What's The Matter With Kansas?

Editors Note:  This is the second in a series of Kansas Heritage Projects.  As always, the views expressed are
those of the author.  Stay tuned each month for a new topic.

In 1896, a young editor named William Allen White wrote an editorial in the Emporia Gazette that changed the
way people viewed Kansas.  The editorial was entitled, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" It was an immediate reaction
to the Populist movement and what was then called the "new Kansas."  The editorial was full of quotable quotes, including
one of my favorites: "Go east and you hear them laugh at Kansas; go west and they sneer at her; go south and
they 'cuss' her; go north and they have forgotten her. Go into any crowd of intelligent people gathered anywhere
on the globe, and you will find the Kansas man on the defensive."  I sometimes wonder as I re-read this colorful
editorial if White had any idea what impact his editorial would have.  I also wonder if he had any idea just how good
that editorial was. 

In 2004, another writer, Thomas Frank, wrote an entire book  with the White editorial as a backdrop, and moving
forward from there.  The name of his book, What's The Matter With Kansas?, is one of the best works I've read
in years.  But his book is hard to pigeon-hole.  It is not just about Kansas.  It is not just about politics.  In fact,
his book takes many complicated and often divergent turns, and it somehow brings them all together.  Frank
accomplished three years ago what I always wanted to write about.  I salute his efforts. 

My connection with Kansas goes back for decades.  My roots are deep.  I was born in Topeka in 1959.  Until
2003, I lived within the state's boundaries or only a few miles outside.  I've seen more of the state than most
people.  In my travels doing research for Ghost Towns of Kansas, I logged nearly 15,000 miles on different
vehicles.  For pure fun and photography, you can add another 10,000 miles to the travelogue.  Some towns I
visited numerous times over a timespan of thirty years.  I've witnessed firsthand what economic success, and
economic failure, has done to many Kansas small towns. 

Those who attach a label to Kansas, and Kansans, is doing the state a disservice.  The state is not the homogenized,
bland milktoast that outsiders would like to believe.  In fact, Kansas has a lengthy history of non-conformity, valiant
lost causes, and eternal quacks and cranks.  This continues to the present day.  Yet somehow, when people think
of Kansas, they think of an ultra-conservative, Republican stronghold in the middle of the Bible Belt.  The bastion
of Bob Dole America.  So, where does the real Kansas start, and the mythical concept of the state end?

It is due to this variety and versatility that Kansas has its problems.  Like many other states, there is never enough
of a budget to stretch.  Issues of politics and religion get in the way of the common good.  Moral issues cloud easy
fixes.  The way of life in suburbia is far different than the way of life in rural areas, and one way of life is impacted
by the other.   The following essay will examine some key factors that impact that way of life in Kansas, and
where the state needs to go to cure its ills.  Kansas is at a cross-roads, as the state has often been.  But too many
problems have been placed on a back burner for too long.  The path Kansas needs to take may not be the path
well-traveled. 

TOURISM

Here is the plain, honest truth:  in a recent poll, Kansas rated dead last as a destination state for travelers.  This
should not come as any big surprise.  Since the nineteenth century, Kansas was always a place that travelers went
through to get somewhere else.  The Santa Fe Trail.  The Oregon Trail.  The Parallel Road.  All paths led out of
the state.  At times, travelers could not get out fast enough.  Case in point: the Colorado gold rush of the 1850's.
Or when Oklahoma was opened up for settlement.  These days, travelers are in a hurry to get to the Rocky
Mountains whether for skiing or camping or sight-seeing.  What does Kansas offer?  There are no mountains,
no oceans, not even any theme parks once you leave the comfortable and familiar confines of Johnson County. 

So, in order to attract some tourism dollars, the best the state can offer is some attractions on major highways
such as Interstate 70 or I-35.  Slow people down a bit.  We know folks are inevitably leaving the state.  Let's just try
and get them to unload a little money while they are here. 

People love history.  Kansas has done what it can to publicize one of its tourism merits, history.  Whether it is Fort
Leavenworth, the birthplace of Brown vs. the Topeka Board of Education, Dodge City, or a host of other historic
places, Kansas has tried hard to play up its legacy.  In varying degrees, this has worked.  In other aspects, it hasn't. 

There is no magic answer to the plight of increased tourism dollars in the state.  Each community will have to play
up its merits on its own.  There are a few things I would like the state to consider.  First, the Missouri River corridor 
from Leavenworth County northward to White Cloud, Kansas.  It is mostly undeveloped, but it offers rich tourist
opportunities to towns such as White Cloud, Elwood, Atchison, and Leavenworth.  Bike trails, kayaking and boating,
camping and fishing developments, and hiking trails.   The Flint Hills is also an undeveloped area.  Not too long ago,
efforts were made to transform a part of the Flint Hills into a national park.  After a great deal of effort on the
part of grass-roots organizations, and politicians, the Flint Hills National Preserve becamed a reality.   It was not
a particularly easy effort, not did it happen overnight.  I remember when the fight centered on eminent domain vs.
public good.  Apparently public good won out.  This is not to say that other regions in the state can not endeavor
for the same outcome, but the battle can be a long one.  Do not expect immediate success, or immediate tourism
revenues.  But this is a classic example of what success can occur when initiatives are begun at the local level.

Southeast Kansas also offers rugged scenery and opportunities for development.  Elk Falls is one success story; a
town that faced ghost town status and came away as a regional tourist attraction.  Which brings me to a final
point:  ghost towns.  Kansas is a prime ghost town state.  I have published five, going on six books on the subject,
yet there is no active state effort to mark and publicize any of them.  In fact, the Kansas Department of Economic
Development once labeled my books a "negative influence" on the state's economy.  Maybe the state should loosen up a
bit and start promoting some of these lost places I wrote about. 

Successful tourism in the Sunflower state relies on efforts to promote the unique and the rugged.  Each community will
have to approach the situation in their own way.  There is no magic answer, but whether it is ghost tours, renovating
railroad tracks into bike trails, or camping and fishing galore, the potential is there.  It is up to those willing to think
outside the box to cash in on it. 

Crime and Punishment

I still remember former Attorney General Vern Miller, hiding in the trunk of a police car on a dark Lawrence street,
ready to pounce on suspected illegal drug users.  It made for fun, fantastic headlines as it resembled an episode of
Miami Vice.  The  Kansas State Department of Corrections, coincidentally, seems to continue to operate on concepts
developed during Vern Miller's tenure.  They seem to sweat new reforms and ideas to the point that they are unsure what 
defines their goals and existence, unless being a toll booth on the highway is part of that existence. 

Their dilemma is not unique.  Many states grapple with what to do with their ever-growing prison populations. 
Here is how I view their problem:  they wish to make prison as uncomfortable as possible so that inmates will
have no desire to return, but they do nothing to educate or prepare them for the real world while inmates are in
their custody.  You can't have it both ways, and structuring prisons to be like army boot camps just seems too
elemental and too old of a concept.  It doesn't work on old codgers the way it might work on youth offenders.

The primary goal of prison is to make sure inmates have no desire of returning.  The best way to do this is
increase their marketability in the workplace.  Computer training, education, learning a career and not a trade--these
are the foundation stones that will keep inmates from returning.  Once many of them achieve their GED, then there
should be career pathways for many of the non-violent offenders in prison.  Prisons are a state liability.  Cutting
down on the return rate of many inmates will add more money to the state coffers.  There are those who will state
that it is ridiculous to educate prisoners, but most inmates come from poor socio-economic backgrounds.  They
probably would have qualified for financial aid anyway.  If the state believes that picking up trash on local high-
ways and mowing grass at state parks will prepare inmates for the real world, then they are doing everything
right.  However, I don't see any correlation there. 

Politics and Religion

If the Midwest is the Bible Belt, then Kansas is definitely the buckle.  For generations, since Kansas Territory was
founded in 1854, religions, no matter the denomination, have played a dominant role in Kansas politics.  The Reverend
Pardee Butler, in the 1850's, took up the anti-slavery cause and attempted to bully and dissuade the residents of Atchison
from promoting the pro-slavery cause.  At first they gave him a warning to stop his tirades up and down main street.
When he persisted, they tarred and feathered him and sent him down the Missouri River on a makeshift raft.  Then there
was the famous abolitionist John Brown.  Brown became so politically incensed by the anti-slavery/pro-slavery movement
in Kansas that his actions led to violent results.  The Battle of Black Jack was just one of the outcomes. 

Brown was followed by a host of characters who have done their part to shape Kansas history and integrate their religious
beliefs into the political mainstream.  There was Carry Nation and her hatchet-wielding attempts at prohibition.  In recent
years there was the Reverend Richard Taylor and Kansans For Life.  Lest we leave anyone out, there is Rev. Fred Phelps and
his collection of anti-gay activists. 

I'm an odd duck when it comes to the merging of politics and religion.  I believe in the separation of church and state in its
purest sense.  If a minister has any political aspirations, well too bad and too late.  I go to church on a regular basis.  I love
reading and interprating stories from the Bible.  If I was running for political office, it would not even cross my mind to
include religion, which is a very personal thing, into any of my campaign speeches.  Unfortunately I am pretty much alone
in this area.  Since the early 1990's, many a Kansas candidate has decided that the public needs to know that they pray
every night that certain events will not happen, whether it is related to abortion, booze, or the closing of a Boeing plant in
Wichita.  Personally, that is more information than I need to know.  Just do what your constituents want you to do.  If
you wish to pray to do a good job, then pray to yourself and keep us out of it.  Representative Jim Ryun and Congressman
Sam Brownback are two such noteworthy examples, and there are more.  They took prayer and politics and merged them
with almost artistic synchronicity. 

I find it odd that Kansas politicians believe their constituents are the ones who scream the loudest.  If one was to read the
papers since 1993 and focus on the most vocal, one might believe that the average Kansan is a God-fearing Sunday
church-goer that attacks homosexuality and abortion with an almost daily vigor.  They are the type that live in a social vacuum,
eye any visitors with suspicion, and believe totally in America, mom's apple pie, and Rush Limbaugh.  In reality, I believe
most Kansans are not so easy to classify, and at some point politicians will get a big black eye if they continue down this
dangerous road.  Oddly enough, the current governor, Kathleen Sebelius, does not fit this mold, and she was re-elected
recently.  There must be a silent majority out there that have some influence in Kansas politics.   

Kansans have shown remarkable versatility in the type of governors they have elected, and this has been a pardox that has
not been so easy to explain.  It started with George Docking back in the 1950's, and has continued since.  For example, if George
was not enough, then along came his son, Robert, in the 1970's.  The current governor has shown herself to be quite versatile,
especially in dealing with economic issues.  She inherited one of the worst budget shortfalls when she first became governor
a few years back.  And Kansas is still around.  One of the many political problems may be that the unpopulated western
side of the state can have as much influence in voting on issues in the the Kansas statehouse as the more populated and urban
eastern counties.  Political decisions that may be important for eastern counties, such as the legalization of casino gambling,
may never bode well with the west.  Since each can potentially wield equal political weight in the Kansas house, gambling may
never occur, except on Indian reservations, where the long arm of the Kansas law can never reach.  

I had great respect for the Reverend Richard Taylor, and I counted him as a friend, even though we disagreed on most
issues.  He is not only an advocate for religious issues, but for historic preservation as well.  This is a hard combination
to find.  He stood up in a respectable way for issues such as liquor by the drink and tougher laws for drunk drivers.  Some
of his religious counterparts are not so respectable.  If Kansas is to survive the confluence of religion and politics, the
state must learn that the two need to be more like parallel rails that never cross.  Being in the national spotlight for religious
fanaticism is not a good thing.  The sooner our state politicians realize this, the better.  

Economics

The state of Kansas economics should have been my first chapter in this article.  Since many of my works have touched on
local economics over time, such as ghost towns, this is where much of my interest lies. 

Economic conditions in Kansas, with a few exceptions, have taken a nosedive since the early 1980's.  That is
because the largest industries in the state have failed in the areas of progress, supply and demand. Let's take a fleeting
glance at some of these areas and see where the problems have occurred.

Agriculture is the first that comes to mind.  There are fewer farms in the state than there were when I was young.  The farms
that are still around are much larger, and some are even owned by even larger corporations and business concerns.  During
times of agricultural booms, when wheat and corn were selling high, times were good for the Kansas farmer.  Unfortunately
those years were few and far between, and when droughts and floods did not play a role in the market, there was often a
glut in the market, which caused prices to drop.  Farmers looking for a good price per bushel on their wheat or corn would
almost have to cross their fingers that their neighbors got hit with a hailstorm, or a flood, or any other destructive force of nature
in order to keep the glut out of the market and the prices high. What a sad thing to wish upon one's neighbor.  The concept
of setting aside land to keep the over-supply from occurring has never been an agricultural concept that farmers have been
ready to embrace.  It is not as popular as producing as much as possible because more means more.  

Agriculture impacts so much of everything else that Kansas has to offer.  It impacts the communities that develop around the
farms.  It impacts the livelihoods of businesses and industries that rely on stable and prosperous markets to survive.  Not that
long ago, farmers were induced to expand and develop larger farms with bigger equipment.  Unfortunately, bad weather, hard
times, and declining crop prices ended the cycle of prosperity.  Farms went bankrupt in greater and greater numbers in the
late 1970's and the 1980's.  While artists like Willie Nelson and John Cougar Mellencamp came to the aid of the farmer and
helped to bring national attention to them, the focus of the nation soon moved on.  The plight of the farmer, however, continued.  

My research and travels across the state began in the early 1970's and continued for the next three decades.  I have witnessed
firsthand the impact of declining farm prices on Kansas communities, especially those with less than a thousand people to
start.  They have no future.  The vicious cycle of decline will continue.  There was a brief glimmer of hope that the internet
would be the great leveler.  That has not happened.  A legion of internet businesses has not sprung up in the Kansas heart-
land.  

Other signs of economic hardship have impacted the oil and gas industry.  After a promising run in the late 1970's, the Kansas
oil and gas industry has slipped and skidded.  Boeing Aircraft, once the mainstay for Wichita, often threats and shows
signs of departing Wichita.  The impact on Wichita would be tremendous.  Mid-size companies have come and gone in Topeka
and Kansas City, Kansas.  At the first signs of trouble, workers are expendable.  Lay-offs come at the drop of a hat.  

The response to the state's economic ills is multi-fold.  Farmers and ranchers must size up the global economy and react 
accordingly.  To a certain extent, this has already been half-heartedly attempted.  No longer should wheat and corn be considered
a loss leader with regard to aid to third world countries.  Our farmers and ranchers deserve a decent price for the sweat of their
labors, and the only way to accomplish that will be a full-fledged introduction into the global economy.   Wichita should prepare
itself for what to do when major industries threaten to leave.  The obvious answer would be to lure a wide variety of industries
so that the loss can be easily offset.  Johnson County and Wyandotte County have accomplished a lot of positive things to
catch up with the Missouri side of the city.  They need to keep doing whatever it is that they seem to be doing correctly, except
more of it.  The center of the lifeblood of Kansas City has shifted to the Johnson County side of town.  However, retaining
businesses and a healthy unemployment rate has not been easy in recent years.  Some partnerships and strategies need to be
established.   Southeast Kansas, I have not left you out on purpose.  The economy of Southeast Kansas is best spelled as dis-
astor of extreme proportions.  Talk about your partnerships.  Multi-community partnerships with a focal point on Pittsburg need
to be strategized to right-side a bad situation.  When one of the few success stories is Coffeyville, and that town ebbs and flows
with economic good news/bad news, it is time to think big and lure the manufacturing industries back.  Western Kansas has
been successful at drawing the slaughterhouses and the meat packing plants from Kansas City and Chicago.  So successful, in
fact, that economies in Dodge City, Garden City, and elsewhere have boomed.  Garden City is perhaps the Kansas success
story of the decade.  But success has come with a price, and prosperity is not immediately apparent. 

Small town businesses still stand a chance to compete in the national and global marketplace.  One of my favorite success
stories is Stafford Mills/ Hudson Cream flour.  What a fantastic Kansas business, based on what Kansas has done best -- growing
wheat and converting it to flour.  This is by far some of the best produced flour in the nation.  It is the stuff that folks like Emeril
love to brag about.  There are more success stories out there to be conquered, in every small Kansas town.  It takes ingenuity,
a marketing degree, and a perceived need.   Last but not least, casino gambling.  Allow it off the reservation.  Most people wel-
come it.  To restrict casino gambling to Indian reservations and boats is both hypocritical and stupid.  Kansas, get your act
together.  Give the residents a tax break.  Don't bore me with the evils of gambling while the Indian reservations get wealthier
and wealthier off the proceeds. 

Education 

Last but not least, there is education.  I have a daughter at the University of Kansas.  I know the costs of going to school.  When I
attended KU, tuition was  $200 a semester.  What happened?  It wasn't that long ago, and it was not the cave man days.  The internet
and off-site televised classes should make college less expensive, so why isn't it?  With what is paid in tuition nowadays, Warren
Buffett should be teaching the econ classes. 

In spite of the wacky things that the Kansas Department of Education has done, children receive a solid education in Kansas.  I
appreciate this, since my children attend Florida schools.  Florida schools rate 49th out of 50.  This gives me a very high appreciation
for the education I received from Kansas public schools.

You know, I did receive a solid, three R's type of education.  The traditional approach to educating our children works best.  It
provides better preparation for the real world.  The one recommendation I would give is for schools and teachers to micro-manage
their time, and provide students the greatest quantity of informational teaching where every minute is utilized.  There is too much
waste and fluff right now.  There are too many weeks where teacher conferences hack into a full five days of teaching.  Too many
assemblies that are all about nothing.  Too much time wasted.  Maximize time with true education and you will see a world of difference
in what children know by the 12th grade.  I am also not an advocate of magnet schools, nor am I an advocate of "leaving no child behind." 
Too often I have witnessed one disruptive child waste valuable teaching time for the other twenty-five kids in class.  It is selfish and
ridiculous.  If I child becomes too much of a bully and refuses to cooperate or change his ways, why should all the other kids in
class suffer?  Kick him out, get him out of there, so maximized teaching time can be provided to the others who want to be there, and
who want to get a solid education.  

I don't believe that the public school system is for everyone.  School vouchers should be made available to help offset the costs of
those who wish to be home schooled or go to a private school.  Education is the most important choice that a parent can make for their
children.  It should be a choice that is not controlled by money and finances. 

Last, I will talk about creationism/evolution in the public schools.  What an embarassment that whole debacle was.  It even made Esquire
Magazine's Dubious Achievement Awards.  For those of you not acquainted with Esquire's famous annual awards for the stupid and
sublime, let me just say that to be mentioned in this category is not a compliment.  Once again, religion was attempting to rear its ugly head
in a state institution.  I'm glad it's over now.  Once again, when religion gets in the way of politics, nothing good can come from it.  For Kansas,
nothing good came of this, for sure.  Here is what I have to say about this:  education plays to a tough crowd.  Next time, Kansas Department
of Education officials, just say "no," lead the cranks out the door, and slam it behind them. 

There you have it.  There is nothing really earth-shattering here.  This essay will not give me the accolades that "What's the Matter With
Kansas" gave William Allen White.  While some may say my thoughts are refreshing, they are certainly not fresh.  Others will hate me for it,
but that line is a long one already. 

In closing, I love Kansas.  This was the place where I grew up.  It is sad to see her small towns, businesses, and concepts get shaken and
stirred by the rest of the nation.  But it is past time to enter the 21st century, and if Kansas must do this kicking and screaming, then so be it.
The state used to be full of kickers and screamers, socialists and pacifists, do-gooders and no-gooders.  It is time for a new era of think-straights
and progressive reformers that will make the rest of the nation say, "Why can't we be like Kansas," instead of, "I'm glad we are not narrow-minded
and selfish the way Kansas seems to be."  It is the state's choice at this crucial juncture.  It is time that the right decisions are made that will
affect the state in a positive manner.