It comes as no surprise when ultra right wing loons run amok in Oklahoma. The state is so bright red on political maps you have to wear shades to look at it. How else would you describe a place where, over the last three presidential elections, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Donald J. Trump have carried every single county?
Going into the 2018 elections the republican party has 75 of 101 seats in the state house of representatives while 40 of the 48 state senators are members of the GOP. In addition there isn't a single democrat who holds either a state wide, or federal elective office.
Now you know why Oklahoma teachers had to go on strike for nearly two weeks to get their first raise in 10 plus years.
Those were an ugly few days during which unhinged legislators accused educators of everything from making anonymous death threats to being the unwitting tools of outside socialist forces from places like California and Chicago. Ultimately, the walkout ended with both sides dissatisfied.
Members of the legislature were incensed they were forced to hike selective taxes worth $400 million and because the teachers didn't take their raise, smile, thank them, then go home. The reason the teachers didn't is because $400 million still wasn't nearly enough to bring the funding of public education back to where it was before the clowns from those Joe McCarthy outer limits started the cuts more than a decade ago. It's also why plenty of school districts are still going to have to invest heavily in duct tape in order to hold together rotting text books while conducting classes in buildings with leaky roofs and faulty heating systems.
Still, $400 million beats nothing, right? Well it does, but only if you can keep it.
Toward the end of the strike former U.S. Senator Tom Coburn announced he was fronting a group called, "Oklahoma Taxpayers Unite." The organization is now circulating a petition which would call for a state wide vote to repeal the taxes which are earmarked to fund the raise. In other words Coburn's new outfit is attempting to wipe out the teacher pay increase and eliminate any spare money which might go to schools.
Dr. Tom, as he is called and his pals are ignoring polls which showed over 70% of Oklahomans supported the teachers during the walk out. What they are counting on is being able to sell tens of thousands of, big government sucks, tea party, types on the idea that the funding is a direct tax on them and all the money for a teacher pay raise and school upgrades can come from gutting other state agencies--or what they like to call government fat.
First and foremost the increase isn't a direct tax on the public. In fact the vast majority of the money will come from taxes levied on tobacco and oil companies, plus an adjustment in the percentage of money the state lottery commission must dedicate to education. Secondly, as Phil Horning, a former OKC school board member pointed out in today's The Oklahoman, over the past few years various state agencies have already been gnawed to the bone. During that time frame, thanks to indiscriminate tax cuts which have benefited energy companies and the wildly well to do, 7,000 state jobs have been sliced from the payroll and Oklahoma has suffered through five budget shortfalls.
But hey, who needs to dwell on such details? After all, it's still a tax isn't it? We'll pay it eventually since there has never been an oil, or tobacco company who has let the government shave as much as a dime off their bottom line. They just pass additional costs along to the consumer. Besides, it is politically advantageous for Oklahoma conservatives if everyone here remains--to quote Dean Vernon Wormer--"Fat, drunk, and stupid..." Let's face it, how else can these raving morons stay in power?
On another front Senate Bill 1212 now sits on Governor Mary Fallin's desk awaiting her approval. If she signs off on it everyone in the state gets to carry a loaded handgun in public without a permit, or any sort of safety training.
Yeah, that's all we need. Every, Nazi, Klucker, and undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenic will be able to pack a piece on a sidewalk, near a school, and in a mall. That's right sir, you're too fucking incompetent behind the wheel of a car to get a driver's license, but, by God, you can carry a Glock 9mm anywhere you want. Have a nice day and oh, happy hunting.
A well regulated militia my ass.
Ladies and gentlemen--as you may have guessed--the bar is now open.
5-10-18
When we kids, there were political radio ads where a candidate would claim that he would make Oklahoma 8th, not 48th, in education expenditures. I see that not much has changed in my home state in 50 plus years.
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