Prayer request a political ploy

I can’t help it, but I feel more proud than humiliated that southeast Kansas was lumped in with Lawrence and Kansas City as a “dark spiritual area,” sorely in need of prayer. That was the opinion of Dave DePue, pastor to the Capitol Commission, a prayer group that meets regularly on statehouse grounds.
Way to go SEK!
DePue’s call to save our lost souls has gone viral. National media venues are using the story as tongue-in-cheek.
As soon as I realize that, the humiliation sets in. Once again, Kansas is the butt of a joke, much like when evolution was under attack in our public schools.
I’m assuming that because some of us don’t fall in line with the groupthink of the Brownback administration we are  “in need of prayer” according to DePue.
I bristle at the thought that someone claims to know my heart, much less that of an entire region.
But it’s true. We stray the path.
Southeast Kansans are known for their allegiance to good public schools and are assaulted by the Brownback administration’s refusal to fund them adequately. In his budget for 2014, the governor has pledged an insulting $14 per-pupil increase to schools. A study requested by the Legislature has suggested an additional $654 per student is needed to right this sinking ship. In three years, the legislature has slashed more than $500 million from public education.
We also believe in fair taxing. Eliminating a state income tax shifts the responsibility of funding the state budget onto sales and property taxes — an unfair burden to the middle class and low-income.
Kansas’s tax code is becoming known as Robin Hood in Reverse because the rich are the ones who will benefit on the backs of the poor.
Another example is last year’s elimination of the Child and Dependent Care tax credit for working parents or those who are furthering their educations. It wasn’t a big break — a maximum cap of $6,000 — but for many young families it meant the difference between getting into the workforce and pursuing an education or being forced to drop out because child-care expenses were too great.
Communities in Allen County, where the average income is $31,500, are especially hit hard by such measures.
This is what people call the race to the bottom. In an effort to give tax cuts to the wealthy, the state slashes benefits to poor and middle-class families.
The results will be felt immediately, but even more so in the future as greater portions of our populace are left behind.

I HAPPEN to be a proponent of prayer. But something tells me this request was not done in good faith.