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We are fast approaching a contentious Election Day and it is important to be informed, to take nothing at face value and research your candidates. However, some of us do not find this to be important. One of our senators Pat Roberts decided not to run for reelection and the candidates for U.S. Senate are Barbara Bollier and Roger Marshall. Bollier is the right choice between the two.
Firstly, Bollier is an honest politician. She has run a clean campaign since the beginning. She has refused to demean her opponent except with valid criticisms based on objective reality. Her opponent has not done the same. Marshall’s campaign has run ads on TV, Facebook, and Youtube calling Bollier a “liberal extremist,” and beholden to Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives. These claims are not only false. These claims are just ludicrous. For starters, Bollier was a Republican until two years ago when she realized her party was more beholden to Donald Trump than they were to their constituents. If that makes her a “liberal extremist,” then good. That’s clearly what we need. Secondly, no one in America is a liberal extremist. This is due to what’s called the “Overton window.” The Overton window is merely the range of right to left that a particular country’s representatives encompass. Listen very carefully when I say this: none of our elected representatives qualify anywhere close to being a far-left extremist and certainly not Bollier. Thirdly, every single one of the policy decisions they cite her as for being too extreme have key context removed. They claim she voted against a bill that would ban late-term abortions. The bill was founded on faulty science, which she has stated multiple times she cannot support. Her quotes about Australia’s gun laws in context are about her daughter who lives in Australia. The absolutely unethical slander by Marshall’s campaign is untenable from an elected representative. The primary counter argument to these criticisms is normally “Well, all politicians do it.” No, they don’t, nor should they in the first place, and “everyone’s doing it” is not a good reason to keep doing it if it is harmful to our overall electoral process.
Secondly, Bollier is committed to the health and prosperity of Kansans. Roger Marshall has voted no on several health bills including one to remove protections of people with pre-existing conditions and having no health infrastructure in place. He also voted no on a health measure that would increase funding for rural hospitals affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as provide extra funding. The bill also included extra funding for state fiscal years to better facilitate bounce back from the health crisis we are currently facing. How can someone who was a doctor actually be proud of denying funding to rural communities who are hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic? The reason is because Marshall and other Republicans think that any healthcare bill introduced by Democrats is an extension of the Affordable Care Act and regardless if it’s better for people or not, they must rile up their base by calling them all Obamacare and voting them down. It’s despicable especially in the midst of a pandemic. Bollier has stated that her purpose as a physician is to help people and she plans on doing the same as Senator.
Kansans are tired of the corruption of the Republicans in Congress. They vote entirely along party lines sometimes without even reading bills. They refuse to compromise because it means working together for people’s common good which they assume they already know without question. Bollier across her career has compromised to find solutions but she knows when enough is enough. Barbara Bollier is the only sensible choice. Vote blue.