Republicans, Tea-Party-ers and Kansas

A quick post - any G and P student contemplating the Tea Party and the Republicans as they head towards probable success in the mid-terms, and then onto the 2016 Presidential-race, should take a look at this piece in Rolling Stone Magazine.

It's a fascinating look at the race for Governor in Kansas, where the incumbent Republican, a Tea-Party-supporting Sam Brownback is presiding over what he has described as an economic "experiment". The short version is that he has enacted most of what the Tea-Party has demanded; no compromise, low-taxes and low-spending.

The result? To quote the Washington Post:

 the state is now reporting a more than $300 million revenue shortfall. The poverty rate increased. The state’s economy expanded a total of 2.3 percent in inflation-adjusted terms over the past two years, half the rate of its four neighbors. And Kansas’s credit rating has been downgraded.

Interestingly, prominent Republicans in the state seem not to like this, and are jumping ship.

All of which is fascinating for politics students contemplating the Republican Party and politics in the USA as a whole. And probably much less fun for the people of Kansas, sadly.

Gay Marriage and Blue Dog Democrat(s)

The US Supreme court has refused to hear appeals from states wanting to ban gay marriage, The Economist sees this as very significant, and Politics students could use this as an indication of where the court stands currently.

A same-sex wedding ceremony.
Picture credit: Marc Love / Wikipedia

essentially meaning that although they won't now be making any sort of decision on it, the lower (Federal) court decisions that saw any ban as unconstitutional will stand.


The Roberts court could have been activist and made a ruling, but it didn't. As the Economist notes there are theories why this is the case - in a politically divided country this would perhaps have made the situation worse. The Guardian sees this as an expansion of gay rights. Helpfully, the Wikipedia page goes into all of this, noting that it is currently legal in 25 states and that many thousands of couples have taken advantage of the new law.

A "conservative" court may find that banning gay marriage at this point would be very tricky.

Elsewhere, the Economist (again) has an interactive map about the mid-term race in the Senate; the short version is that the Republicans may take a 50-48 lead over Democrats with 2 seats being held by Democrat-friendly Independents.


Lastly, the Blue Dog Democrat is almost an extinct species; one of the last conservative Democrat holding a seat in the deep South is fighting a difficult battle in the 2014 House races.

Useful for Unit 3C - Democratic Congressman John Barrow from Georgia is a great example of someone who has kept in the centre while the rest of politics in the US becomes divided.