We the People of Johnson County Missouri Saturday, January 11, 2025 🎭 New MO Speaker of the House & Then Some Good News!
Hi Folks!
This past Wednesday, January 8, Missouri made history in a couple of ways.
Legislative sessions started, and the first business was to elect a new Speaker of the House. One of the history-making things that happened is the establishment-driven candidate was actually opposed. By Representative Justin Sparks.
Representative Sparks did not win. Nor did our District 54 Representative vote for him. Neither of those were history-making events.
How did the new Speaker (Patterson) respond to his win?
Patterson called the challenge by Sparks “disappointing”, and said Sparks forced the vote for “personal reasons.” He also said, “This was a person with an oceanic ego who took it upon himself to make this day about himself.”
Hm. If this was football, I think Patterson’s response would be called “unsportsmanlike conduct” with a 15 yard penalty assessed at the kick-off.
What I have become well-aware of in the past 4 years is that the Democrat party consistently accuses the Republican party of doing what they, the Democrats, are actually doing.
But WAIT!, one might say…Patterson is not a democrat! He’s Republican! Is he? Here’s a fact:
When Democrats nominated their floor leader, Missouri Rep. Ashley Aune of Kansas City, she withdrew and urged colleagues (Democrats) to support Patterson for Speaker, ending any chance Sparks had of winning the election.
Democrat Rep. Aune said, and I quote, “We (Patterson and Aune) work very well together, and while I haven’t been given any assurances, what I will say is I do trust him to be fair and to listen to me and to my caucus members when we have an issue.”
Once again, I say, “Hm.” A Democrat literally stepped down from her position and encouraged her Democrat colleagues to vote for Patterson for Speaker of the House.
I do not feel reassured by that.
Justin Sparks based his campaign on making changes to the House rules, objecting to the Pay-to-Play posturing of the House Republican establishment/elites, and opposing the passage of Amendment 3. When nominating Rep. Sparks for Speaker, Rep. Bryant Wolfin of Ste. Genevieve said, “The Speaker holds a level of authority (in the MO House) that would make even a monarch blush. The culture in this building discourages dissent and rewards obedience to Leadership over the service to our constituents.”
Okie dokie. So…where’s the good news?
Rep. Justin Sparks challenged the good-ol’-boy system. He spent hours and hours explaining to people both by social media and in person what was happening in Jefferson City, and explaining WHY the will of the people is NOT being enacted in our Capitol. He helped us know our own Representatives’ hands are sometimes tied by the powers-that-be at the “Head of the Beast” called government. He shed light on the TRUTH. He took action. That action has and is being noticed around our state. He’s paved a road for us to follow.
George Washington said,
“Truth will ultimately prevail where pains [are] taken to bring it to
light.”11
Truth against resistance is not a sprint. It’s a long-distance, cross-country race with hurdles to leap over. It’s PERSISTENCE personified. We’re in it for the long haul. We have to be.
WE CAN DO THIS.
SHARE WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE PERSISTENCE.