‘In God We Trust Rally’ Held at Kansas State Capitol - Part 1
Article - 9 minute read
‘In God We Trust’ became the national motto of the U.S. on July 30, 1956. This motto, along with the red, white, and blue, was emphasized at the ‘In God We Trust – Red, White, and Blue Rally’ held on the south steps of the Kansas State Capitol building in Topeka on Saturday, October 1, where over 50 people gathered to listen to 22 speakers. This free event was put on by The People’s Movement Kansas with special thanks to Barb Altman, JuLee Adams, and Eddie Eheart.
The event began at 8:55 a.m. where Adams was joined on the steps with Jon Packard and Keith Schrock for a ceremonial shofar. Pastor at Capitol Commission Kansas Dave Depue then led the crowd in prayer. Felita Kahrs led the Pledge of Allegiance after and had the crowd join in singing ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’ and ‘Amazing Grace.’ Singer/Songwriter Kayla Rae Atkins aided in the singing with her guitar, before taking over to sing a few worship songs.
After the prayers and music, Shawnee County Commissioner for District 1 Bill Riphahn spoke on the importance of having a Republican in his position.
“As it relates to elections, County Commissioners certify elections,” Riphahn said. “A week or two after each election we canvass votes. There’s always a number of votes that are uncertain whether they should be counted or not. State statute tells you in most of the cases whether those votes should be counted or not. But County Commissioners make that decision whether those votes are counted. That’s why it’s important to have a Republican in this position. To make sure we have fair and honest elections.”
Riphahn also highlighted the fact that special interest groups have come to him for “expansion of voter opportunities,” something that may sound nice, but would ultimately benefit areas that are more likely to vote Democrat with little interest in helping areas that may hold more conservative views. The issue of taxes, appointing committees, and protecting citizens in their county from losing their freedom during incidents such as the COVID-19 pandemic were also brought up.
Atkins sang more worship songs, before Altman was given the microphone to talk about two amendments on the November 8 ballot.
The first amendment would give control to the Legislative branch, which could help prevent any future lockdowns. The second amendment would be one to keep the right to elect our sheriff, rather than having to rely on a committee to appoint one. This would mean the people would keep their ability to vote out their sheriff and recall them. Altman emphasized the importance to vote ‘yes’ on both bills. She finished her speech by encouraging people to look at Ballotpedia.org to see what all will be on your ballot when you vote. She also encouraged people to see how our senators and congressmen have voted on bills by looking at kslegislature.org.
Candidate for House District 53 Bruce Williamson (R) started his speech by acknowledging the people seen walking around the Capitol to end Alzheimer’s. He went on to speak about how House seats are won by grassroots where “little people” come together to support candidates.
“What does that mean when a conservative Republican is elected to that seat,” Williamson said. “That means that they will be voting for commonsense values that are Kansas red-state principle. We need that.”
Williamson went on to talk about how if we don’t have conservative Republicans, Kansas could see incidences like what happened in Vermont last week where a biological male wanted to play volleyball on the woman’s volleyball team at a high school and not only got the okay to do so, but was able to change in the girls locker room while the girls that complained were charged with ‘harassment’ by the school board.
Speaking on the Young Republicans group and why he is involved, Treasurer for the Capitol City Young Republicans William Hendrix began explaining how he found himself at an organized Young Republicans event last month where they “get the leadership of all the Young Republican groups in the state in one room to rub shoulders with the establishment.” He said he found himself asking how he got there and answered it by saying it was due to “leadership or lack thereof.” He also said he found out at this event that the “official definition” of “young Republican” was anyone between the ages of 18 and 49. However, Hendrix said he always considered young Republicans to be those between the age of 17 and 25.
“It is in that age demographic that I have found there to be a good number of honest conservatives,” Hendrix said. “People who are in lockstep with what we would consider to be conservative principles…. These are good people… but these are not the types of people to be up here doing what I’m doing today. And that’s not for a lack of belief in the principles that we hold, but for a fear of the omnipotent, ever-present threat of backlash or cancel culture…. That’s why young conservatives don’t speak up.”
Hendrix called out the teachers and school administrators at Topeka High School for having involvement in “student led walkouts” to march around the Capitol to protest things like the inauguration of President Trump, protesting the deportation of illegal immigrants, protesting the second amendment, and protesting in support of things like gay marriage and abortion. He also pointed out reasons young Republicans don’t usually speak out and said those that do often resort to “establishment talking points” and are “timid in their delivery,” or worse, involved in the Republican party with ulterior motives of gaining influence. The latter of which he pointed to an event last week where “the Chair of the Kansas Federation of College Republicans used her position to extort the vicechair of the Kansas State College Republicans out of his position for speaking out against pro-abortion Republicans.”
Shawnee County GOP Chair Cheryl Reynolds spoke on behalf of Senator Caryn Tyson who wanted attendees to know of her support for the In God We Trust Organization. She also wanted to let everyone know that she is working to remove the state income tax from social security and continuing to look for opportunities to reform elections in Kansas to make sure they have absolute integrity, are transparent, and that we can trust the results of our elections. The last thing Tyson wanted people to know about was an organization called Save the Babies. This is an organization that she and Reynolds founded together along with a few other people.
“That organization was formed to be the voice of the grassroots, everyday people just like you and me, in the fight for pro-life,” Reynolds said. “That organization is not going away. We’re not giving up just because the constitutional amendment failed. There’s still work to be done and we hope you will continue to support that, and we hope that we’ll be able to give you some tasks and marching orders in the future to help continue that effort.”
Reynolds also informed everyone that when it comes to voting on the Kansas Supreme Court, that Caleb Segall, who was appointed by former Kansas Governor Sam Brownback (R), is the only Supreme Court Justice to vote ‘yes’ on. Furthermore, she asked people to vote in people with R’s in front of their names, making mention of the third party candidate, who she said claimed to not be in the race to win, but rather to ensure the defeat of the Republican candidate.
Phillis Setchell spoke on the topic, “Truth matters more than you think.” Setchell, who is a supervising judge in a polling place, spoke on the August 2 Value Them Both vote and the Democrats effort to defeat the amendment where she saw more people than ever going in to only vote on the amendment. Setchell warned that Democrats would also have people go out to vote again in November, noting almost 400 groups with “innocent sounding names” in Kansas working to educate people on the amendment and sending them out to vote. She also noted how about 60 percent of those who would normally vote didn’t show up to the polls.
She then talked about how Hitler was able to get away with killing millions of people by simply lying and what lies can do to people and society as a whole.
“What is going on in America is driven by Marxist Atheists planning for a century to take over the world,” Setchell said. “They wanted to take over the west, but they couldn’t because we have a Judeo-Christian value system. We have faith in God and strong families, and they recognized that they had to stop that because they couldn’t take over America because we have strong families and strong faith in God.”
She then referenced a page that goes over the plan of Cultural Marxism in America with 45 goals of the communist party that were uncovered in the 1950s, pointing out that “multiculturalism” and “political correctness” are other terms for Cultural Marxism. She promoted culture shield as a source where people can learn more about Cultural Marxism and promoted founder of WallBuilders David Barton who speaks on the Constitution being a Godly document. She finished off by speaking on how thousands of people have left homosexuality, promoting Changed Movement and the lie of the CO2 problem creating global warming.
Speaking on behalf of Donna Lippoldt for Culture Shield was Dawn Paulson.
“It’s a group that connects, informs, mobilizes the body of Christ, and is to be the moral conscience of our culture,” Paulson said.
She also noted Lippoldt’s work including coming to the Capitol each week with the Congressional Prayer Caucus, being the leader of the State to pray for the Legislatures, testifying on moral issues, educating others, leading a prayer call every Tuesday morning to pray for Kansas, the U.S., and the Kansas Governor, and launching a campaign since May 21, 2021, to distribute 2,000 posters that say, “In God we trust.” Members of Culture Shield have helped get the posters in government buildings, schools, county courthouses, and other buildings across the state. She highlighted the fact that no court has held that posting “In God we trust” violates the Constitution despite efforts from anti-faith groups.
Michael Paulson, who stood with Dawn Paulson, finished their portion of the day speaking on President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his faith that made “In God we trust” our national motto.
Former Republican Candidate for Kansas Secretary of State Mike Brown who started his speech asking for a round of applause for former President Donald Trump for appointing people that could push forward conservative values even after he was in office such as the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the EPA’s limitation of power. He further pumped up the crowd with claims that Republicans are going to take over in this upcoming election, and the importance of helping out Charlotte O’Hara (R) win Johnson County Chair from Mike Kelly (D) who has a chance at winning. He also mentioned that he is going to write a book called, ‘The Best Things That Never Happened to Me,’ partially referring to him losing the primary for Kansas Secretary of State. He also mentioned that he has faith in God’s reason for not getting what he wanted as he would always learn the reason as to why he wouldn’t get what he wanted in the future. He finished by speaking on how great Kansas and America truly is.
