One thing, possibly the only thing, I like about the Oklahoman’s editorial board is that it has a long-term vision for the state. I can’t say I like that vision, but I have to respect that they appreciate their position as the oldest continuous newspaper in the state and the biggest soapbox for policy debate.
The Oklahoman sucks in so many ways. It has a reactionary, regressive political stance that holds this state back. It publishes editorials without requiring the authors to sign them (I recognize the pot calling the kettle black of complaining about this on here, but Odd Oklahoma isn’t the largest newspaper in the state). It let Mary Fallin push it around and forced a blog to sue her over emails she is legally obligated to make public.
That’s why I was so surprised to see the Oklahoma publish a three genuinely good, if still anonymous, editorials so far in the month of April.
The first two both came out on April 1. One was about the need for the Oklahoma legislature to tackle the state’s crumbling infrastructure. Mind you, this is the same editorial page that is pushing for the state to cut the income tax rate. Don’t expect them to be consistent or logical. I’m planning on writing something soon looking at the argument that cutting the state’s income tax rate would actually increase revenue. It’s bogus, but why is pretty interesting.
The second April 1 editorial was going after the anti-Common Core Curriculum crowd. The editors rightly referenced “black helicopters” when talking about these people. I’ve written about them on here before. Those get crazy about Common Core are the same type of people that throw around the term RINO and try to blackmail state senators.
From the editorial:
Instead, Common Core standards have been embraced because the idea makes sense. The standards will allow an apples-to-apples comparison of Oklahoma students’ performance with that of other states. That’s a goal policymakers should embrace, particularly if high standards are maintained.
Common Core is not an attempt by the federal government to take over education. It is organized and opted into or out of by the participating states. It allows them to fairly compare the effectiveness of their systems. The biggest opponents of Common Core are the same crowd that home school their children because they can’t have the government indoctrinating them with ideas like evolution and climate change while failing to teach the nation’s true Christian history as articulated by David Barton.
The third editorial that shows the Oklahoman hasn’t entirely lost its mind is from April 14. It is a piece arguing that the Republican super majority in the legislature is actually a problem for the state. I said as much on election night, though my diagnosis was that it would come by way of corruption. The Oklahoman pointed out that when there is no real fear of an elected official losing office, then there is no incentive to do much of anything at all.
Ironically, that legislative inertia may be the result of the GOP’s one-party dominance. Today Republicans don’t fear losing control and Democrats don’t honestly think they can regain it. In a competitive system, both parties strive to generate policy results that boost their electoral appeal. But in a system where wins are automatic based on party affiliation, two things occur: complacency, and the dominant party becomes dominated by people simply seeking power instead of pursuing policy goals.
That’s detrimental to Oklahoma’s future. It also explains why legislative Republicans are now often the impediment to enacting conservative reforms their party once embraced.
The editorial also points out that the House has become radicalized, something else I’ve pointed out here.
Compare the current state of affairs with the achievements of the Republican House majority of 2005-2006. That group approved the largest tax cuts in state history. Funding reforms put in place in 2005 have since pumped an additional $1 billion into transportation infrastructure. High school graduation standards were adopted. Lawmakers even took a serious stab at workers’ comp reform (later thwarted by court rulings, leading to today’s overhaul effort).
Since then, Republicans have enacted important policy changes such as lawsuit reform and education improvements, but given the GOP’s current dominance, shouldn’t Oklahomans expect more? And some Republicans are even backing away from those achievements, bowing to pressure from status-quo forces. Under House Speaker T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, the House has become a fount of bad legislation, ranging from the unconstitutional to the simply ridiculous, even as they’ve gummed up workers’ comp.
The Oklahoman is optimistic that this will change when Obama gets out of office, which is still a number of years away. I’m not so certain things will be any better. If things keep going like they are in state politics, and the Republicans don’t fix their demographics problem on the national level, President Hillary Clinton will be swearing in to the Oval Office and a whole new wave of Tea Party whackaloons will be swearing in to the Oklahoma House.
