Throughout the semester, I attempted to give a voice to progressive Oklahomans.
Living in our great state as a liberal Democrat is sort of like living in a sorority house and not being thoroughly obsessed with “Twilight.” Just like the sorority girl who would rather drink Blue Moon than watch “New Moon,” progressive Oklahomans are constantly ostracized because of our “radical” views.
What makes us so radical?
We believe our public school teachers should make a bit more than your average Dragon’s Lair stripper. That’s a radical concept for state Republicans who already came out against the 2010 H.O.P.E. initiative, which will constitutionally require Oklahoma spend the same amount of money on education as the other states in our region.
Liberals want to at least compete with Arkansas in education spending; however, conservatives seem thrilled with the recent U.S. Census Bureau study that ranks Oklahoma as 46th in per pupil funding.
We believe that our state health care system is completely inadequate and our 49th place ranking, according to the United Health Foundation, is completely unacceptable.
The same research pointed out that 19 percent of Oklahomans are uninsured while those who are insured have seen their premiums increase by an average of 77 percent since 2000.
Given these numbers, you would expect our congressional delegation might want to be involved in the construction of health care legislation. However, for liberals like me, this is only wishful thinking.
Our elected politicians had one consistent message throughout the entire six-month debate: if you don’t have insurance you ought to quit being so lazy and poor because Obama is an evil socialist who wants the government to take over our health care system.
We believe it is in neither Oklahoma’s nor America’s best interest to fight endless wars overseas and that our brave men and women who serve should have the best benefits upon returning home.
Don’t tell this to our House congressional delegation; all five refused to support timelines for leaving Iraq and Afghanistan and all five voted against the new GI Bill. According to the honorable Mary Fallin, Tom Cole, Frank Lucas, John Sullivan, and Dan Boren, veterans haven’t earned the additional benefits provided to them by this new bill.
These legislators defend these wars and send our friends and family to die, yet don’t find the bravest of Oklahomans deserving of first class medical, living and education benefits. In their twisted view, the wars aren’t too expensive but compensating the people who fight them is.
We believe that our states horrendously high divorce rate probably has a greater effect on the “sanctity of marriage” than gay people.
We believe Oklahoma should lead the way in encouraging bilingualism not passing ridiculous English-only legislation.
Unfortunately, just like the non-conformist sorority girl, there is no light at the end of the tunnel for Oklahoma liberals. For her, the third installment of the “Twilight” series is already slated for next year while progressives nervously contemplate the reality that Sarah Palin wannabe Mary Fallin will live in the Governor’s Mansion.
Thanks for reading my columns. I thoroughly enjoyed my time writing for the O’Collegian.
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Lucas Elwell is a MBA student.
4 comments
I agree with you on most of your points, but at the same time I disagree on parts of them. First of all, how do you know that the stripes at Dragon’s Lair make more money than the teachers. Second, are you saying that all the teachers should make the same amount of money no matter how good they are or how much experience they have? I agree with you that the health care is expensive and needs to be fixed, but making it social and giving government full control isn't going to solve the problem, I am from a country that still uses social health care and our health conditions are way below those in Oklahoma.
However, great article!
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