As we approach Labor Day, the unofficial start of the general election season, it’s worth looking back at a strategic decision Kansas Republicans made decades ago. In the early 1970s, as part of efforts to modernize the executive branch, Republicans advanced a constitutional amendment ...

Should Kansans demand the petition initiative? Recent election results point to a resounding “yes.” Currently, the only way to change the Kansas constitution is for the Kansas Legislature to initiate. This year, they asked voters to abandon merit selection and choose Kansas Supreme ...

This August marks the twentieth anniversary of my family’s arrival in Kansas, after I was hired to teach at Friends University in Wichita. After two decades here, what have I learned? That’s a complicated question and answering it fully would take a book (which I’m working on). But one ...

The resounding defeat of the proposed Kansas constitutional amendment on Supreme Court selection demonstrates a fundamental democratic principle: political leaders may set the agenda, but voters retain the ultimate authority to accept or reject it. The amendment, championed by Senate president ...

It wasn’t long ago that policymakers worried the internet would split the country into digital “haves” and “have-nots,” leaving millions stranded without access to modern education, healthcare and economic opportunity. So federal dollars poured into the states to help build ...

Americans’ trust in the judiciary and the justice system is eroding at every level. From the U.S. Supreme Court to state courts across the country, polls show sharply declining public confidence in courts as trustworthy institutions. The response from many special interest groups and ...