Kansas

Kansas Democrats
by G.T. Kim

           It is believed that the first visitor to Kansas was a Spanish explorer named Coronado in 1541, although, the land, then, was already inhabited by Native Americans. When the stories of the new opportunities in the West became known, the people of the East made their way toward the West to settle their families in wide open land along with the hopes of fulfilling their dreams and to escape the societal and religious persecutions. Consequently, number of these families settled in the land that we now know as Kansas. Kansas obtained its official statehood on January 29, 1861 as the 34th state of the United States, and during Civil War, Kansas provided over 20,000 men which was about 2/3 of the soldiers that fought in the Civil War for the North. Kansas has total area of 82,264 sq. mi. which ranks Kansas 15th in geographic size and has a population of 2,477,574 (1990). In 1990, 90% of the population was white and 6% was African American. The state capital is Topeka. Kansas is nicknamed “Sunflower State” but is also known unofficially as the Wheat State. Kansas is the country’s leading producer of wheat and helium. Cultivating cattles constitute the most profitable agricultural commodity of the state, and meat-packing and producing dairy products constitute major economic activities. Kansas government provides for a governor elected for a four year term. The legislature consists of a senate with 40 members serving four year terms and a house with 125 members serving two year terms. Kansas is represented in the US Congress by two senators and four representatives and has six electoral votes. Kansas is bordered by Missouri to the East, Oklahoma to the South, Colorado to the West and Nebraska to the North. The state’s abbreviation is KS.
           The Kansas Democrats’ Statement of Principles states that they seek to protect the freedom and integrity of the individuals along with seeking to create a government that’s based upon the simple principles of fairness, opportunity, responsibility and community rather than seeking for a government of special interests or narrow individualism. The following are the positions of Kansas Democrats on different issues.
           In the area of education, Kansas Democrats’ objective is to have every Kansas children leaving the third grade to be able to read, write, and do basic mathematics.   In reaching this goal, they are trying to reduce the class sizes in early grades, maintain equality in school finance, and ensure appropriate pay to the teachers for their roles while trying to provide the necessary aid and attention to children with special needs. Also, the Kansas Democrats support the STARS (Student Tuition Assistance Recognition Scholarship) program which provide qualifying Kansas high school students with tuition to any Kansas university, college or vocational school. This is to ensure, as they believe, the creation of capable workforce within Kansas.
For health care, the Kansas Democrats wants all Kansans to have universal access to health promotion, disease prevention, and illness related services. They believe that the above are the social right of the citizens; therefore, they are committed to making comprehensive health insurance available to all Kansans to ensure that doctors and patients make health care decisions, not the insurance companies. Also, Kansas Democrats wants to establish laws that will protect the privacy of medical records to prevent someone from being discriminated based on existing medical conditions.
           Social Welfare, family and children are another matter of concern for the Kansas Democrats. Fair and adequate system of income security strengthened by social services is what they are hoping to achieve in order to provide all working families with adequate child care and health benefits. Also, they are for pre- and post natal care, affordable day care, and after school and community-based programs, child immunizations, enforcing the requirement for child support payments and a stronger, effective criminal penalties for domestic abuse.
           The Kansas Democrats are in favor of dealing harshly with crimes, creating strategies for crime prevention, and providing alternatives to prison when appropriate. Thus, they are trying to enhance law enforcement by putting more police on the streets, providing more assistance to prosecutors, and strengthening post-release supervision. Also, they favor in punishing violent crimes by juveniles and domestic violence with the same principles.
           On the issue of government spending and taxation, the Kansas Democrats are in support of eliminating the sales tax on food and the reduction of tax for car purchases. Also, they believe in paying off state’s bonded debts while there is a strong economic growth.
          Furthermore, the Kansas Democrats are concerned with protecting their environment and agriculture. They want to stop the neglect of and the compromise of these resources for the economic gains of few citizens and out-of-state corporations that are “here today and gone tomorrow.” Thus, they are committed to the new, vigorous environmental protection policies that offer a combination of penalties to offenders and incentives to farmers, industries, and municipalities that abide within these regulations. Also, the Kansas Democrats are in support of a fair return for labor and investment that will sustain the agriculture of Kansas for the long-term future. In addition, they are trying to reduce their dependence on foreign oil and produce less solid and toxic waste by supporting the development of economically and environmentally sustainable energy resources.
          The Kansas Democrats believe that everyone should be involved and should be encouraged to actively become involved in political process such as elections regardless of their race, age, physical abilities, religion, sex or national origin. And that these people should be served by the government equally as well. They are in support of the National Voter Registration Act, and the Kansas Secretary of State becoming an advocate for helping Kansas citizens registering and voting. Also, the Kansas Democrats believe that ethics in campaigning and ethics in government, which defines acceptable and unacceptable conduct, are absolute principles that should be adhered by the government officials and candidates. They are also in favor of full disclosure of all independent expenditures done on the campaigns, and the prohibition on candidates for Insurance Commissioner soliciting and accepting contributions from regulated insurance agencies.
          On behalf of the veterans, senior citizens, and equal rights, the Kansas Democrats support the following. They are in support of the independent Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs which gives special attention to the needs of veterans. To further assist, they are opposed to any reduction in veterans’ benefits at the state and national level while trying to ensure that all retired veterans’ health care benefits are restored. For senior citizens, the Kansas Democrats support vigorous enforcement of licensing standards for adult care homes and oppose any form of age discrimination; furthermore, they support more uniform application of Medicare regulations and enhanced state and local support of public health home services and hospice services in conjunction with home health and homemaker services, adult daycare programs, home delivered meals and senior citizens’ centers. As for equal rights, the Kansas Democrats support continued monitoring and strengthening of the Kansas Civil Rights Act, the Kansas Human Rights Commission, and local Civil Rights Commissions. They also support in finding ways to prevent job discrimination at all levels and moving toward pay equity, in which employees are always paid based on the type of job performed.
          The above paragraphs state what and where the Kansas Democratic Party stands as a political group. All the information were provided by the Kansas Democratic Party.