Why voting at the state level matters
(opinion)
Living in Lawrence, I find my beliefs often being disagreed with by many of my local community members. The biggest belief of mine that causes tensions with others is that capitalism is a good thing. However, the past two years have shown that capitalism might be meeting its end, bringing in a new regime that many people, at least in my local community, will probably be okay with… at least, when it first starts. The past two years should have been a wakeup call to Americans across the country, and hopefully to Kansans specifically. The federal government has been growing significantly and has seemingly been accepted almost nationwide.
The government has stepped in and told private businesses that they must be vaccinated and/or masked and many people have been ostracized for being against such mandates. As I said, I am a capitalist, and as such, I do believe that private businesses have every right to have mask and vaccine mandates if they want it and they should reap the benefit or suffer the consequence of their choice to do so.
However, what is not capitalism is the government coming in and deciding which businesses are essential and which aren’t. That power is meant to be held by consumers. It is imperative to understand that the most basic definition of socialism is seizing the means of production. While I believe America’s current situation is far too complex to simply say we are currently living under a socialist regime, what I will say is we are heading in that direction. The past two years has been a direct assault on capitalism that has further strengthened the rampant cronyism our country is already dealing with, and it hasn’t been good for anyone. Birthrates are down, mental health issues and suicides are up, our health has gone from bad to worse all under the strict guidelines of an overreaching government.
Though, there is one state that has seemed to be rather different from the other 49—Florida. And here is the thing, Florida is not unique because it was the only state that wouldn’t shut down in spite of the federal government demanding it to; Florida is unique because it was the only state that had politicians that were willing to stand for the people of their state and say, “No,” when it came to the federal government’s abuse of power, and more Americans preferred Florida’s stance than not, and they showed this by doing one single thing—moving. Florida has a population growth rate of 1.09% going from 21.7 million people in 2020 to 22.2 million in 2022. States like New York, where mandates are stricter, have seen a population growth rate of -0.40% going from 19.4 million people in 2020 to 19.2 million in 2022.
However, the takeaway should not be, if you don’t like what’s happening where you’re at, just move. The takeaway should be to pay attention to who is leading your state and what they are doing. Gov. Laura Kelly (D) willingly went along with shutting down businesses for as long as the federal government told her to. Not only this, she attempted to extend mask mandates only to have the mandate stopped on April 1, 2021 after Republican lawmakers stepped in. Attorney General Derek Schmidt (R) will be running for Kansas Governor this year, already taking shots at how Kelly has chosen to handle the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shortly after announcing he would be running in 2021, Schmidt was quoted in an interview, saying, “The big picture is we want Kansas to be a place of opportunity, where everybody can see their dreams—whatever that may be. That requires, first and foremost, for government to operate effectively and efficiently and to not be in the way.”
All of this is to say, who we vote for on the state level matters, because our decisions can either lead us to be like Florida or be like New York. Do we want to make our own decisions and not be hindered by the government? or do we want mandates imposed on us with the increasingly lackluster promise of “safety?” The choice is up to us.