We are sore losers.
From football games to presidential elections, we don’t like to be on the failing end of a contest.
That’s life though.
No one can win every time, and someone has to lose.
So, the petitions from people wanting to
secede from the union drive me crazy.
It’s silly, it’s distracting, and it’s serving no purpose but to cause further divisions.
We teach values of statesmanship and sportsmanship to youth, then turn into children as adults.
When a kid loses a student council election, she doesn’t then move from the school.
After a youth baseball team loses, the athletes shake hands and say “good game.”
The petitioners may have valid reasons for being upset about who won last week’s election, but they haven’t thought through the reality of no longer being part of America.
If Oklahoma decided to be its own nation, we could not support ourselves.
Think about the loss of our military – Fort Sill; Altus, Vance and Tinker Air Force Bases; the ammunition plant in McAlester; and the U.S. Coast Guard Institute.
That’s about 47,100 jobs and the livelihoods of those cities.
Then, forget receiving benefits of Social Security and Medicare, which would be devastating to our older and disabled populations.
If the toll roads madden you, no more transportation funding won't help that.
Federally backed loans for higher education and housing evaporate, too.
Nothing for vulnerable people – no food stamps, elderly nutrition programs, Head Start, low-income energy assistance or health care for poor children and their pregnant mothers.
The list can go on.
Overall, Oklahoma takes in more from the federal government than we give.
It’s OK. That’s how it works.
As a nation, we try and take care of one another for a stronger, more powerful union.
Emotions run high when it comes to ideological political differences.
But the sky is not falling.
Even those who flirt with the secession idea during times of political vitriol, like
Texas Gov. Rick Perry , don’t truly think it’s plausible.
As a compromise – something our lawmakers might consider using again – I propose we allow for secession of the petitioners.
They have to move to Florida though.
That state can’t figure out how to count votes, it’s swampy, serial killers seem to lurk there, and it’s just hanging off the edge of our land mass.
So I’ll give up Key West if we can get the whiners and Debbie Downers out of our hair.
They can call it MyGuyLost-astan or IWantMyWay-atopia and live all “Lord of the Flies” however they want to.
My personal ballot choices came up with a mixed bag of results, some won and some lost.
I’m not leaving.
As the clichés go, better luck next time, and I’m proud to be an American.
