To the editor:

I’ve just returned from Kansas circa 2055. (Time travel exists, but that’s another story).

The latest slogan is “Kansas — room enough for everyone.” It addresses that by 2055, most people have fled Kansas. The state hopes “room” attracts newcomers to its devastated tax base.

The “intelligent design” school curriculum long ago scared off industry and science. The technocrats comprising these industries want their children in schools where science is based on science.

Most technological firms are at odds with the Kansas Department of PC (Philosophical Correctness) and couldn’t get licensed anyway.

Bans on gays — no marriage, adoption or assembly — the Legislature’s proclamation of Kansas as a “Christian” state and the downgrading of Kansas’ waterways from “toxic” to “dead” have also been cited for the exodus.

Legislators, unwilling to fund Kansas University, sold rights to wealthy Oral Roberts University. In 2055, “Oral Roberts Campus at KU” churns out more degrees in “noncomparative Christian studies” than any other U.S. institution, a fact proudly touted by the state. Sadly, there’s no demand for these grads.

I’d hoped to report the many brilliant technological breakthroughs the next 50 years bring. Unfortunately, except for automated corporate farming and ranching by multinational corporations that pay little in taxes but fund the state’s elected representatives well, that progress is the story of other states, not Kansas.

Knowing this bleak scenario is coming, I suggest a new slogan for the state, replacing “Kansas — As big as you think.” How about “Kansas — Enjoy it while you can”?

Gary Henry,

Lawrence