It is said that in a democracy, one gets the government one deserves. This week, the Kansas Legislature's House Leadership contacted some elected Representatives, informing them of changes in committee assignments. This is an unusual move in the middle of the Legislature's traditional two-year cycle. And given that the changes removed qualified individuals who have stood up to Leadership in the past, the moves smell bad.

This week, you may have heard encouraging news out of Colorado. Three extremists on a local school board were ousted by the voters in a recall election that attracted as much as $1 million in funding. For a local school board, not a statewide board. Have no doubt, this was a major victory for teachers and education activists, and a defeat for the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity.

You've heard us beat this drum before: this next election is the most important election. EVER. This time it might be more true than usual. In 2014, when Kansas re-elected Sam Brownback, we despaired that this meant many more years of policies that have drive the state into the ground. But now, just two years later, we have been presented with a golden opportunity. In the Primaries in August and the General election in November, every seat in the Kansas Legislature will be put to a vote. Common sense Kansans have the opportunity to set right the mistakes of the past, to put our state back on solid footing.

Earlier this week, Kansas State Representative Scott Schwab (R-Olathe), sent an email to public school teachers and others in his district. You can read it below, but it is in reaction to drastic cuts the Olathe School District has made as a result of school finance cuts.

On Sunday, October 25, the MainStream Coalition and Education Foundation will be holding its annual fundraising dinner. The 2016 primary and general elections will be crucial for the future of Kansas, with every seat in the Kansas Legislature on the ballot. We will be working to educate the public about issues in the balance, and advocating for the moderate positions most Kansans support.

Mercy Hospital in Independence, KS will be closed by this weekend. It had seventy-five beds, and saw up to 250 emergency cases each year. There are two other hospitals within a half hour drive of Independence. The hospital had been there since 1910.

We are saddened by the senseless deaths in Oregon yesterday. As we have been by previous mass shootings. As we are every day by the gun deaths, in singles and pairs, of people across this country.

The national political news has been full this week of presidential candidate Ben Carson’s declaration that he could not support a Muslim (by requirement, a Muslim-American) as President. His declaration, made on an NBC television show, was quickly condemned by most of the country, then not so quickly condemned by his fellow Republican presidential candidates, and finally retracted (but not very far) by Carson himself.

There has been a lot of rhetoric thrown around about putting education funds "into the classroom." The Governor and his office like to use that phrase, as does the leadership in the Kansas Legislature. It's a populist cry, one that everyone can agree on. Certainly, let's put more money into the classrooms, why not?  Who would disagree?

It has been nearly fifteen years since the tragic events of September 11, 2001. We remember those who died, their loved ones who will always remember, and the countless lives affected worldwide by the events of that day. We often feel helpless in the face of tragedies like that, unsure of how to help guide our communities out of times like those. We look then to our leaders, elected, spiritual, in our homes and across the country.