Mark Peterson: Kansas must change or even more will leave

The dogma that eliminating taxes on proprietors’ incomes was going to stimulate a tremendous upsurge in new jobs was bad economics when proposed – just as daft as it was when first tried in the 1980s.

Further, there’s no doubt that taking a larger bite of poor, lower-middle and middle-class incomes with increased consumption taxes would reduce consumer spending and create disaffection and discontent.

The dismal performance of sales tax receipts and the fact that, in general, the citizens of Kansas think less of the governor than they do of President Obama provides proof.

Finally, for those of differing philosophical viewpoints, the governor’s obsession with advancing and espousing aggressively conservative social values has had a markedly chilling effect, especially if one prizes the value of separation between church and state.

Should critics of Gov. Sam Brownback rejoice at his excellent impersonation of the biblical Job? No, because at the base of the governor’s severe political conservatism, there is a very real set of concerns that all Kansans should be thinking about and acting upon.

Kansas is not what it used to be. Our farms no longer account for the incomes of 40 percent of our fellow citizens. The aviation industry, so critical 60 years ago, is a shadow of its past. The bonanza of oil and gas has gone and is unlikely to return to its peak. It’s a litany of grim realities that has long been building.

In the 2000 census, Kansans 15 to 19 years old numbered 210,118. In 2010, that same cohort, now 25 to 29 years of age, stood at 197,783 – a decline of 5.9 percent. Similarly, the group that was 20 to 24 years old in 2000 numbered 190,167. By 2010, the count of these Kansans, now 30 to 34 years old, amounted to 179,937 – a decline of 5.4 percent.

That’s 23,000 workers, potential parents, neighbors and future leaders who simply left.

Wichita State University’s Center for Economic Development and Business Research presented projections in February showing that Kansas’ current 15- to 24-year-old bracket will shrink by 37,000 (9 percent) by 2024. The departed are not likely to return, but the state can do better with its future.

Kansas must change. It must become more progressive, more accepting of evolving cultures, more willing to accommodate humanity in all its diversity, and it must use the tools of both government and the marketplace.

If these things do not occur, the 2020 census is likely to convey similar grim news for Nana and Gramps, who keep asking themselves why the kids have to live so darn far away.

This story was originally published March 18, 2016 at 7:05 PM with the headline "Mark Peterson: Kansas must change or even more will leave."