Category Archives: Politics

Politics

In Oklahoma, The Problem is Not “Government” — It’s Those Who Run It

Photo credits: Fallin-HuffingtonPost.com, Barresi-okgazette.com, Pruitt-newson6.com
Photo credits: Fallin-HuffingtonPost.com, Barresi-okgazette.com, Pruitt-newson6.com

You are interviewing someone for a job and their approach is “Hey, anyone can do this. You don’t have to be very smart to do this job”. Will you hire them?  You’re a knucklehead if you do. They have already decided that the work takes no effort and isn’t really important. They will only waste your time, effort, and money.

Yet, over the last 20 years, Oklahoma voters have “hired” people with similar attitudes to fill public office. Should we even be surprised that they are wasting our time, effort, and money?

The Source of the Problem

Is it even possible for them to do a good job at running our state’s government when the core of their campaign was that “government is incompetent and won’t ever do anything right”? It’s not. Before their first day in office they are on a course of incompetence.

If they make government better or just simply work, they have proven themselves wrong. And just in case you don’t know much about politics, they don’t want to do that. Ever.

It starts with those in Oklahoma who vote. We have been campaigned into believing that the best person for us to “hire” at the polls is the one who knows the least, has the least experience at running anything, and promises to do the worst job that they can think of. Ridiculous.

Now if you are in charge of a large corporation that does not want any government policing of what you do, that’s a good deal. You will give big money to those candidates. That’s exactly what has happened over the years in Oklahoma. It has a multiplying effect in that once those incompetents get into office, your lobbyists can do all of their thinking for them, because…that’s right...they don’t know anything.

So, those politicians do what they are told. They better. There are no other options for them.

Cases in Point

The latest news is that State Superintendent of Schools Janet Barresi is making plans to use money budgeted for activities and alternative education to pay for health care premiums promised to teachers because of funding that has not been provided by the legislature. Here’s today’s news brief about it from NewsOK.com.

Rather than do what a Superintendent elected directly by The People should do –confront the legislature– she is going along with the general incompetence of the Republican dominated legislature because the handlers who control all of them want, you know,  “team players”.

Why can’t Janet Barresi run the State Department of Education like we elected her to do? She is a dentist and doesn’t know the first thing about running a classroom for a whole year, much less the entire public school effort for the state. And so, she has to follow orders of bigger corporate interests when they call. She has hired itinerant corporate education tools from out-of-state to fill top jobs just below hers because that’s what she is expected to do by those who paid big money to get her into office. She’s on the team.

Why can’t Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt do anything else but bring frivolous law suits against the Affordable Care Act at taxpayers’ expense of millions and not do much of anything else? He’s on the team.

Why can’t Gov. Fallin and the legislature stay out of the way and allow local towns and cities to set their own minimum wage if they won’t set one for the state? Why can’t they allow cities to run their own zoning ordinances? Well, even though they ran to keep big government off our backs, they create their own big government that controls us in ways that the rich and big corporate interests want us to be controlled. They are on the team.

Too Much Consolidation of Power

What early 1900s Progressives knew from experience in the century before was that The People have to keep big money from controlling every aspect of state government.

Bad government happens when it is possible for a few rich people to pay for a majority of legislative campaigns and the governor who installs lackeys throughout the executive branch. They, then, follow the orders of only a few rich people instead of The People. So, the Oklahoma Constitution calls for a large number of leaders in the executive branch to be voted on directly by The People rather than being appointed by the governor.

The problem circles back around to who votes and who we decide to vote into office. It’s people who run any government. If government isn’t working, replace those who are in charge of it.

But, those who actually vote in Oklahoma have believed the well-funded campaign line that government is the problem, and so we vote for people who don’t know anything. They then have no choice but to leave or follow orders from the lobbyists and handlers. In actual effect, we have a scenario that the writers of the Oklahoma Constitution thought they were avoiding.

The Key: More Informed, Motivated Voters Who Vote

For those of us who want reform it is a good thing that Oklahoma has put so much into making sure that voters can vote and the voting system has integrity. After all, if they believe that only certain Republicans will vote anyway, why not make it easy for them? What that really means is that we can bring change if we provide credible opposition and sound arguments. The key is getting out the vote.

It comes back around to us. How badly do we want to see change? I want it and if you are reading this, you probably want it, too.  That’s why the June 24th primaries, the August 26th run-offs, and the November 4th election all matter. Put those on your calendar now and focus!

 

Politics

Are You a Liberal Working in a Red State?  Here Are Five Ways to Stay Politically Active and Keep Your Job

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Sometimes it’s tough if you are a liberal and committed to a progressive political agenda while working in a red state.

The big question: Will I get fired by my conservative boss if I don’t hide my beliefs and political activities?

Having lived and worked in Oklahoma for most of my life, there have been plenty of times when I found myself navigating between the conservative political climate, the conservative political beliefs of my boss, and the conservative politics of clients.

From that experience, here are some ideas about how to keep your job without compromising your core beliefs:

1. Clearly separate your personal political activities and your business/work activities. You cannot be sloppy, lazy, or casual about expressing your political beliefs.

  •  All social media activity must be clearly separated by different accounts in each platform.
  • Claim your associations  in your profile on each personal account claiming that these are your personal ideas and do not represent your employer or clients.
  • Limit times during the work day for personal/political activity to obvious before-work, lunch-time, and after-work time periods.

2. Have a planned discussion with your boss about it.

  • Claim that you have particular political beliefs that are not do not represents the majority of the surrounding society.
  • Acknowledge that there are others who might disagree.
  • Commit to never start any kind of political strife at work. (More on that in number 4 below)

3. If you are in a position where you have clients, simply stay silent about politics unless the client has direct questions about your activities.

  • In most cases clients are focused on what they need you to do for them, not your beliefs about politics.
  • If they do want to know, then ask questions, too. Make sure that you are clear about their questions.
  • Only answer questions that they ask and add nothing more.

4. Do not engage in political activity, research, or reading on company equipment, spaces and time.

  • Remember, that space, equipment, and time belong  to the company.
  • If you do engage in personal use of space/equipment/time, that gives co-workers or a boss who disagree with your political views a pretext for getting you fired without having to claim their true motives.
  • Be easy to get along with on all things, including political statements that you might hear from those who think “everyone” believes their right-wing ideology.
  • Set a goal to make at least two work friends with people who you know disagree with you. It’s good for the company, you, and your sanity to have people who see you as a person and not an ideology.

5. In your personal life, go ahead and openly support particular candidates that reflect your beliefs unless they are openly working against your company. It is actually easier to defend your support of a candidate than general political beliefs.

  • It softens the discussion for co-workers or a boss to ask why you support a candidate rather than why you believe certain abstract concepts.
  • If a boss is worth working for, they will not want to seem vindictive and unfair. Punishing you in any way for working to support a candidate will make them seem to be that way, and so they will be reluctant to do so.

Are you working for a conservative boss? How have you dealt with keeping a good relationship while standing for what you believe? Please do comment.

Did you like this? If so, you might find these previous posts to be helpful:

Five Ways For Liberals to Overcome Those Red State Blues

Three Ways to Sway Your Red State Pastor From Blessing the Radical Right

Five Ways You Can Have a Progressive Influence on Your Red State

 

Politics

This Is How Bad It Can Get If Liberals and Progressives Fail To Vote This Year

The ass-kicking that Democrats got in the 2010 mid-term elections was a direct result of not enough people on the left getting out the vote. Whole segments of people who voted for the Democrats and President Obama in 2008 simply stayed home 2 years later handing the House of Representatives over to the Republicans and seriously weakening the Senate. The result was the most obstructionist, unproductive, hateful, bull-shitty Congress in U.S. history.

So, it’s time for us right now to be very clear about what is at stake if we don’t get out the vote this year: The Republicans could win control of the Senate and keep control of the House.

If Republicans can do that, here is what they are planning:

Impeach President Obama
Repeal the Affordable Care Act
Cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid
Reduce women’s rights
Privatize education

Typically, those of us on the left get caught up in arguments and denials about such warnings arguing that surely no one would carry out such radical, destructive plans. That argument assumes a certain level of reason on the right that they just have not shown in a long time.

When was the last time that Republicans have NOT done the most destructive thing that many of us thought they would never do? About 20 years ago.

Politics

Oops! The Party of Bullies Can’t Handle It’s Own Bullies

frankenstein (1)[A] flash of lightning illuminated the object and discovered its shape plainly to me; its gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect, more hideous than belongs to humanity, instantly informed me that it was the wretch, the filthy demon to whom I had given life. –from Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

I know evil exists. It really scared me. –Oklahoma State Senator Cliff Branan, during a current blackmail trial against Tea Party leader Al Gerhart

Clearly, the Oklahoma Republican Party watched with glee, and did all they could in the background, to promote the Tea Party as it developed into a collection of thugs that carried out their dirty work, rallying with ugly, insulting signs and making threats to Democrats and moderate Republicans in our legislature. It was not incidental that this happened directly after the election of our first black president.

Not unlike the industrialists in inter-war Germany funding and using the rising Nazi Party to muscle in their agenda without showing their faces publicly, the Republican Party wanted to keep its respectability while hammering those who stood in the way of their corporate, totalitarian vision for Oklahoma.

That’s where the Tea Party came in. They became the bullies that the Republican Party in Oklahoma could use to their advantage when possible and disown when they created public problems for the GOP.

But just like Frankenstein’s monster, once a political group has been created, there is no assurance of future control. Senator Cliff Branan found that out last year.

According to a news report today by The Oklahoman, Al Gerhart, an Oklahoma City carpenter and local Tea Party leader, is being charged with two felonies, blackmail and violating the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act, because of an email sent to Republican Senator Cliff Branan who lives in Nichols Hills, a posh, well-manicured city within a city surrounded by the expansive Oklahoma City.

I have to admit to being amused that Branan, who has been in the legislature for a number of years now, is frightened and incensed at getting an email threatening to dig into his personal and family members personal backgrounds to dig up dirt on him. The threat was centered on one of dozens of bills introduced every year that have something to do with defending Oklahoma against that dreaded United Nations.

I support Branan in his refusing to have his committee consider yet another wacky bill inspired by conspiracy theories. What seems strange and downright whiny is his taking yet another fired up Tea Party leader to court on felony blackmail charges.

Would Branan have the same reaction if that same email had been sent to a Democrat in our legislature? Oh, wait. Democrats and Republicans have, and still do receive identical threats every year. This is in addition to the outright threats of physical violence issued through anonymous blog posts, forum posts, and phone calls.

Many in Oklahoma City are used to hearing the random threats against legislators, both violence-centered and those of a more pedestrian nature. We are surprised that a Republican with experience like Branan would react in this way. Another legislator called to testify in defense of Gerhart, Republican Senator Ralph Shorty from Oklahoma City, said ““That’s the kind of stuff that happens all the time.”

If Branan and other Republicans are serious about stopping this behavior, it is time for them to speak up and take action when anyone is on the receiving end. Tea Party bullying is not the way that a legitimate political party does business. It’s time for the Republican Party to quit using the Tea Party as the enforcers.

But, for now, Frankenstein’s monster has turned on it’s creator. Republicans, behold your own creation and be afraid!

Politics

CONNECT to Shake Those Red State Blues

This is an expansion of the original post “Five Ways for Liberals to Overcome Those Red State Blues“.

The first way to shake those Red State Blues is to connect. A sense of isolation is the most prominent aspect of being liberal and living in a red state like mine, Oklahoma.

So how do we go about getting connected? It’s easier now than it’s ever been.  Here are some ideas:

Everyone wants your email address. If you are willing to share it, you will not be ignored. That’s not the hard part. Managing the avalanche of emails once you start sharing is the hard part. So, unless you are good at using Hotmail or Gmail tools that allow you to sort different kinds of emails as they come in, just set up a new email account that you will use only to give out to political organizations.

Plan out who you want to inform you. The obvious first stop is the Democratic party in your state. In Oklahoma City, for instance, search “Democratic Party in OKC” and you get this:

Democratic part in OkC Search resultsThis type of search will work for any state or city in which you live. As you can see there are plenty of avenues right here in this big-time red state of Oklahoma. If there are options to connect here, then there are even more options in your state.

Here in Oklahoma, the website to start will be: OkDemocrats.org From there you can find local groups in your county and city.

And yes, sometimes I get plenty disappointed in the national and state Democratic Party. But the reality is that the two “bigs”, Democratic and Republican parties, are very broad coalitions that help people find their way into more specific groups.

On Twitter: The obvious first step is @OkDemocrats. @OkPolicy is a good think tank to give you some hard info from the Progressive perspective. Pay attention to those emails from Twitter that give you some ideas about who to follow and expand your followings to stay informed.

On Facebook for Oklahoma: I have found many good groups to join that have kept me informed beyond the right-wing hype of big media controlled by corporate and conservative agendas. Especially helpful are the local state affiliates with Move-On.org. Since I have been a teacher of many sorts, I also am a part of several Facebook groups that focus on education issues. OkDemocrats is a good start on Facebook if you are in Oklahoma.

Face-to-face contact is the ultimate way to shake those Red State Blues. Political campaigns are a good way to get that type of  contact with others whose beliefs are like yours. Especially now, as primary season is underway, you will not have a hard time finding a campaign that would be glad to put you to work at their campaign headquarters doing all kinds of simple things or, if you are more brave, helping to knock doors and place signs for the candidate.

Listen to public radio to hear announcements that will give you ideas of events where you may meet fellow liberals for fun and dialogue. If you start with NPR.org, you can find the local affiliates in your state there. In Oklahoma, the two NPR stations are KOSU.org and KGOU.org, both connected to our largest universities.

Have you found good ways to connect to others who hold some of the same political views as you do? Let us know in the comments. (I will approve any comment that is not obviously a troll from the right trying to disrupt the conversation.) Or, comment in social media through Twitter @OklaBrett if you are outside of Oklahoma or @BrettDOkc if you are in Oklahoma.

Politics

Five Ways for Liberals to Overcome those Red State Blues

Yeah. It’s been a tough year so far in Oklahoma.  Those who actually expect logic and sanity to have anything to do with public policy are suffering what I call the Red State Blues.

We botched an execution where the condemned died a slow, agonizing death, which has made our state infamous to the rest of the nation and even world.

Our state legislature, more of an extension office of ALEC and the Koch Brothers, continues to gleefully pass laws that don’t matter and carefully avoid those that do.

So, it’s not unusual to hear liberals and progressives talking about the blues that develop after seeing so much idiocy in the public sphere. How we can overcome those Red State Blues?

In future posts I will develop more fully these five ways to do that:

1. Connect with fellow liberals and progressives locally, and in person.

Are you upset that the local paper sings only one note for the far right?  Do you get angry at the ways in which there is so much disruption and shouting on social media at times by those convinced of the correctness of their wing-nut agenda? One important way for liberals to have meaningful connections is in person and locally.

2. Develop a political posture that fits your personality.

Not everyone is well-suited to accept an arrest and jail time for a cause. And not everyone is suited to even go to a rally or march for a cause. But those aren’t the only two options for political involvement about what you believe. There are far more other ways to support the causes that capture your interest and passion.

3. Set a goal to do one new thing each year to promote progressive thinking and action in your city and state.

Sometimes we liberals in red states get the blues from just the enormity – the volume – of the crazy stuff that we see going on. It can seem like a flood that cannot be stopped. But, it can over time, if each liberal decides to pick one new thing that you can do to improve the public attitude about cultural and political issues. And the blues will go away as you see progress.

4. Let others know your position through social media in ways that do not offend your conservative friends and employer.

One large contributor to red state blues is the number of employers who ascribe to right-wing ideology and expect their employees to stay silent if they don’t agree, or to give active approval. You can express your political opinion as long as you are aware of the offense triggers that can cause trouble for you.

5. Move from being a resentful liberal to a politically active progressive.

This is the big one. Resentment is born from being a cultural minority in a red state. Being a racial and cultural minority is even harder. So the effort in shaking the red state blues is to not see yourself as helpless. You’re not. We can work our way out of that paralyzing resentment through political action that fits our personality and skills the best.

I’m looking forward to your response to these ideas as I develop them further over the next several weeks.

Politics

The Only “Lost” Vote Is the One That You Don’t Cast

Since I live in the reddest of red states, I hear progressives here say variations of this: “Yeah, I lost my vote in that last election. My candidate lost.”

True? I don’t believe that. Every vote that is cast makes a point, in some way or another, and is “lost” only if it is never cast in the first place.

Your vote is significant on many levels, and should be guarded and exercised as often as possible.  Here’s why:

Back in the day when everything was analog and statistics were done with huge stacks of paper by guys in white shirts/black ties using slide rules, that may have been the case. Sorting out who voted and why was a Herculean task. Not any more.

Today, campaigns have an amazing array of evaluative tools due to the digitizing of polls, surveys, voting records, etc. I still remember hearing in the late 1980s how marketers who set up mailing campaigns could tell what kind of toothpaste I used, and how to target me. Now if that was the case in the 1980s, imagine the tools now.

No, your vote is never “lost” to campaigns and candidates who pay extremely close attention to various statistical cuts in voting during an election, even if the candidate that you wanted to win does not. Even a candidate who loses, but turns in a larger opposition vote than the last election has an effect on the winner.

Case in point: The last Oklahoma City election for mayor was the most active and seriously contested in my memory. Oklahoma City is on a roll, but our 3-term mayor, Mick Cornett, who was going for a fourth, was spending way too much time in increasingly tighter circles of thinking. The crescendo of that process was Cornett’s speech to the Republican National Convention in 2012. It was a rousing speech of right-wing dog whistles and partisan grandstanding that Oklahoma City is not used to hearing from what is, by design, a non-partisan mayor. Those earlier non-partisan days of his leading the city to lose a million pounds were past. But, not quite….

One of our City Council members, Dr. Ed Shadid, mounted an energetic campaign that focused on giving neighborhoods a voice instead of only listening to interests that wanted downtown to grow at the expense of the rest of the city.

20140217_201754Shadid held a series of public forums in different parts of a city whose leaders had conveniently forgotten the welfare of those who were living there.

Shadid’s campaign effectively pointed out the contradiction of the recent growth of Oklahoma City:  Wealthy corporate chieftains who lived in the suburbs were dictating how Oklahoma City would spend millions and give millions more in tax breaks to promote their new headquarters at the expense of neighborhood development.

This campaign  pushed Mayor Cornett to reconsider his direction. We began to see him in more neighborhood meetings. Even though some thought it was a campaign stunt, his Twitter feed started using the word “neighborhood” more, which was a 20140120_141534significant change from last elections. For the first time, I actually saw him actively engaging the crowd of the Martin Luther King Day Parade for a considerable length of time, not just shaking hands, but carrying on conversations.

Mayor Cornett won his fourth term, but not without the wakeup call of the results. This election resulted in a far larger turnout than before. Those who voted for Shadid actually turned in larger numbers for him than those who had voted for Cornett in the last election that was not seriously contested. Yes, Cornett won, but he would be stupid (he’s not) to ignore the fact of the number of voters who cast a vote for the other guy.

That other guy, Dr. Shadid, is still on the City Council and is still asking those questions that need to be asked.

Did those who voted for Shadid “lose” their vote. No way. Just yesterday I saw the mayor’s tweet that he had eaten at a popular locally owned neighborhood restaurant for the first time. By being there, he was meeting new people and learning once again about what common people thought. That’s progress. And it’s because people got out and voted.

The only votes that were “lost” in that election were those that were not cast. Plan to vote!

Politics

Three Ways to Sway Your Red-State Pastor from Blessing the Radical Right

If you are progressive and live in a politically deep red state you may wonder sometimes just how the atmosphere became, and remains, so pervasively radical and right-wing. It’s not by accident.

In part, it is due to Christian pastors who play into the hands of the power grab that is under way by radicals on the far right, funded by many wealthy people and organized by the Koch Brothers “octopus” of influence.

For a few pastors, siding with the radical right is cynical, intentional, and motivated by a desire for personal power. But, for the largest portion, the drift toward overt or subtle blessing of the radical right is so incremental that it goes unnoticed even by them until someone like you brings it to their attention.

Here are the three ways that progressives can disrupt this corrupting influence on your pastor, Christian faith, and elected government:

Realize that in your red state, there are people in your congregation who are demanding compliance with right-wing ideology. Every pastor that I have known in my red state deals with a constant barrage of demands from people who want the church to bless, promote, and comply with their political ideology.

Take action by expressing your objections to any accommodation or promotion of right-wing ideology with which you genuinely disagree.   No matter where they fall along the liberal-conservative-evangelical-Pentecostal spectrum of Christian expression, your pastor needs to know that “everyone” does not have the same political views as those right-wing folks who make weekly demands for political purity.

Follow up and persist so that your pastor remembers that there are many different opinions about solutions to political problems in your country, state, and town/city. As individuals among other individuals in America, Christians may contribute to solutions; but, there is no “Christian” solution to problems in a democracy. Right-wing purists want to insist that there is. Pastors must allow for political issues to be worked out in the public sphere that includes many more than are in your congregation or even belief system.

Smart pastors with integrity will welcome your counterbalance of pressure that will allow them to tell the right-wing purists that there are other people in their congregation who do not agree and must be considered, also. They will welcome the reminder that they are in the uniquely neutral position of being in the culture while not being completely of it.

Some smart ones don’t need intervention at all. My strongly evangelical pastor regularly claims in his sermons that Jesus is not a Republican or a Democrat and demands that people leave him alone about it. Ha!

On the other hand, pastors who are hungry for personal acclaim and approval, or who don’t want to see the difference between right-wing political ideology and conservative Christian expression, simply do not deserve your support. They are neither effective leaders of the Christian Faith or of the political sphere. Once you are convinced that they are intent upon only blessing a certain brand of secular politics, then it’s time to go. There is never any need to attack. Just be calm, but clear about why with that pastor and others who ask.

It is important that you not engage in a large conflict with other members of your congregation with whom you disagree. It will be energy wasted on tearing up a congregation instead of expressing your faith in a different congregation whose ministry you can truly support. Save that fight for your democracy, which is where the active debate over political ideas is legitimate, necessary, and expected.

End Note: I have been a teacher in Oklahoma for the last 19 years. Before that, I was a Methodist pastor here for 17 years. I know personally how hard it is to be a pastor in a red state. So, this is no attack on pastors. In fact, it is a process that will liberate them.