kansas young democrats

It's been a fair amount of time since I have written a truly meaningful blog post that is more than just me covering a story or talking about an issue. Well today I plan to make up for that with this post, this post wont be about any story, just my thoughts on what I think can move Kansas forward.

I am like many other Democrats in this state and haven't been the most thrilled with the recent happenings, out of professional courtesy I wont discuss which happenings these are, but I'm sure you can guess. One thing that is particularly dear to my heart is The Kansas Young Democrats. I took over as KYD President about 4 months ago now. I am very happy to say that we have honestly done a lot statewide. We have increased our number of chapters, took part in the planning of Healthcare Reform rallies held in Kansas City and Wichita, brought the first Young Democrats of America meeting to ever be held in Kansas (planned for Feb of 2011), done multiple community service projects and shown that young people have, want and deserve a voice in our state.

Here's the catch. I often get the question "What young dems would you say are best for working on campaigns?" or "Can your young dems organize an event?" which I don't mind being asked at all, but there seems to be an underlying assumption that KYD is simply a pool of labor for campaigns. I say false. The Kansas Young Democrats are a very motivated force of young people who want to invest in their state and help shape it for the future. We are more than the mules of the party, we are the future of the party.

I have a little over a year left of being President and here is what I would like to see be done. KYD could become a more powerful and better organized grassroots and netroots movement. Allowing for young people statewide to band together to support the candidates we want to help lead our state, working for the issues that matter to us, and having a strong voice in our communities. Build an organization not for the sake of having one but for the purpose of creating a better future. We can always work on campaigns, we can always organize events, but let's make this about us. Our candidates, our issues, or generation.

We are already naturally moving in that direction. Youth candidates are standing up and running, young people that have felt alienated over the previous eight years took a stand and voted for Obama and the promise of progressive change that he gave us. We voted for real healthcare reform to happen, we voted to end the war, we voted for clean alternative energy sources, we voted to change our country for the better. I may be preaching to the choir here but as young people we do have a voice, and we need to not only start using it but following up with it. We have to start doing more than just showing up on election day and counting on all the other young people to do the ground work for us. We have a great group of activist here in Kansas. Out of that great group a lot of them are young, but all of us activist can't do it alone all of the time.

We have to work for the change we want, we have to work together, we have to work for our generation, we have to work for our beliefs, and most importantly we have to work for Kansas. It has been far to long that we have taken second place in the battle over our beliefs, only we can bring the changes we want and need to Kansas. I guess we could view this post as a call of arms to democrats young and old, progressives, and activist. Let's work together to make it the Kansas we want. KYD can be that organization we build in order to create a better future, we are already working in that direction.

Like I said just my thoughts after some recent frustration both State and National, but I hope they hit home with some of you and if they do, I look forward to working with you soon.

This past weekend there was a healthcare reform rally held in Kansas. The rally was primarily organized by the writers of Forward Kansas. The rally was in response to Brenda Landwehr and Mary Pilcher Cook’s proposed legislation to opt Kansas out of any eventual public insurance option. That's right, certain Kansas lawmakers wants to prevent Kansas from receiving any part of the public option before the bill is even passed by proposing a constitutional amendment, the Health Care Freedom Amendment. Despite the misleading title of this amendment it would deny Kansans the freedom to choose a public health insurance option.

Luckily all of Kansas isn't as crazy as some of our electeds are. The people of Kansas are smarter than to believe the misleading language of the proposed amendment. This rally was the second one we have held against this amendment and was a great success!

“We didn’t expect so many people to come out, especially in the cold, but Kansans need health care now. Over 58,000 children in Kansas are uninsured and about 60 percent of Americans want a public option,” organizer Levi Henry said. “It’s great to see so many of those people represented here today.”

My favorite part of it all, is that most the people in attendance were youth. Young kids, college students, young professionals, middle aged folks and senior citizens stood together to stand up for Kansas.

According to a study released by the House Energy and Commerce Committee in July about the benefits of the Affordable Health Choices Act being debated in the US Congress:

Over 250,000 Kansans who currently are unable to purchase health care would gain access to high quality, affordable care.

Over 65,000 Kansas small businesses would have the possibility of receiving tax credits to provide for coverage of their employees.

Over 44,000 Kansas seniors would avoid a hole in Medicare Part D that currently exists, drastically improving their care.

Over 4,100 Kansan families would escape the clutches of bankruptcy due to affordable health care.

Rep. Nile Dillmore, Ranking Democrat, Insurance Committee, Kansas House of Representatives singled out Rep Brenda Landwher and her Amendment saying “The sponsors of the Health Care Freedom Amendment are ideological and politically motivated individuals who are on the wrong side of history and on the wrong side of their constituents economic and social interests.”

Other speakers included:

Rep. Geraldine Flaherty, Ranking Democrat, Health & Human Services Committee, Kansas House of Representatives

Rep. Delia Garcia, Ranking Democrat, Local Government Committee, Kansas House of Representatives

Dr. Tom Kluzak, Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP)

Deborah Ballard-Reisch, Fellow at the Kansas Health Foundation

Kansas needs the public option, too many Kansans have had to go bankrupt or even die because of a lack of coverage. It's time we put and end to this and told Brenda Landwehr and Mary Pilcher Cook that we want no part in their propose amendment that is bad for Kansas.

Quoted text is from Sarah's earlier post about the rally.

This past weekend the Young Democrats of America held their fall conference in Orlando, FL. I, along with about 250 others nationwide, traveled to the sunny city for a weekend full of wonderful meetings, trainings, planning sessions, and fun with friends we only get to see every 3 months or so.

I started my weekend off by arriving on Thursday and enjoying some downtime. Friday is when the conference officially started. The first thing I went to was the State Presidents Association (SPA) training. The first training was about presenting yourself to an audience and how to be an effective leader. The second part was about diversity and how to encompass all groups in your organization and how to do effective outreach to all. Then I went to the SPA meeting where we elected a new chair and secretary and created the position of vice chair to be elected in New Orleans in Feb. After the SPA meeting the fall conference kick off took place then the rest of the evening was opened for social activities.

Saturday started bright and early with Regional strategy sessions where each region got together and discussed the issues in their states and how to organize in different areas. Then the YDA Women's Caucus brought in a guest speaker, Florida CFO Alex Sink. After lunch we had caucus meetings. I started out at the YDA Rural Caucus meeting where the discussion revolved around clean energy. Then I headed over to the YDA Labor Caucus, where they had Chuck Rocha as a quest speaker. Then I headed over to the YDA Jewish Caucus where the conversation surrounded Israel. I finally ended up at the YDA Women's Caucus where they talked about what they will be doing in the future.

After all of the caucus meetings we had the committee meetings. I am the Communications Committee representative for the Midwest Region so that is where I went. We talked about the use of traditional and new media and this thing called the internet. After the committee meetings we regrouped into our regional meetings once again to do a recap. Then the evening was once again opened up.

Saturday the decision by the board on where to have the next meetings was also made, the outcome is as follows:

Feb 2010 - New Orleans, LA

July 2010 - D.C.

Fall 2010 - ????

Feb 2011 - Topeka, KS (Which is the one I am most excited about!)

Sunday morning started bright and early as well. Where we reconvened for General Session and the National/ Executive Committee voted to approach the appointments made since Chicago.

Overall it was a great weekend full of useful information and fun and I can't till the next one.

About a week ago I was elected to be the new State President of the Kansas Young Democrats.

One of my first goals was to create the Kansas Young Democrats Alumni Association. I wanted to establish this to create a place where new Young Dems and past Young Dems can better connect.

The Alumni Association will be used to connect democrats young and old statewide to build a stronger party and a strong youth motivated organization.

The KYD Alumni Association will help to create a more sustainable organization and allow for a more active organization overall. The information collected will only be for the use of the Kansas Young Democrats and will not be shared.

If there are any questions please contact us at kansasyoungdemocrats@gmail.com.

Sign up today!

This week after the Kansas GOP primary I got a tip off about a piece in a local Kansas paper about the caucus and the comparable turnout. Understandably, there was immense turnout for the Democratic caucus and not so much for the GOP despite the fact that the GOP caucus was infinitely more convenient - being on a Saturday morning which wasn't plagued with a blizzard.

That said, while more people turned out at the Democratic Caucus - more young people also did. I can tell you there are no official numbers, no exit polls, indeed not much other than observable fact that more young people were present at the democratic caucuses.

The last line of the article is a gem:

"Everybody sees a fresh face," he said. "All these college people are really pumped up who probably aren't going to show up in November. It's one of those things that it's really interesting to watch."

The "he said" refers to the executive director of the Kansas GOP. All I could say when I read this was "You hope."

A local Kansas blog picked it up and (God bless them) discovered the youth vote themselves on this day. They mentioned that last week's KS Democratic caucus had

"more young voters participated in the 2008 Democratic caucuses than any other caucus in Kansas history.

I have no data to back this up and I don't know if its true but if it is - boy isn't that cool.

I watched all week to see how the comments from progressives and anti's would unfold, knowing full well that there is truly no youth outreach outside of the local university/college democrats in the state and hoping there would be evidence of an interest on the popular state blog. If there was enough enthusiasm perhaps Kansas is primed for some young voter action. Maybe the progressives there are interested in doing something about encouraging the youth vote.

Read the comments - they are priceless. One from what seems to be a Libertarian, one with more clarifying data about how young people turnout, and one from the KYD president who clearly has been swimming up stream like the many that have come before her.

The best part of this is the quote not included in the article is the Kansas Dem ED saying that he thinks the KS GOP is daring young people to get involved. If young people come out the way they did for the caucus there are quite a few races in Kansas that could swing to our favor. As a result, some of us are in cahoots about a potential state based youth organization for the Sunflower State. Seems they might just be ready.