Kansas has spoken. And Topeka lawmakers are doing the opposite of what the people want | Opinion

There’s a huge disconnect between the government that Kansans want and the government Kansans get.

That probably doesn’t sound all that intuitive. After all, Kansans vote for the mostly Republican, mostly conservative governance they get. If they want something different, why haven’t they made different choices?

I don’t know the answer to that. But the disconnect is still plain to see.

We know this because the Docking Institute at Fort Hays State University released its annual “Kansas Speaks” survey this week, and it once again tells us that there’s a fairly big gap between voter desires and the leadership offered by Republicans in the Kansas Legislature.

Medicaid, marijuana, education, housing

• The vast majority of Kansans — 69.6%, an astonishing number — support Medicaid expansion. You probably knew that already. But legislative leaders still have their heels dug in on the issue. Forty-one states have already accepted federal dollars to extend health coverage to their poorest residents. Shamefully, Kansas remains among the laggards.
• A similarly huge number, 67.2% of Kansans, support legalizing marijuana for use by adults over the age of 21. Our legislators, meanwhile, can’t even bring themselves to legalize cannabis merely for compassionate medical use. Which means — as Wichita Eagle opinion editor Dion Lefler documented earlier this year — that we’re occasionally treated to the sight of a cancer patient being issued criminal citations in his hospital room.
• A whopping 78.8% of respondents said their local high schools “are important or very important to civic life in Kansas.” In Topeka, though, Republicans spend their time conjuring up ways to divert tax dollars away from public education to support home and private schools.
• And Kansans are hugely worried about the lack of affordable housing in the state. Nearly 72% say it’s a concern. Sixty percent say the shortage of such shelter is having a negative impact on their communities. And nearly 63% say they would have difficulty buying a home in the place where they live.

What do Kansas Republicans spend their time on? Passing laws to ensure our transgender neighbors can’t use the bathroom or get the driver’s license of their choosing.

You know: The important stuff.

Why does all of this matter? Because the issues that Kansans say they care about — the health coverage, the pain relief, the ability to have a nice home — is the stuff that makes a real difference in whether or not the state’s residents live well.

The stuff that Kansas Republicans focus on? Not so much.

And it matters because their refusal to listen to what voters are saying makes Kansas seem a less welcoming, less livable place to call home.

People planning to leave the state up sharply

Here’s a number that astonishes me: Nineteen percent of Kansans — one-fifth of the state — say they expect to live in some other state five years from now. That’s up a mere percentage point from last year’s poll. And it’s more than double the just 9% who in the 2018 survey said they expected to eventually leave the Sunflower State.

It sure seems like we have a big problem. One that threatens our collective future.

I suspect some conservative folks will see all that last number — all those folks who think they’ll have to flee — and try to place the blame on Gov. Laura Kelly, the one high-profile Democrat in state government. Be skeptical of such claims. Her priorities on Medicaid, medical marijuana and public education align with those of the Kansans who responded to the Docking Institute poll.

But she can’t turn those priorities into reality without the help of the GOP-controlled Kansas Legislature. And it’s clear that Republican leaders have other ideas.

Truth is, Kansans ought to be mad as heck about the awful, unrepresentative representation they’re getting in Topeka. We are not secretly a progressive-lefty state — much as some of us might wish otherwise — but we are much, much more moderate than our red reputation would suggest.

It’s time we got a government that matches that reality.

This story was originally published October 25, 2023 at 5:07 AM.