By Ron McWhirter

On August 13, sixteen Oklahoma House Republicans signed on to a letter asking for an investigation of state Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters and the Oklahoma State Board of Education (OSDE). The letter called for an inquiry into whether the “failures” justify impeachment. Additional members of the GOP later joined the effort, bringing the total number of signers to 25 at last count. ...

By Steve Byas

I recently went to see the “Reagan” movie, and it brought back lots of memories of the 1976 effort of Reagan to take the Republican presidential nomination away from Gerald Ford, his victories over Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale, and his eight years in the White House. ...

By Charlie Meadows

There is currently a significant effort to have school board elections moved to the general election every other year in November. I have generally been against such a measure, but the effort has caused me to look a little closer at the issue. ...

By Linda Murphy

Oklahoma is the only state that has complete freedom for parents to homeschool their children without reporting to the government or being monitored by the government. If Democrat State Representative Amanda Swope is successful in passing her legislation for homeschool in the upcoming session, the state will have a process for controlling homeschool. ...

By Alexander B. Gray

The threat posed to our nation by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is both grave and existential. Chinese military doctrine calls for unrestricted warfare against the whole of American society, with the goal of defeating the United States by undermining it internally and compromising our infrastructure, cultural institutions, media, academia, and financial markets, beyond just the obvious military targets. Speaking before the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2018, FBI Director Christopher Wray...

By Jason Murphey

I’m fascinated by how, in the social media age, particularly insightful commentary never truly fades away; it continues to circulate, re-circulate and resonate, constantly finding new audiences. A prime example of this: Paul Harvey’s “If I Were the Devil.” If this iconic commentary has yet to make its way into your social media feed of choice, it’s a must-listen. As you listen, you will observe that there’s something absolutely haunting about that crackling, 1960s-era call from the...

By Tim Bakamjian

Most people, especially those of us on the right, agree that the upcoming November election might be the most important in our lifetimes, if not in our nation’s history. As if the last four years haven’t been bad enough, another “win” by the opposition could accelerate our decline to the point of making America and its founding values unrecognizable. While there is little any of us in the Sooner State can do to affect the national outcome, we can pay closer attention and get involved in...

By Shane Smith

On August 13th, the largest DAC (direct air capture) carbon capture plant in the United States, and second largest in the world, opened in Osage County, Oklahoma, near Shidler. The plant, dubbed Bantam, is the creation of Heimdal, Inc., in collaboration with CapturePoint, who already operates a massive carbon capture hub in Osage County in the Burbank oil field. ...

By John Michener

Some believe in democracy – that the majority can vote to legitimize evil. On 5 November 2024, the people in ten states will vote to protect murder by abortion in their state constitutions. The very idea is repulsive, immoral, and repugnant, and is in direct opposition to every state constitution and the federal constitution, all of which guarantee the right to life. Here is a list of the states and what each has proposed to enshrine in its constitution: 1. Arizona: If approved by more...

By David Deming

It’s been said that conservatives view leftists as people with bad ideas, while leftists view conservatives as bad people, period. My personal experiences on social media reinforce this. Any attempt to engage a leftist in a dialogue is futile. There is no bridging the chasm. Not only are leftists unable to construct arguments, they fail to even grasp what an argument is. Logic and facts escape them. It’s not that they have bad ideas – they don’t have ideas at all. ...

By Allan Wall

Should illegal aliens in the state receive a special driver’s license? That’s the recommendation of an official state labor task force commissioned by our esteemed Governor Kevin Stitt. ...

By Ron McWhirter

We believe the most important product of this publication is our annual Oklahoma Conservative Index which rates members of the Oklahoma Legislature. We published our first scorecard in the summer of 1979, and with this summer issue we present the 46th edition of the ratings. ...

By Steve Byas

Setting aside the issue that the First Amendment restricted the federal government and not the states – which the U.S. Supreme Court later applied to the states through the “Incorporation Doctrine” interpretation of the 14th Amendment – the latest ruling on the Catholic Charter school, St. Isidore of Seville, by our Oklahoma Supreme Court is yet another example of a misunderstanding of the purpose of the First Amendment, written by James Madison. ...

By Linda Murphy

The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled on June 25th, based on the Constitution and Law, to reject public tax funding for a state-wide Catholic Charter School. Oklahoma has always prohibited state tax dollars from being used to support religion. A Catholic church spokesman stated openly that their plans for a public funded school, St. Isidore of Seville, include teaching Catholicism. ...

By Jason Murphey

Nearly 20 years ago, the Oklahoma State Treasurer commissioned a special report. It uncovered significant inefficiencies in a crucial aspect of Oklahoma policy: how the state manages its spending. There’s no better barometer for measuring the quality of our elected officials than efficiency or lack thereof of money management policies. The report uncovered numerous deficiencies within the state’s purchasing system, including the large number of purchases exempt from the purchasing act an...

By David Deming

Every time there’s a tragic incidence of gun violence, I read the claim on social media, “it’s the guns!” implying a causal relationship between the availability of firearms and violent crime. The concomitant corollary is that restrictions on gun ownership would reduce violence and lead to the peaceful society we all want. I don’t believe this is the case, and will explain why. ...

By Tim Bakamjian

Any list of the greatest Oklahomans in our state’s history would be incomplete without the name of Harold Hamm at or near the top of the list. Hamm, 78, forever changed the energy world and the livelihoods of millions worldwide by pioneering horizontal drilling, which in turn propelled the U.S. shale revolution. More than anyone, he took America in short order from energy scarcity to energy abundance. ...

By Shane Smith

We live in strange and historic times, to say the least. The failed Trump assassination has raised the stakes for our nation far higher than they have ever been before. A frail, 20-year-old loser, who appears to have had no real weapons training, took aim at our once and future President and came within a hair’s breadth of taking his life, sending this nation into a socio-political caldera that none of us want a part of. And now, as of this writing, our decrepit President Biden has announced...

By John Michener

Remember when your mom would yell at you: “Stop that or else!” Or when your dad would bark, “You’re going to get it!” Did you ever wonder, “Or else what? What am I going to get?” No, you had no doubt at all. You knew what they meant. If you did not obey the family rule, you would receive the designated and appropriate punishment. For without the threat of punishment, humans are inclined to go on disobeying. This is a fundamental teaching of scripture and natural law. The topic is...

By Allan Wall

Consulates are installations representing a government on the soil of another country. The diplomats of the consulate represent the interests of their country in a foreign land. Consulates have some legitimate functions. When I resided in Mexico, I occasionally traveled to a U.S. consulate in another city and the staff there were very helpful. ...