Note: The Lawrence Times runs opinion columns and letters to the Times written by community members with varying perspectives on local issues. These pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Times staff.
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Kansans fit the mold my dad used to define as “independent as a hog on ice” — an analogy dear to my farm-kid heritage.
So, no surprise, I could vote (D) for Kathleen Sebelius for governor but, upon seeing former Kansas Secretary of State Kris “Machine-gun” Kobach (R) aiming to become governor in 2018, switched to (R) in the primary election to vote for his opponent: Kobach out.
Then back to (D), for Bernie in 2020, and once again (R) in the 2022 primary, trying to toss Kobach, yet again (though he snuck by on a three-way split).
Now, 2020 election-denier Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt (R), who filed suit to decertify Biden’s election, covets the role of governor, importing autocratic supporters Ron DeSantis and Ted Cruz to amp up his campaign aspirations. The horror! And Kobach is salivating anew over his now 2022 Kansas attorney general quest, hoping voters won’t recall his mean-spirited past political excesses.
So, before I voted last week against Skeksis-like Kansas GOP powermongers, first I switched my party affiliation again: to Independent, where I belong. And I feel so much less slimed now. Freedom, thy name is Kansas.
— A. Reed (she/her), Lawrence
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More Community Voices:
Letter to the Times: City should create oversight committee to guide pool renovation project, rebuild trust
”Our petition’s 1,764 signatures, our supporters’ 75 letters, and our research into the extensive flaws in the (pool renovation) community engagement process all indicate that the previously proposed plan did not reflect public opinion,” Holly Krebs writes in this letter to the Times.
Shawn Alexander: Say his name – Fred Harvey Smith (Column)
”Racial violence has been omnipresent in American history, and in far too many of the incidents, the perpetrators of the crime are acquitted or not even brought up on charges. When I think of such cases I am often haunted by the heinous murder of Fred Harvey Smith here in the land of John Brown in May 1936,” Shawn Alexander writes in this column.
Letter to the Times: Are veterans’ sacrifices for democracy worthless?
”My father (Navy), mother (Army), and many other family members served our country in World War II. … They gave of themselves, in countless ways, to stop the spread of authoritarianism, suppression of freedoms and tyranny of the many by the few,” Sandy Sanders writes in this letter to the Times.
