Has the Kansas Republican Party gone woke? | Opinion
Legend has it that as the British army marched to its surrender at Yorktown to end the Revolutionary War, its band played “The World Turned Upside Down.”
I felt that way this week, when I learned that the Kansas Republican Party just held a drawing for tickets to see “1776, The Musical” in Kansas City, Mo.
The musical’s cast, playing America’s founding fathers, is 100% female, transgender or nonbinary.
The play is based on the negotiations that led to the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and stars Liz Mikel as Benjamin Franklin, Nancy Anderson as Thomas Jefferson and Gisela Adisa as John Adams.
That may seem like the most un-Republican thing ever, but the Kansas GOP called the chance to win tickets a “fabulous” pop-up perk for joining their “1776 Club.” Fabulous indeed.
Can it be that the K-S-G-O-P has gone W-O-K-E?
As I’ve said before in this column, I’m a big fan of irony. To borrow a catchphrase from former Republican state legislator Mario Goico, “It doesn’t get any better than this.”
Could this this mean that Kansas Republican Party leadership is more enlightened than anyone gave them credit for?
Nah.
This is, after all, the party that’s long been fighting anyone and anything that doesn’t conform to gender norms. This past year alone:
▪ GOP governor candidate Derek Schmidt turned a local drag show at a Wichita mall into a hot-button statewide election issue. He lost the election, but it’s the thought that counts.
▪ The Republican-dominated Legislature passed laws banning transgender athletes from competing in sports, and micromanaging who gets to pee where.
▪ Even as we speak, Attorney General Kris Kobach is suing Gov. Laura Kelly to force her to stop letting transgender people decide what letter they want next to the word “sex” on their drivers’ licenses.
So it’s pretty much a betrayal of everything the GOP stands for to be giving away free tickets to a show where women not only play men, in men’s clothing, but are portraying the sainted founding fathers themselves.
I say this shall not stand! Something something KANSAS VALUES!
And I say to the Republican Party, it’s time to spin up the Fake Outrage Machine and do some damage.
You know how it’s done. You did it to Bud Light when they made a one-off custom beer can for a transgender influencer. Your boycott over that has been so effective that it recently cost 600 blue-collar workers in two Republican states their jobs. Again, it’s the thought that counts.
What’s to be done to fix this?
1) The Kansas Republican Party needs to boycott itself. I’m not sure how that works, but I don’t have their experience in self-harming boycotts and I’m pretty sure they can figure it out. If not, they can always ask for pointers from the Kansas Democratic Party (Motto: Boycotting ourselves since 1855).”
2) While the six lucky ticket winners are at the theater enjoying the musical (and probably sipping Bud Light with leftist elites), the Republican Party should rally outside to protest their attendance. If they had any decency at all, the winners would burn these tickets (or just give them to me and I’ll see that they’re properly disposed of).
3) Kansas Republican Party Chairman Mike Brown should be removed from office, but not before being forced to watch a three-hour video of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis explaining “the woke mind virus,” (the only virus he believes in).
That’s the only way to shake off the gay cooties and purify the party, after this flirtation with the dreaded LGBTQ Agenda (LGBTQ Agenda Item One: Mind your own business; Agenda Item Two: Leave us the hell alone. End of agenda).
Of course, some of this may seem a little extreme. Fortunately, extreme is right in the wheelhouse of today’s Kansas Republican Party.
Don’t blame me if it’s harsh. I’m not the one who made up the slogan “Go Woke, Go Broke.”
This story was originally published July 20, 2023 at 5:09 AM.
