliminate dissent. They are both the story of business conglomerates pumping us full of literal and figurative narcotics — anything to dull our realization that we have made these choices and bear responsibility for this world.
We can’t fix this mess alone. But we can demand better from those hoping to represent us.
Not tomorrow, not after the next election, not when it’s our turn.
Now.
Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
