Analysis: Former Vice President Mike Pence has a new book out arguing that Republicans need to return to the Reagan-era version of conservatism and move away from the populism associated with Donald Trump. Pence sees Trump populism as a departure from conservative principles. Many conservatives, myself included, see it differently.
The real debate is not whether Ronald Reagan was right for his time. The real debate is whether the world that Reagan confronted is the same world we face today.
In the last article published Monday, I described a contradiction hiding in plain sight: Oklahoma operates one education system—CareerTech—that works, and another—traditional K–12—that struggles to produce consistent results.
That raises a deeper question. Can a large, statewide system actually be fixed? Or are we stuck with whatever we have? Oklahoma already knows the answer—because we’ve lived through it.
Oklahoma has something almost no one talks about. We run two completely different education systems—side by side, funded by the same taxpayers, serving many of the same students.
One is widely respected across the country. Employers praise it. Students line up for it. Other states try to copy it. The other struggles year after year. Parents are frustrated. Outcomes lag. Confidence erodes.
Most Oklahomans know both systems exist. Almost no one stops to ask the obvious question: How can the same state produce both a national model and a systemically failing system at the same time?
