Chad Frey

The updated World Happiness Report was again released close to March 20th, the International Day of Happiness established by the United Nations on June 28, 2012.

If I’m completely honest, I can’t recall all the twists and turns of 1984. I probably read it in high school or maybe as an undergrad, somewhere alongside Animal Farm. They’re the kind of books teachers press into young hands to spark critical thinking, to push us to look beyond the surface, question the official story, and spot the sleight of hand in politics and power. What has stayed with me isn’t the fine detail of the plot, but the feeling it left behind: that the words on the page were not just fiction, but a warning, one I wasn’t sure I needed at the time, but which feels uncomfortably relevant now.

Kansans can congratulate themselves. A vacancy on the state Supreme Court has once again been smoothly filled through an orderly process Kansans voted to put into our state constitution in 1958. At its heart, the process requires selection of the court’s justices based on their merit, not politics. As the final step in that process, last week Gov. Laura Kelly appointed attorney Larkin Walsh. She became the 29th justice appointed on merit since Kansans chose it 67 years ago.

On August 7, the Gainesville, Florida city commission voted to make three pedestrian crosswalks less visible, and the pedestrians using them less safe, under threat of funding cuts from Florida’s “Department of Government Efficiency.”

Governor Laura Kelly has received national media attention this summer for resigning from the National Governors Association and joining a lawsuit against the federal government over the release of appropriated funds. These actions reflect the current, charged political climate. But beneath the headlines is an issue that should be important to all Kansans, regardless of party identification. This issue is the balance of state and federal power.