Pitt State College Republicans welcomed current State Senate President and gubernatorial candidate Ty Masterson as a part of Masterson’s “Take Back Kansas” tour Thurs. Aug. 21. Jonathan Adam (sophomore, political science) president of Pittsburg State University College Republicans, said of Masterson’s visit, “A lot of people tend to think that Southeast Kansas itself is kind of unimportant. A lot of people seem to overlook us or at least think that we’re overlooked.”
Adam continued, “It’s great to have someone like Ty Masterson who really understands how important having the support of a place like Southeast Kansas, and I know some of the other people that ran in this last election cycle recognized that too. We’re a big part of that voter base, so it’s important that we’re recognized and I’m glad that we have a guy like (Masterson) that’s really giving us the recognition we deserve.”
Masterson’s speech was a conversation based on his primary campaign promises, which are, according to his website, to end the Kansas tax squeeze, bringing back Kansas jobs, preventing violent crime in Kansas, and to end the “woke agenda” in Kansas schools. While there was much conversation around Masterson’s $2 billion tax cut in the State of Kansas, the primary topic of conversation was surrounding Masterson’s distaste for the current status quo of “liberal governance” in Kansas and the aforementioned “woke agenda.”
Masterson said specifically about DEI initiatives, “Honestly, the whole DEI curriculum, in my opinion, teaches hatred. It divides us up by our unchangeable physical qualities and judges us and puts us in a class and creates division. And that, that is the opposite of inclusion, right?” He continued, “And that breeds hatred. And you’re seeing it in society. That’s why I fight very hard against that ideology.”
While this is a commonly held belief against DEI initiatives, according to the YWCA of Boston, “DEI is characterized as ‘reverse discrimination’ in situations where white people believe they are negatively stereotyped or discriminated against because of their whiteness – or treated less favorably than people of color.” While this is the belief that was echoed in Masterson’s words, the YWCA elaborates, “DEI seeks to rebalance that power and ensure that those who have been historically disempowered or deprived of equal opportunities simply because of their identities should be given a fair and equitable chance to succeed.”
Masterson also suggested, in relation to transgender athletes in sports, that we could create a “league that’s competitive” for trans athletes, and equated this sort of legislation to sorting individuals by weight class or age. While this is again a commonly held stance by opponents of trans athletes in sports, according to the ACLU, “Trans athletes vary in athletic ability just like cisgender athletes.” They continue, “The very same cis girls who have claimed that trans athletes have an ‘unfair’ advantage have consistently performed as well as or better than transgender competitors.”
While much of the focus of both Masterson’s campaign as well as his speech was on identity politics, he focused as well on more salient issues. Masterson sympathized with an audience member who asked how he was going to ensure that big business stays out of Kansas politics. Masterson, who, according to OpenSecrets and FollowTheMoney, has taken campaign contributions from Koch Industries, Walmart, AT&T, and Exxon Mobil among others, emphasized the importance of small business in Kansas and “taking back Kansas jobs” in his answer to the question.
To finish his time at Pittsburg State, Masterson was asked, despite his partisan and ideologically-based campaign, how he would effectively govern all Kansans, even those who are not in his voter base. Masterson answered, “I will protect their civil rights just like I would protect mine. Just because we disagree on a particular topic, doesn’t mean they aren’t equal in the law and equal in God’s eyes.” He finished, “The vast majority of Kansans share my values. I will concede there are people out there that have very different values than me, and I’m actually OK with not being their candidate.”