The MainStream Coalition has had a tremendous year and we owe it to you, our members and supporters. Your generosity, energy, and involvement has helped us to secure significant wins for Kansas, and to lay the groundwork for next year. MainStream's influence, our ability to make a difference for all Kansans, has never been about our Board or our small staff. It's about you, and the difference we can make when we pull together.

There is no question American society is becoming more polarized. There are many competing theories as to why, from increasing income disparity, to indisputable racism, to unavoidable social media and ratings-dependent news. Political parties, or those who identify with one or the other, increasingly disparage members of the other, sight unseen. It is easy to wrap yourself up in your particular flag, with your friends behind you.

A lot of ink, both real and virtual, has been spilled on the tax bill making its way through the US Congress this week. MainStream has come out strongly against the bill, as it hurts Kansans and mirrors the destructive tax policies of the Brownback Administration. To put it simply, this bill leaves less money in the pockets of working families in Kansas. We have had some pushback from the public about this, namely, why oppose this tax hike, when we supported last year's Kansas tax reform that also raised taxes on working families?

Education advocates are carefully watching how the legislature responds to the latest Gannon decision. In October, the Kansas Supreme Court once again ruled that our state funding for public education is unconstitutionally inadequate and inequitable. The plaintiffs and the state agreed that the overall structure of the formula was sound, but the court found that the funding was too low and has given the legislature until April 30 to present the court with a constitutional plan.

This week we celebrate all the things we take for granted, giving thanks that we have democracy, education opportunities for our children, our health, and financial peace of mind. We thank all those who work tirelessly to make our democracy more transparent, to make the education our children receive more equitable and excellent, to make access to health care a reality for everyone, and to make sure we do not bankrupt the future with poor financial policy today.

Thank you all who voted last Tuesday on 2017's annual Election Day. Turnout was good for a local election, though not as good as it could be, given the importance of local elected officials. The results were also good for Kansas, as by and large, the candidates elected will stand for the values we support: good governance, quality public education, healthy communities and sustainable fiscal policies.

Tomorrow is election day. Next week, we hold our annual forum on what to expect next year in Kansas politics. Next year is (yet another) critical election year, with Kansas Governor, Kansas Secretary of State, all 125 Kansas State House seats, and several US Congressional seats in play. If you haven't started thinking about next November, now is the time. It starts here.

At our Stand Up, Speak Out event last week, among the 850 attendees, we were excited to welcome seventy-four elected officials. These are public servants, from city councils, school boards, municipal boards, state boards and the Legislature, who came together to celebrate what we can accomplish with bipartisan collaboration, communication, and compromise.

Last night we celebrated our 17th Annual Stand Up, Speak Out Awards Dinner. It was amazing. Well over 800 dedicated, engaged, active individuals came together to celebrate our victories last year, finally rejecting Governor Brownback's tax folly. That was an effort of many: advocates who made the space for a movement, activists who worked to fill that space with voters, voters who chose to move Kansas in a different direction, and legislators who enacted that change. We thanked them last night.

President Trump has announced that he will rescind the ACA mandate that companies provide birth control in the health care package for their employees, regardless of the employer's desire to do so. He has done so under the banner of "religious freedom." And so we find ourselves, once again, in a battle we will never back away from.