By Constitution Staff

The recent rejection by the Oklahoma House of Representatives of the song Do You Realize?, by the Flaming Lips group as the state's "official" rock song, raises some comparisons to the praise often given to Oklahoma folk singer Woody Guthrie.

Almost 11,000 of 21,000 people who participated in an online survey picked the Lips' song, from a list of 10 songs selected by a panel. While the Senate voted 46-0 to confirm the choice of Do You Realize?, the House voted 48-39, or three votes short of the 51 votes required for a majority.

Corey Holland, a state representative from Marlow, was offended by one band member who wore a T-shirt bearing a hammer and sickle, the official symbol of totalitarian communism, when the band was introduced in the House a few weeks ago.

While some House members and Governor Brad Henry praised the Flaming Lips, with Henry asserting that they had, "fun and provocative rock music," one has to wonder what the governor and House members who supported them would have said had the band wore swastikas on their T-shirts. Yet, for some reason, communism, a totalitarian ideology responsible for millions of deaths around the world, and the deprivation of basic human liberty, is simply not a cause for concern.

Governor Henry has fashioned himself as a more moderate Democrat, especially when he ran for reelection in 2006. His rash of vetoes of good conservative legislation this session, and his support for Barack Obama in the Democrat Oklahoma primary last year, might remind some long-time readers of a T-shirt worn by the governor himself a few years ago. For some unexplained reason, Henry wore a "Cal Berkely" T-shirt to an OU-Texas football game. Cal-Berkley, of course, is well known for its hard-cord leftist values.

This continues the support of musicians by many Oklahoma "liberals," of left-wing musicians. Okemah-raised folk singer Woody Guthrie wrote for an official communist party newspaper. In one of his columns, Guthrie defended the Soviet Union's invasion of Poland in 1939, saying that Stalin just wanted to liberate the farmers in that eastern European nation. Guthrie once said that he was proud to have joined the Communist Party. Whether he actually did is some matter of historical dispute, but he clearly was a strong supporter of the party.

Now, if Guthrie had praised Adolf Hitler for invading Poland, and said that he was proud of joining the Nazi Party, and had written for a Nazi Party newspaper, it is doubtful that he would be praised by Oklahoma liberals. It is even more unlikely that the state of Oklahoma would have hung a portrait of Guthrie in the rotunda of the Capitol. And, it is not very likely that the Oklahoma Gazette would have created the "Woody" Award for musical achievement.