What's Really Important?

If you have been watching any news at all lately, or especially for you real political junkies who like to read blogs, the “blogisphere” has been full of accusations. We have been doing what us Republicans do best “eating our young”. That has been quite a big deal lately as this is the first time in history for the Republicans to control all three branches at the Capitol. It is what I call the three-legged stool. We have only owned the third leg, which is the Governor’s office, for a matter of weeks and already Republicans are at each other to see who can “out conservative” the other one. I said in 2004 when the Republicans first took the House that “it is all well and good but now we must govern”. Now the minority party will point out the weaknesses of the majority party. We were great at that when we were in the minority. We should have been since we did it for 80 years.

Gradually, year by year, with a little help from Washington, D.C., voters have realized that Oklahoma is a pretty conservative state. I think that message is pretty clear especially considering the seats we picked in Southeast Oklahoma, which has long been considered a stronghold for Democrats. There are those who said for years “you will never switch Southeast Oklahoma”, but now it is happening. The argument as we head toward session this year seems to be “what is most important to conservatives?”. Is it the economy or social issues? When I consider things like this, it seems I often go back to things my mom used to say, one of which was something I heard all too often growing up and something you have heard me say before and that is “life is about balance”. I think it holds true today as we examine where we are as a state. I think if you think of it in other terms like “what is the hottest fire?”, I have to think that the economy is the hottest fire we are dealing with. Now, before you say that I have picked sides and “Don Armes is no conservative” and all that other malarchy, let’s go back to why we sign up as Republicans to start with. One of the big reasons that I am a Republican, even when it was not cool in Southwest Oklahoma, is the freedom to keep and bear arms. That is very important to me and the desire to be left alone transcends into other areas for me personally. I have a pro-life voting record that I will put up against anyone’s. In fact, on the other side of the ledger, I got a seven percent from the latest ACLU rating that just came out. Most liberals score well over 50, so I feel pretty good about that.

I think one thing we have to remember is that not all Republicans think exactly alike. From my experience in the last eight or nine years of politics, I can tell ya that we as a group are not very tolerant of anyone who does not think just like we do. It seems that we do not tolerate shades very well. I guess, maybe those of us who were conservative when it wasn’t cool, get our hackles up pretty easily and tend to “bow up” when someone questions us or our position. I was one of the first Republicans elected in Southwest Oklahoma in this era. I spent two years in the minority party in the House and was there when we made history with the first Republican majority in eighty years. People have been waiting a long time for us to get in position to change some things in this state. They expected things to happen and “right now”. That conservative base out there was not really in the mood for excuses. They were in the mood to make something happen. I can tell ya from being in a ringside seat that the reason Oklahoma is spending more on roads and bridges is because Republicans forced that. I can specifically remember the two members, who are both termed out now, that forced the democrats hands in what I considered a brilliant political move. The members’ names were Jim Newport and Mark Liotta. We took a responsible stance and said “Oklahoma, we need to spend our money wisely and road and bridge infrastructure as a priority and if we continue to neglect it, we will never catch up”. It is more important than getting elected and more important than lots of things.” So, there has been tons of progress and there will continue to be. With the control of both chambers, came lots of good things, especially where social issues are concerned. We can now not only take a pro-life stance, we can actually pass the laws because we have the votes.

The fighting we see within our own party is very frustrating to me but one thing it does create healthy dialogue. Former Speaker, Chris Benge, used the analogy of a “big tent”. I think that sums it up fairly well because as the size of our tent increases, so do the opinions and beliefs of all of us under that tent. We have a lot of things to take care of this year. Personally, I think the hottest fire is the economy and the state budget but, as I said before, life is about balance and our job is to lead. I believe that to do that we have got to do it all. We have to address social issues but I do not think we should let those spin out of control to where we ignore the economic issues. It is a tricky tight rope to maneuver but as an old friend of mine used to say “we have got it to do” so let’s go to work.

If you would like to contact me while I am at the Capitol, please do not hesitate to call 1-800-522-8502 or send an e-mail to donarmes@okhouse.gov

And here’s a little something to think about as you go down the road:

Toleration is the greatest gift of the mind; it requires the same effort of the brain that it takes to balance oneself on a bicycle.
Helen Keller