Wednesday, September 30, 2020

What's the matter with Kansas? - and, Sunflower Daze


                                             ( I have previously shown this painting on the blog, but I

                                              am using it again here, as a stand-in for a new painting of 

                                             a large field of sunflowers, of which I do not  as yet have 

                                             good photograph.  I'll try to have the new painting up soon. )

 

     Some viewers of this blog may be wondering about the choice of title, for this entry, 

and why the field of flowers.  Most people will assume that the inspiration comes from

the fact that fields of sunflowers have been in full bloom, putting on a fine show across 

the mid-west.  That was partially my motive, but I was also interested in the symbolism 

of these large fields of tightly packed, flower-faces, standing together, like gatherings

of crowded, open-faced people, waiting to hear important words.  Perhaps I will say

more about that later.

     The title of this entry is a fairly well-known quote which dates back to well over a 

century ago, when a small-town, newspaper editor in Kansas, took a hard look at his

fellow Kansans, and what he saw made him angry.  He decided to write and print a 

harshly critical editorial, which he titled "What's the matter with Kansas?".  That new

editorial was picked up and reprinted by newspapers all across the country, and it 

made that editor famous.  That man's name was William Allen White, the owner and

publisher of the Emporia Gazette, and he became known a the sage of Emporia.

He was a frequently quoted, influential political figure, and associate of major political

figures, for the first half of the twentieth century, including presidents of the country.

     So, what was it about his fellow countrymen which sometimes caused his ire and

harsh criticism?  He was particularly concerned with political movements known as

populism, and with how thoughtless voters were so easily led to follow their worst 

instincts, by frauds and charlatans.  A look at the history of the period, provides us 

with two prime examples: first was White's battle with the KKK, which had taken 

political control of the southern states and Indiana, and was on track to control Kansas, 

and second, his war against the fraudulent, goat-glands doctor, Dr. Brinkley, who came

close to being voted into the office of governor of Kansas. 

     By the early nineteen twenties, right-wing populism was surging across Kansas.

The organizers of the KKK, were taking the opportunity to enrich themselves, by

appealing to the prejudices and fears of the xenophobic citizens, charging them the

equivalent of three hundred dollars, for membership in the Klan.  (The question of 

why anyone needed some "official" stamp of approval, to parade around in a sheet, 

shouting ethnic and racial slurs, didn't seem to occur to the members.)  Power hungry 

men have always encouraged people to blame all of their country's troubles on 

"the other", the citizens who have the wrong religion, or the wrong ethnicity, or the 

wrong skin tone, or anyone who somehow doesn't "belong" in their country.  

( The members of the Klan chose to forget the fact that they were all immigrants 

or descendants of immigrants to this country.)   As the Klan's membership in Kansas, 

swelled past forty thousand, politicians began to bow to the pressure of the Klan's 

demands.  Even as White was fighting to eliminate such influence, the mayor and police 

chief of his own town, granted permission for the Klan to parade through the streets 

at their will.  During the nineteen twenty four election campaign, for the governorship 

of the state, both the Republican and the Democratic candidate, were accepting 

support from the Klan.  As election day neared, White stepped forward to offer 

his name as a write-in candidate for governor.  He didn't win the election, but he 

won such a large percentage of the votes, that the new governor realized that the 

Klan didn't have the power to control his governorship.

     In the nineteen twenties, there was another opportunistic fraud in Kansas,

who was taking advantage of gullible fools nationwide.  He became famous

as Dr. Brinkley, "the goat doctor", because of his widely promoted "cure" to 

restore virility in men, which consisted of the surgical implanting of goat testicles 

into his patients.   He achieved his fame because he had his own radio station,

 broadcasting his propaganda across the country, gathering a steady stream of

revenue, and hopeful fools to undergo the surgery.  Such opportunists who want 

to appeal to the populist mind-set, have always found it useful to have their own

active, propaganda machine, similar to Donald Trump's trumpeting from Fox,

while they constantly claim that reports from reliably truthful, news sources, are

"fake news".  ( Joseph Goebbels would have felt right at home at Fox. )

     White was in the forefront of sensible people who were telling the public 

that Brinkley was a total fraud, but the goat-doctor was unwilling to give up

his lucrative scam.  In nineteen thirty, he decided to use his propaganda 

machine for an additional self-promotion, by running for governor, and  he 

appealed to his right-wing, religious base by denouncing the theory of evolution.     

White wrote opposition editorials, refuting Brinkley's false propaganda as lies

"irresistible to the moron mind", and calling Brinkley's supporters "a great,

seething, moronic underworld".   Brinkley supporters who evidently didn't 

know the definition of the word "moron", but who thought they knew what 

White meant by his use of the "underworld" reference, wrote angry letters to 

the editor, proclaiming themselves to be "good Christian people".   So, White 

had to correct their misunderstanding, by saying "I didn't mean that you were 

wicked.  I meant that you were dumb!"  

     As things turned out, Brinkley actually got enough votes to have been

declared the winner, if the vote counting system had not been changed, shortly

before the election. So, he might well have been the governor, when his final

exposure as a fraud occurred, and we can imagine what  political chaos that

would have created.  

      Now that I have rattled on for longer than most viewers probably cared to

read, maybe I should try to get around to the point of what I want to say.  We

are now taking part in the most important presidential election, to the future of 

our nation and the world, that we are ever likely to have in our lifetime.

The man who becomes president for the next four years, may well determine

whether or not life as we know it, will be able to survive on this planet.  If some

aggressive steps are not taken soon, to reverse global warming, we will pass 

the tipping point, leaving our children and grandchildren with no world to inherit,

but the man who holds that office now, does not believe in science. 

     What is true of Kansas is also true all across our nation.  Too many of us 

have lost our sense of idealism, and are now too easily misled by frauds, and  

 too willing to give in to our worst instincts, as exemplified by Donald Trump. 

 George Washington signed a pact, dedicating his life, his fortune and his sacred 

honor, to his country.  Donald Trump has no honor, and he has dedicated his life 

to getting whatever he wants for himself, no matter what it costs everyone else.  

He has no sense of civic duty or responsibility: he takes pride in avoiding paying 

his income tax, saying that such maneuvers makes him "smart".  He encourages

the white-supremacists and other hate groups, who feel emboldened by his 

endorsement.  He withheld vital information from the American people, about 

the deadly severity of our pandemic, because he thought it would damage his

reelection campaign.  And, he specifically endangers the lives of his own, duped

followers, by politicizing the plague and discouraging the use of the proper safety 

measures, to limit the spread of the disease. 

      What could be a better example of Trump's indifference to the life or death of 

of others, than his political rallies, with his mask-less fans so tightly packed together, 

like those fields of open-faced sunflowers, receiving all of the viruses and lies being 

shouted their way? 

     Now, we are about to decide who will be in the White House for the next four

years, making critical decisions for our nation.  We can choose a racist narcissist, 

who thinks only about himself, or we can choose his opponent, Joe Biden, who 

has spent his life in public service, and who strives to achieve a better, more idealistic 

America for everyone.

     Anyone who thinks that we don't have a clear choice this time, must be one of

William Allen White's morons. 

                                                   E. P. McNerney                                              

                                                                     

  

                                                                                


         

 

     



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