My Senator Doesn’t Speak for Me
Sep/090
From Think Progress‘ YouTube account comes this video of Sen. Pat Roberts (R, Kansas) defending insurance giant Humana.
Humana and I don’t get along anyway. What got me was this comment:
Really this guy just reflects the people of Kansas. They don’t like evolution, and they don’t like progress. Why they deserve as many senators as New York or California is beyond me. How about a constitutional amendment where the top twenty five states in population get two? senators and the rest get one. — cat00012000
Well, aside from his idea for an amendment subverting the intent of a bicameral legislature, I take offense to this comment. First of all, please don’t put all Kansans into the same category. Plenty of us do like evolution and progress. (And please note that is once again part of the curriculum enacted by the State Board of Education after their 2007 6-4 rejection of the controversial 2005 amendments.) Secondly, the author isn’t from one of those liberal bastions on the coast. Oh no, he’s from rural Missouri. Now this is not a jab at Missouri. I lived there once, have family that still do, and have some good friends that live there as well. I’m just saying that there’s a certain Missouri-Kansas feud that dates back to when pro-slavery types from Missouri tried to subvert the abolitionist (anti-slavery) movement in the Kansas Territory (this whole event, called Bleeding Kansas, is really quite interesting). Long story short, on May 21, 1856 some Border Ruffians burned buildings and looted homes in Lawrence.
My point is, Sen. Roberts is not representative of all Kansans. Just as the above-mentioned YouTube user isn’t representative of every Missourian. Sen. Roberts was last re-elected in the 2008 General Election by 60% of the votes, and as of the end of August his approval rating is 58%. It’s a majority, but it’s not an overwhelming one.
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