Cowley County Democratic Party

09/01/2026

Immigrants are less likely than US-born citizens to receive government disability income, David Bier reports. In 2024, just 2.61% of immigrants received disability income, compared with 5.11% of US-born citizens—nearly half the rate.

https://ow.ly/zYKa50ZGGex

09/01/2026

08/31/2026

One hundred sixteen years ago today, Theodore Roosevelt delivered his landmark "New Nationalism" speech right here in Kansas, at Osawatomie, on the site of John Brown's 1856 battle against pro-slavery forces. It was one of the most consequential political speeches in American history — and it happened in our own backyard.

In that speech, Roosevelt argued that the federal government had a responsibility to rein in the power of corporations and concentrated wealth in order to protect the welfare of ordinary Americans. He called for stronger regulation of big business, an income tax, inheritance taxes on large fortunes, workers' compensation, an eight-hour workday, and a robust conservation policy — ideas that were radical at the time but laid the intellectual groundwork for the Progressive Era and, later, the New Deal.

Roosevelt's central argument was that "the object of government is the welfare of the people," and that political and economic democracy had to go hand in hand — that unchecked corporate power was just as dangerous to liberty as unchecked government power. He warned that a nation could not survive half-free, with prosperity concentrated in the hands of a few while working families struggled.

Roosevelt delivered this speech as a Republican, but its ideas didn't stay in one party. Many of the policies he called for — progressive taxation, labor protections, corporate regulation, and government action to check concentrated wealth — became defining pillars of the Democratic Party through the New Deal and beyond, and remain core to the party's economic platform today. As corporate consolidation, income inequality, and the influence of money in politics continue to shape American life, the New Nationalism's central argument, that government should serve the welfare of the many rather than the interests of the few, is one Democrats continue to carry forward.

It's a piece of history worth remembering — one that happened right here in Kansas, and one that still speaks to the fights we carry forward.

08/30/2026

59 years ago today, the U.S. Senate confirmed Thurgood Marshall as the first Black Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court—but by the time he took the bench, he had already changed the course of American history.

As lead attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Marshall spent decades traveling the segregated South, often at great personal risk, building the legal case against Jim Crow one courtroom at a time. That work culminated in 1954 with Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark ruling that declared "separate but equal" unconstitutional and struck down the legal foundation of school segregation in America. It remains one of the most consequential victories in the history of American civil rights law.

Brown v. Board didn't happen by accident — it was the product of Marshall's extraordinary legal strategy, built case by case through years of NAACP litigation challenging segregation in graduate schools, law schools, and public education. Overall, Marshall argued 32 cases before the Supreme Court and won 29 of them, a record unmatched in American legal history, each one chipping away at the architecture of legal segregation.

When Marshall joined the Court in 1967, he brought that same fierce commitment to justice to the bench, becoming a consistent voice for civil rights, the rights of the accused, and protections for the poor and marginalized. He spent 24 years defending the Constitution's promise of equal protection under the law.

Marshall's legacy is a testament to what sustained, strategic fights for justice can accomplish — and a reminder that the promise of Brown v. Board is still being fought for today, from school funding equity to the ongoing battle against resegregation in our public schools. We honor his legacy and recommit to the work of building the more just America he fought for.

08/29/2026

Twenty-one years ago today, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast, becoming one of the deadliest and costliest natural disasters in American history. Nearly 1,400 people lost their lives, and the storm displaced more than a million residents, devastating New Orleans and communities across Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

Katrina exposed painful truths about inequality in America. The disaster hit low-income and Black communities hardest, and the catastrophic failure of the levee system, combined with a slow and inadequate federal response, left thousands stranded without food, water, or shelter for days. It was a stark demonstration of what happens when infrastructure investment and disaster preparedness are neglected — and who pays the price when they are.

That failure sparked a lasting Democratic commitment to rebuilding government's capacity to protect people, not abandon them. In the years since, Democrats have pushed for stronger levee and infrastructure funding, reforms to FEMA and emergency response systems, and investment in the kind of resilient infrastructure that saves lives before disaster strikes. That fight continues today through efforts to modernize the nation's infrastructure, expand climate resilience funding, and defend FEMA and disaster-relief programs against proposed cuts that would leave communities as exposed as the Gulf Coast was in 2005.

Today, as extreme weather events grow more frequent and severe due to climate change, Katrina's lesson is more urgent than ever: competent, compassionate governance saves lives. Here in Cowley County, we stand with the national party's commitment to investing in infrastructure, strengthening disaster preparedness, and ensuring that when the next storm comes, our government shows up for every community — not just the fortunate few.

Remembering Katrina, and all those still rebuilding.

08/29/2026

Sixty-three years ago today, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and delivered one of the most powerful speeches in American history to over 250,000 people gathered for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Dr. King's vision called on America to live up to the promises of its founding documents — that all people are entitled to equal dignity, freedom, and opportunity regardless of race. He spoke of a future where his children would be judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin, a vision that remains as urgent today as it was in 1963.

That march wasn't just about a speech — it was about jobs, fair wages, voting rights, and an end to segregation. Many of those demands became law in the years that followed, through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But Dr. King himself understood that progress is never finished; it requires each generation to keep pushing forward.

Today, as we see renewed attacks on voting rights, economic inequality, and civil rights protections, Dr. King's dream remains unfinished work. The Cowley County Democratic Party remains committed to carrying that vision forward — fighting for an America where opportunity, dignity, and justice are not privileges for the few, but rights for all.

Let us honor Dr. King not just with words, but with action.

08/28/2026

**Remembering Emmett Till — August 28, 1955**

Seventy-one years ago today, 14-year-old Emmett Till was brutally murdered in Money, Mississippi, after being falsely accused of offending a white woman. His killers were acquitted by an all-white jury in a trial that lasted barely an hour of deliberation — a verdict that stood as a stark, undeniable symbol of the injustice built into the Jim Crow South.

Emmett's mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, made the courageous decision to hold an open-casket funeral, insisting the world see what had been done to her son. That choice galvanized the civil rights movement, putting the brutal reality of racial violence in front of a nation that could no longer look away. Rosa Parks herself later said she thought of Emmett Till when she refused to give up her seat on that Montgomery bus just three months later.

Emmett Till's story is a painful reminder of how far our country has had to come — and how the fight for justice, equality, and civil rights is one each generation must continue. His name, and his mother's courage, remain a call to action for all of us who believe in a more just America.

We honor his memory today, and we recommit to the work of building a country where no child is ever met with that kind of hatred again.

*Rest in power, Emmett Till.*

08/25/2026

**Rest in Peace, Dolly Parton (1946–2026)**

Today we lost one of America's brightest lights. Dolly Parton — the Queen of Country, a Tennessee mountain girl who never forgot where she came from — has passed away at 80.

Dolly's music told the truth about working people's lives: hard times, hard work, and hearts that stayed soft anyway. But her legacy goes so far beyond the songs. She built her Imagination Library and mailed free books to children every single month, believing every kid — no matter their zip code or their family's income — deserved a shot at a love of reading. She gave millions to disaster relief, to wildfire victims, to children's hospitals, to vaccine research, quietly and without asking for credit. She created jobs and opportunity in her home region for decades. She treated everyone who crossed her path — famous or not — with the same warmth and respect.

When we look at what Dolly stood for, we see our own values reflected back at us. She believed no child should be left behind simply because of where they were born — we believe every kid deserves a fair shot, a good school, and a library card. She believed in taking care of your neighbors when times got hard — we believe in a community that looks out for its own, especially the folks who are struggling. She believed in building people up instead of tearing them down, in treating everyone with dignity regardless of who they are or where they come from. Those aren't just Dolly's values. They're Cowley County Democratic values, too.

In a country that often feels divided right down the middle, Dolly was something rare: someone almost everybody could agree to love. She showed that generosity, decency, and standing up for your neighbors isn't a partisan value — it's just who you choose to be. That's the kind of community we're working to build here at home.

Rest easy, Dolly. Thank you for everything you gave us. 💛

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