PC/AHC: a liberal Kansas

[Thomas1195]

We know that today Kansas is quite a staunch conservative state, probably one of the most conservative states in the US. In presidential elections during the 20th century, only FDR and LBJ managed to carry Kansas.

What post-1900 PODs can be used to make it a liberal state?

 

[Colonel Zoidberg]

There are two options - urbanize it or make it sort of a hippie state like Vermont. Most blue states are full of decent-sized cities; Vermont is the notable exception. Maine and New Hampshire are fairly purple and the rest of New England has cities (Delaware is basically a suburb of Philly so it’s a different sort of exception but it counts as urban.)

Note that urban areas don’t guarantee a state going blue - Texas and Louisiana are reliably red but Houston is the fourth-largest urban area in America and New Orleans is basically its own planet.

I’m not sure where or why a city big enough to make Kansas urban would be. One possibility is that Kansas City continues to spill over into Kansas so it ends up being sort of a divided city, with a Missouri side and a Kansas side, most likely rivals much like the Twin Cities.

And if it’s big enough in a smaller state like Kansas, KC could effectively control the state, much like Chicago does with Illinois.

 

[Ditzy Vixen (RossN)]

Have both the Republicans and Democrats stay more big tent style parties. If you have a situation where being Republican doesn't automatically mean social conservatism and being a Democrat doesn't automatically mean social liberalism you'd probably see less of the ststes beimg locked into one party.

 

[Mark E.]

What post-1900 PODs can be used to make it a liberal state?

Maybe something to alleviate the Dust Bowl in the thirties?

 

[Son of Sphinks]

Traditionally, Kansas has had a liberal streak, especially early in the state's history. It was founded at a time where anti-slavery opinions were very radical. Early, more radical positions included women's suffrage, temperance, and support of the Farm Labor/Grange.

The biggest divide in the state is the more urban Eastern side of the state and the rural western part of the state. With cities like Kansas City (yes, it already is a divided city that crosses the state line.), Topeka, and Wichita have a combination of industry (manufacturing, governmental work, transportation) compared to the predominantly agriculture based economy for the rest of the state. If you want to see a more "Liberal" Kansas, separate the western half off and join it to a combination of eastern Colorado and Western Nebraska for a large, lightly populated state named something else while "Kansas" remains everything from Wichita east.

 

[Questerr]

No Red Scares and Kansas becomes the center of US Christian Socialism?

 

[Mark E.]

No Red Scares and Kansas becomes the center of US Christian Socialism?

For that, you might need to butterfly away the whole Bolshevik revolution, and that of course, changes world history for the rest of the century. But given the way communal societies were often very faith based in other parts of the Midwest, there is no reason, pre-WW1, why socialism could not have been embraced by Christian fundamentalists. Go back to 1901 and the American "Socialist" party was oriented to labor union rights.

In the thirties, Missouri Farmers Association (MFA) spun off Consumers Cooperative Associated which became Farmland Industries, a Fortune 100 company in the seventies. Though headquartered in Kansas City, MO, it had intense membership cooperatives in Kansas.

Making Kansas economically liberal in this respect is very possible. Social issues would be far more difficult, especially when it comes to liquor and prohibition, as Kansas was the 46th state to repeal prohibition in 1948. Kansas was also known for banning movies the censors felt were offensive but were acceptable to society as a whole in the highly restrained forties.

 

[Mark E.]

Another possibility: after Reconstruction, Kansas becomes a major migration point for freed slaves. The challenge might not be easy because the most arable eastern regions were likely already settled. But the corridor between Topeka and Kansas City had excellent railroad service and could have been more industrialized than OTL. An issue to remember is that Kansas City, on the Missouri River, connected very well with the Great Lakes industrial corridor.

 

[Deleted member 109224]

Kansas is a Republican state, not necessarily a conservative one.

There's broadly three political factions in Kansas: Conservative Republican, Moderate Republican, and Democrat. The Moderate Republicans generally have no problem with coalescing with Democrats to block the Conservatives. Moderate Republicans voted with Democrats to raise taxes recently. Moderate Republican voters went for Sebellius and recently elected a Democrat Governor.

In 1992 Bush only beat Clinton by 5 points in Kansas. I suppose you could chalk that up to Perot, but I'd say that centrist Democrats just play well in the state because they get the moderate Rs to go for them.

 

[Electric Monk]

Unionize. Rural areas that vote Dem are the unionized ones. Montana is the go to example of western states since its tough to crank Kansas urbanization much farther—most of the cities already quadrupled in growth the last half century. Tougher to unionize farmers of course, but farmers will vote radically at times. As mentioned above the co-op idea seems like fertile ground.

I assume the most fun POD is good ol’ “Doctor” John Brinkley wins in 1930 and becomes both Governor and a real doctor—for some intent of that word anyway.

Wiki

At his side was KFKB's biggest country-music star, Roy Faulkner, who took to the stage with guitar and hat in hand. Brinkley campaigned on a vague program of public works (a state lake in every county), education (free textbooks for public schoolchildren and increased educational opportunities for blacks), lower taxes, and old-age pensions. He appealed to the immigrant vote by putting German- and Swedish-speaking people on the air at KFKB. Brinkley enlisted a pilot with his own plane (Brinkley dubbed it The Romancer) to deliver him in grand style at his campaign rallies. In short, Brinkley was a master of the publicity stunt; when a prominent newspaper reporter ran an article critical of his qualifications to run a state, Brinkley sent him a goat.

So yeah I think this guy seems perfect, even before the goat balls. Easy enough to have him do or not do what he promises, forming a third party or totally messing up in state political dynamics in ways helpful to make it a Midwest Montana (overlooking the whole farmers vs rancher vs resource extraction thing sure). FDR is immensely helpful, but given OTL didn’t shift underlying votes for the future.

 

[Godwin]

Kansan here. Let's make one thing clear. Kansas is a religious moralist state. There's no way around that. And just urbanizing won't do it. I live in Wichita, and I assure you there are just as many republicans here as Democrats. The left wing parties (as others have noted) that do well here are extremely moderate Democrats (who are more or less impotent in the state government due to the Legislature) or historically religious agrarian movements. Kansas is also a populist state. Politicians who can get in touch with the people will do better here than Plutocrats (Part of why the State wanted Cruz over Trump, but came out in droves against Hillary). As the Populist Party OTL was more or less co-opted and absorbed by the GOP and Dems you saw Kansas turn to the GOP as they (and their progressive wing) represented non-southern agrarians better than Democrats did. Over time what it meant to be agrarian shifted and Kansas became more conservative both economically as well as socially. Frankly, I'd say remove the absorption of the Populist party and make the Populists more successful in general across the Midwest and Western States leading to the Populist party becoming an actual force in American Politics and there you go. You'll never get a socially liberal Kansas, but economic agrarianism is certainly possible. Hell, maybe do the opposite of what most people are saying and make cities less of a force in Kansas. Because of how radical the Populists were they had a hard time winnning commercial or industrial sectors over.

 

[Mark E.]

Kansan here. Let's make one thing clear. Kansas is a religious moralist state. There's no way around that. And just urbanizing won't do it.

That’s an understatement. In 1988, the film Last Temptation of Christ made it to the box offices and also HBO on TV. One community in Kansas (I can’t remember the name) took up a petition to force the local cable TV provider to block the transmission of that film because it was so offensive. Enough people threatened to cancel their cable that the provider complied, and granted a one-time discount so customers could rent the movie (where??). Ironically, that cable provider offered a Playboy/adult entertainment channel and nobody objected.

In 1978, I did frequent air travel between Kansas City and Dallas. Before the planes left KC, flight attendants took payment for cocktails with the message that this was the only chance to buy drinks. As soon as the plane was airborne, the pilot announced, “flight attendants may serve” and they scrambled to serve, some customers with two or three drinks at a time. See, the drinks had to be served while still in Missouri air space, because to do so over Kansas or Oklahoma was a crime at the time.

On the map, one might think the demographics of Kansas and Nebraska ought to be similar. Nebraska hosted the first transcontinental railroad to Salt Lake City and San Francisco, but the Santa Fe line to Los Angeles went through Kansas. One difference might be that Iowa and Nebraska saw heavy settlement from eastern and central Europe in the first decades of the 20th century: Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Poles, Croats, etc. Had those settlers drifted south, would it have changed the demographics of Kansas?

 

[Godwin]

On the map, one might think the demographics of Kansas and Nebraska ought to be similar. Nebraska hosted the first transcontinental railroad to Salt Lake City and San Francisco, but the Santa Fe line to Los Angeles went through Kansas. One difference might be that Iowa and Nebraska saw heavy settlement from eastern and central Europe in the first decades of the 20th century: Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Poles, Croats, etc. Had those settlers drifted south, would it have changed the demographics of Kansas?

Well possibly. Kansas is primarily of German or British descent. More Eastern Europeans would certainly have some influence, but it's hard to say to what degree. Just going off the example of Wichita just during the 20th century and late 19th century, we had many Jewish immigrants from Poland or Ukraine who founded many of Wichitas early banks, Lebanese immigrants who kickstarted a lot of the Wichita food industry and South Vietnam refugees who started competing with the Lebanese food industry. Then of course you have the large amount of Hispanic immigration and Indian immigration for similar reasons to the rest of the US. That is a lot of people. But nonetheless Kansas is still primarily German and secondarily British.

 

[Colonel Zoidberg]

**snip**

Is that also true in the KC suburbs? I know KC is at the farthest point east of the state, so I don’t know how culturally distinct KC (Kansas part) is from the rest of Kansas.

 

[Maeglin]

In presidential elections during the 20th century, only FDR and LBJ managed to carry Kansas.

Nitpick: Woodrow Wilson won it twice.

 

[Political Powerhouse]

Well Kansas did used to be more receptive to economically left candidates in the past, particularly when there was an economic crisis in the region.

If you want to have that kind of agrarian radicalism remain a stronger force in Kansas, the key thing you probably are going to need to do is avoid the decline of the old small family farm and it’s replacment with the larger more ‘corporate’ farms. While there are low income workers on those farms, they tend to be disproportionally forgein born and very rarely turn in elections (if they even eligible to vote in the first place).

 

[Godwin]

Is that also true in the KC suburbs? I know KC is at the farthest point east of the state, so I don’t know how culturally distinct KC (Kansas part) is from the rest of Kansas.

I admit I am less familiar with Kansas City than the rest of the state. But I can tell you what I do know. Actually it's easier to show you.

On the left you have the Wichita area and the right is the Kansas City area. Now I want to draw your attention to Eastborough on the left. Eastborough is an incredibly upper class city surrounded by the city of Wichita. In the suburbs of Kansas City you have a similar situation of "gated democrats". Kansas City very much is an urban island in Kansas more similar to St. Louis or Chicago than Wichita.

 

[Colonel Zoidberg]

I admit I am less familiar with Kansas City than the rest of the state. But I can tell you what I do know. Actually it's easier to show you.
View attachment 455719 View attachment 455720
On the left you have the Wichita area and the right is the Kansas City area. Now I want to draw your attention to Eastborough on the left. Eastborough is an incredibly upper class city surrounded by the city of Wichita. In the suburbs of Kansas City you have a similar situation of "gated democrats". Kansas City very much is an urban island in Kansas more similar to St. Louis or Chicago than Wichita.

Gotcha. Wichita looks about 50-50 and KC and Eastborough look pretty blue. So a bigger KC in Kansas complete with KC political culture could theoretically go a long way to a blue - or purple - Kansas.

 

[Mark E.]

Gotcha. Wichita looks about 50-50 and KC and Eastborough look pretty blue. So a bigger KC in Kansas complete with KC political culture could theoretically go a long way to a blue - or purple - Kansas.

The problem with more development on the Kansas side of the Kansas City metro area is that the hotel, restaurant and entertainment could not compete because the liquor laws were so strict for so long. Correct me if I am wrong, but was it not until 1987 that common "liquor by the drink" wasn't available outside of private clubs? Yes, a population shift into Wyandotte and Johnson counties in Kansas could have shifted the state purple. Look at Iowa. That state's population hovered at 3 million for the past 90 years. It is another farm-oriented state that saw rural populations decline with mechanization. Foreign, non-voting workers staff the meat packing plants. Iowa is the only state to have lost more than half of its electoral vote since 1928. Yet Iowa is very purple. Its congressional delegation went from 3-1 Republican to 3-1 Democratic in the 2018 election.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_laws_of_Kansas

 

[Godwin]

The problem with more development on the Kansas side of the Kansas City metro area is that the hotel, restaurant and entertainment could not compete because the liquor laws were so strict for so long. Correct me if I am wrong, but was it not until 1987 that common "liquor by the drink" wasn't available outside of private clubs? Yes, a population shift into Wyandotte and Johnson counties in Kansas could have shifted the state purple. Look at Iowa. That state's population hovered at 3 million for the past 90 years. It is another farm-oriented state that saw rural populations decline with mechanization. Foreign, non-voting workers staff the meat packing plants. Iowa is the only state to have lost more than half of its electoral vote since 1928. Yet Iowa is very purple. Its congressional delegation went from 3-1 Republican to 3-1 Democratic in the 2018 election.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_laws_of_Kansas

And we still have widespread local prohibition laws in across the rural counties of Kansas.

The map is about 7 years old, but the point stands.