It is the aim of this blog to inform and occasionally infuriate left-leaning Oklahomans about the wheelings and dealings of our state government. If all goes as planned, this blog will serve as a stepping stone for liberal candidates to enter the Oklahoma government by helping to fund and promote them, while also encouraging and educating our readers on volunteer opportunities in their own neighborhoods.
But first, a short introduction of the author and creator would seem to be in order.
I spent much of my life in Guthrie, Oklahoma, the state's proud first capital with a population of less than 10,000. Raised in deteriorating public schools, I experienced firsthand the Republicans' politicization of our education system and the consequences of putting businesses ahead of the instruction and inspiration of children. A little more than 11 miles from Langston University, the state's only historically black college, Guthrie is a diverse town rife with racial unease. As of the 2000 census, more than 17 percent of the population of Guthrie was under the poverty line. I mention these things not to besmirch the city, but to paint a picture of the home that left a lasting impact on my political ideology.
I currently study political science at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. But, lest any readers from that other Oklahoma university find themselves ready to click away, I did spend a year there as well.
I've been involved with the campaigns of President Barack Obama, former Lieutenant Governor Jari Askins, and several other local legislative elections. In doing so, I've talked to innumerable Oklahomans who find themselves marginalized by our current state government. With politicians placing business and personal interests ahead of the polite, humble and hard-working people of Oklahoma. With venomous conservative hard-liners who paint a national picture of Oklahoma as ignorant rednecks whose only goal seems to be to limit the rights of their fellow citizens (see: Sally Kern). And, quite frankly, I've had enough.
My yellow-bellied friends, my silent majority comrades, I welcome you to the dawn of a new era for the great state of Oklahoma.
Now let's elect some Democrats.
