Analysis: The positive story in the Tulsa World Saturday on the state of the Democrat Party in Oklahoma ended with a quote from Executive Director Trav Robertson.
“Oklahoma has 22 different ecological zones,” he told writer Randy Krehbiel. “I think there are just as many types of Democrats.”
This is what you could call spin.
Admitting the November 2014 elections were “bad” for Democrats, an understatement at best, Robertson is quoted noting “some things we did correctly.”
Krehbiel wrote: “optimism stemmed from what he said was better organization and cooperation among campaigns and state and local parties. That included better use of technology to target voters and better utilize resources.”
Targeting voters and utilizing resources was not a problem for the 100 years Democrats controlled Oklahoma government and it will not be the pivotal point of success in future elections. The problem is positional. What unites Democrats in Oklahoma when nationally they are defined by a president who took the oath after campaigning first with glittering generalities and, four years later, on lies, deceits and distortions?
Krehbiel wrote, “Democrats saw their state Senate caucus shrink from 12 to eight while all but one of their candidates for statewide office lost by double digits. They were not competitive in either of the U.S. Senate races or against any of the incumbent U.S. House members.” Click here for more from the Tulsa World.
While they did not field candidates for state treasurer, auditor and inspector, or corporation commissioner, no mention was made of the most entertaining Democrat to run statewide, Mike Workman, Democrat Nominee for Labor Commissioner who has NOT held an OK Drivers License for over 10 years and didn’t seem to think it was a problem to drive illegally – for himself anyway.
The longer interview raises several other troubling issues for Mr. Workman. To view that longer interview, click here. Democrats really do need coherent candidates.
Krehbiel suggests as “most significant” registration as the party is losing members while the number of Republicans and independents increases. This fails to account for many life long loyal Democrats who register Republican for a specific election as Tulsa School Superintendent Keith Ballard and family did when his son, Matt, successfully challenged, as a Republican, for District Attorney of Rogers, Mays and Craig Counties. Registration change is very unlikely to have altered any of the family’s political positions on specific policy issues.
One defeated Rogers County Commissioner changed his registration back to Democrat within days of losing his Republican primary contest. Real Republicans in Rogers County applauded. An unexpected Republican victory, in contrast, is covered here.
This writer suggests a basic difference. Democrats nationally are controlled by the extreme left and there is no Conservative Democrat for Oklahomans to rally around. Oklahoma’s Karl Albert, who served as Speaker of the House from 1971 to 1977, would not recognize today’s Democrat Party.
Republicans believe in the Rule of Law, Free Enterprise, Public Safety, National Defense, lower taxes and individual Liberty – concepts long forgotten by Democrats who accept the “Power Analysis” Saul Alinsky and Obama taught and, as President, Obama has implemented.
Pulling together, Robertson said, is the only way for the Democrat Party to become competitive again, but that is bull hockey. What they really need are concepts supportive of individual Liberty, the U.S. Constitution and contrary to Communism which, by the day, seem to be more prevalent in this president’s bumbling approach to governing between golf games and vacations.
Boiled down, the divide is between those who earn and those who take.
Earners work to gather a living in this robust life by individual effort on their own merit and expect equal treatment under the law for all. They expect to keep what they earn regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or the greed of government.
Takers live by violence, fraud or on appeal to power demanding “redistribution” justified by some perceived need or compelling tale of woe motivated by envy. They are unlikely to have met a payroll or attend church or hold to consistent standards of honor, conduct or merit. They live on pity in emotion and with mental disorder as Liberalism is a disease that separates the infected from individual responsibility and historical fact.
Feel free to disagree below.