Lousy schools, bad parks and a multitude of messes would mark Kansas county if the far right were in control

It’s not often that I agree with Steve Rose of the Johnson County Sun in suburban Kansas City, but I have to say that I admire a column he wrote earlier this month about the impact of the religious right.

In an open letter on the occasion of his late father’s birthday, Rose talked about the changes that have occurred in the last decade as the far right has gotten stronger in the county.

Referring to a recent meeting of the Johnson County Community College Foundation, Rose writes:

Many of the people in that room were the very ones who helped build our library system and our parks. I wonder, Dad, if the Far Right had been in control all those years (ago when schools and parks were built), what kind of county we would have now. I suppose taxes would be lower. But I doubt we would have the community college, the excellent libraries, the parks, College Boulevard, outstanding schools or our quality of life. I have never met an individual from the Far Right, or read about such an individual, who ever proposed ways to improve the community, to invest in it, to envision anything but lower taxes and overthrowing the "power elites."

Rose’s full column is worth reading. It’s one of the few pieces I’ve seen that describes how rule by the far right hurts everyone.