Be True to Your Party or Pay: Kansas Politics

I read this column by Mike Henricks of the Kansas City Star even though I'm not a fan. The head comparing the Kansas GOP to Stalin hooked me.

It details political payback, the branding of traitors by both the Democratic and Republican state leadership. Certain people delete those branded from their smartphones. These traitors cease to exist: no chance of being sent to national conventions, no phone calls or e-mails answered, no invitations to Kansas Day ceremonies at the state capitol every January, and no lovely holiday cards from the powerful. It is worse than being sent to the gulag for a politico. A bullet in the back of the head is certainly more merciful.

I've been a registered Republican since 1979, the Jimmy Carter era. However, I have a strong libertarian streak. I never vote for a candidate who says more "common sense gun safety laws" are needed. Criminals by nature fail to abide by the law. There's plenty of laws on the books that can be used to stop their rampages. So I naturally draw the conclusion those candidates don't trust me or most of my country folk.

If politicians do not trust the ordinary citizens they want to represent, I'm not about to trust them. No matter if they are a Democrat or Republican, why would anyone elect a representative who allowed mistrust to stand between them and their constituents? If sent to any seat of government, they will only answer to party insiders, the big contributors, the lobbyists, and the moguls. The trinkets, junkets, private jets, chauffeurs, interns, hookers, easy cash and power will lure them until they're indicted or voted out of office into a firm of lawyers and lobbyists.

I'm not about to let party loyalty blind me from identifying with the natural and civil rights of individuals. Both parties are bankrupt. There is a reason why the founding fathers, who struggled and made provisions for the preservation of the "inalienable rights of man" did not make a single reference to political parties in the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Dear Leaders, the loyalty squad works via a secret ballot at every election. The Stoic philosopher, Seneca the Younger, said, "Every reign must submit to a greater reign." For those who have left the ranks for a position of authority, Seneca's words are good ones to study.