Tired of being told the law doesn’t allow them to enact their radical overhauls of the social contract, Kansas Republicans are out to eject their state Supreme Court justices. Lawmakers in the state are pushing to replace the American tradition of checks and balances among the three separate branches of government. A bill narrowly passed the state Senate in late March that would give legislators far broader power to impeach judges from the high bench. Today, judges may be impeached for “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Senate Bill 439 would tack on dozens more words, many of them so vague and subjective that the law would effectively give lawmakers veto power over the court. If lawmakers decide the court is “attempting to subvert fundamental laws and introduce arbitrary power,” “exhibiting discourteous conduct toward litigants,” or “attempting to usurp the power of the legislative or executive branch of government,” they could move to boot justices from office. The bill barely passed the state Senate, 21-19, in late March. A House committee has yet to take it up[.]
When Kansans voted Tea Party darling Sam Brownback into the Governor’s office, it was largely due to the myriad promises he’d made to turn the Sunflower State into a Conservative paradise. Government would work. It would learn to do more with less. It would cut taxes on “job creators” in a way that would actually INCREASE tax revenues. It would use this new-found efficiency and financial windfall to help create jobs for good, God-fearing Kansans.
Yeah, about all that. If you’re looking for abject, undeniable proof that Conservative “principles” simply don’t work when it comes to effective governance, all one need do is look at the basket case that is Kansas.
Brownback, who’s unwittingly made a convincing case for consideration as “America’s Worst Governor,” has taken Kansas from merely struggling economically to being a state on the verge of collapse. It wasn’t easy to do, but thanks to the inattention and low standards of Kansas voters Brownback’s had two terms to dismantle Kansas…and his work’s almost done- which is good, because governance in Kansas can’t last much long under such inept, and incompetent leadership.
If God’s a Republican, can we blame Him for what Sam Brownback has done to Kansas?? Believe it or not, Brownback was the lesser of the two evils running for Governor in 2010.
It started when Brownback decided that there were laws on the books that would prevent him from creating the godly Conservative paradise he’d promise Kansans. Accordingly, he decided that the best judge of whether or not certain laws could be considered constitutional was…wait for it…himself. What he determined was that in Kansas, constitutionality really only mattered if laws served the interest of the Kansas Taliban which had ridden Brownback’s coattails into power.
Brownback created a new position, the Office of the Repealer, to review laws with an eye towards eliminating statutes which in his estimation supported the Liberal big government, anti-Christian agenda. The short version is that Brownback wanted to have the final word on how, when, even IF laws would be enforced.
Now those same Conservatives who rode Brownback’s coattails into the statehouse are tired of constitutional checks and balances. They’re tired of being stymied by the Kansas Supreme Court, who seem to believe it’s their job to reign in legislative extra-constitutional excess. Conservatives are so frustrated, in fact, that they’re considering a bill that would make it far easier to impeach sitting Supreme Court justices.
In Soviet Russia Kansas, government decides which laws it will obey….
Because the Supreme Court has attempted to exercise its constitutional authority to act as a check and balance against the legislature’s attempts to dismantle the social contract, lawmakers are fighting back. As any good, God-fearing, Constitution-revering, White Christian American patriot will tell you, a Constitution doesn’t work when it keeps Conservatives from doing God’s work.
As Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader ©, former President George W. Bush, once famously said, the Constitution is “just a goddamn piece of paper.”
Congratulations, Kansas; you have exactly the quality of leadership you deserve. Who know your standards were so astonishingly low?
