, Columnist
Are GOP Leaders Afraid to Listen to Their Own Voters?
Local Republicans have canceled town halls and tried to make ballot initiatives a thing of the past.
Nothing to be afraid of.
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No politician will ever admit they have zero interest in hearing what their constituents have to say. But from Washington, DC to Wichita, Kansas elected officials are cancelling meetings with constituents and systematically undermining citizen-led ballot initiatives — the one tool the public has to make change when elected officials won’t listen.
It is profoundly hypocritical — and dangerously shortsighted. In these bitterly polarized times, legislators should be finding ways to listen more to an angry public, not less.