Last week, hundreds of people gathered for our second annual “Restore Sanity to Kansas” lunch. We planned for two hundred, but they kept coming, and we ended up hosting almost three hundred concerned citizens looking to change the direction of politics in our state.
It was a phenomenal event, with speakers from across the political spectrum, formerly elected Democrats and Republicans, and prominent Independents.
They heard about MainStream, how we started, what we have accomplished in our twenty-three years, and our plans for this coming election season. You can watch a little of what they saw with our three minute movie introducing MainStream.
It is one of our standard applause lines, but it works because it is true: MainStream is one of the few places where Republicans and Democrats and the unaffiliated can still come find solutions together. It certainly isn’t happening nationally. Heck, even within a party, they can’t find consensus.
But in Kansas, we’ve seen what comes with one party politics beholden to policies handed down from high. The leadership starts ignoring their constituents, listening to the echo chamber within their own offices instead.
And those constituents notice.
This is just the latest MainStream event that was overwhelmingly attended. Our forums have drawn hundreds more. Thousands have watched our events online. Six hundred came to our annual dinner last year. The people are paying attention.
Last Wednesday, we introduced more than a hundred new people to MainStream. They became the latest to join a movement that is gathering, pointed at the primary elections on August 2nd, followed by the general election in November. We will marshall these citizens, these volunteers, these donors, to bring real change this year. MainStream will be fielding our first get out the vote effort, with canvassers knocking on doors across the Kansas City Metro. We will be hosting house parties to introduce candidates to voters. We will produce vote count data so you can evaluate your incumbents. Our PAC will be working directly for candidates, and providing endorsements for voters to consider. We will host a huge rally to fight extremism, urging citizens to take steps to make a difference.
But all of these efforts will need your help.
280 people gave one hour last week, listening to our plans for turning things around in Kansas. Our plans to bring sanity back to Kansas politics. Most of them signed up to do more than vote. They signed up to donate, to canvass, to phone bank, to host coffees in their homes.
How much time can you give?
How much do you care about changing the direction of our state?
It is time to step up. Do more than vote.
