McPherson County Democrats

The final election data is finally in and has been broken down to the congressional district level. Swing State Project has undertaken the yeoman’s work of compiling the data and one bit of information stuck out. Kansas 3 – (Kansas city area) voted for Obama. You might have to find a chair to get over the shock. If I am correct this is the first time a Kansas congressional district has voted Democratic since 1964 (LBJ landslide). It wasn’t even very close. Obama landed 51% (187,372) to McCain’s 48% (177,814) with other garnering 3% (5,186). This is fantastic news and further proves that we can overcome the obstacles we face in McPherson County and the First District. All is takes is a lot of hard work and perseverance. If you follow the link you’ll see that KS-2 is changing as well. This is definitely change I can believe in. Let’s keep up the good work and make Kansas a competitive state.

Forgive the tardiness in writing a new blog post. I’ve been pretty busy and really haven’t been in the right mood to come up with something worth reading. This evening, however, while watching Hardball and listening to Kit Bond (R) Mo, and Sheldon Whitehouse (D) RI debate the stimulus bill before the Senate, I found the mood. Bond was chastising the “Democrat” plan because of the deficits. It was a moment of the pot calling the kettle black. For the past 8 years, we’ve had nothing but run away spending and massive deficits and economic Armageddon and they are railing about deficits. I don’t like deficits either, but Keynes proved in the 1930’s that when in an economic collapse, the only entity with the wherewithal to rescue the economy is the government.

Combine the reckless spending and run-away tax cuts of the Reagan and Bush years with the woeful investment in our nations infrastructure and we’re in the situation we’re in right now. No end in sight. I’m not convinced, either that all the “compromising” Obama is doing with the Republicans is a good idea either. Republicans, politically, have a vested interest to see the plan fail. If it works, they’ll get no credit as it will go to Obama, so why would they support it. They are political animals after all. Therefore, watering it down in the guise of getting Republican votes is folly. The plan that needs to pass is the plan that the Obama administration and leading economists think will work. More tax cuts will not revive the economy. Once the economy is recovering, tax cuts will help keep the growth going, but tax cuts will not spur spending and investment. The argument between the Democrats and the Republicans can be summed up this way: “Which came first, the customer or the business?” If you believe that all it takes to get people to spend money is to have a business to spend it in, then you’re a classical economist. If you think the customer must first have the money to spend in a business, then your a Keynesian.

Since the Democrats and Obama won the election, most of the country is on the side of the Keynesian’s. They agree that people need money to spend. To have money to spend, people need jobs and what better investment, than to rebuild this country for a 21st. century economy. From our antiquated electrical grid to our crumbling roads and bridges, this country needs a shot in the arm. Rather than throw more money away on more tax cuts, we need to invest the money we’re borrowing from future generations, in them and their country. Thankfully FDR understood this. His legacy is the infrastructure in place today.

There, I’ve blown off some steam, but for this plan to work, we need to put pressure on Obama and the Democrats in Congress to pass a plan that will work, not one that might get a Republican vote or two. Weigh in with a comment if you want to.

Yesterday a group of McPherson County Democrats journeyed to Hutchinson for the First District Democrats re-organization meeting. We had a contingent of 5 people at the meeting, with Susan Buffington and I acting as the automatic voting delegates to the meeting. The keynote speaker for the event was State Treasurer, Dennis McKinney. McKinney stressed the importance for the First District organization to be more active in fundraising. He told us that there are many state legislative races coming up that could benefit from a strong support from the district committee; financial support that was not there in 2008. To bookend Mr. McKinney’s comments, the Chairman Moser stated that the 1st had lost one state legislator, Mark Treaster from Hutchinson, and lost all other challenger races.

One of my first goals as incoming chairman for McPherson county was to buttress the treasury. We cannot begin to change the electoral map, if we don’t raise enough money to field competitive challengers. As a local Democratic party, we have, for too long, simply used our gatherings as social events and not gotten down to the hard work necessary to build a competitive organization. I enjoy social gatherings and we need those also, but as chairman, I’m going to be asking over the next months for monetary support for the party, and for the hard work of dedicated volunteers. If we want to make certain that the Change we voted for in November succeeds and lasts we have to work very hard.

In that vein I am also asking for any and all volunteers that want to help build this party. We need you and your ideas. The entire delegation, present at yesterday’s meeting was elected as either alternate delegates or delegates to the State committee meeting in February at Topeka. I’ll be going, bringing with me the desire to help the State party foster goals and policies that will help Democrats get elected all across this state. It won’t be easy, but with your help we can do it. Just remember – Yes We Did!