Letter to the Editor: Choosing to fail
BY Robert G. Lemons, Bird Island
Sunday, January 20, 2013
1/20/13 at 7:51 AM
Regarding Gov. Mary Fallin's speech at the National Press Club on Jan. 9, in which she called for the federal government to partner with states: The governor's idea sounds good and in general probably is a good idea. The biggest problem with the idea is that given a choice, some states like Oklahoma choose to fail.
Under Gov. Fallin's leadership we have fallen from 46th in funding education to 49th. We have one of the highest percentages of uninsured. We have the highest incarceration rate for women. We remain one of the poorest states in the country.
We are among the lowest taxed people in the country (43rd), yet the governor wants to lower us even further making it even more difficult to address the failings in providing needed services.
I have yet to see one choice the governor has made that placed Oklahoma in a better position than any other state.
If we really want to "partner" with the federal government we need to show some good faith effort to actually do so. Instead, when given a chance, Oklahoma continues to choose to fail.
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