Opinion: How to Flip Oklahoma Blue
Eli Winter
BARTLESVILLE, OKLAHOMA—According to Business Insider, Oklahoma is the sixth most Conservative state in the country. This statistic makes it seem impossible that my state, Oklahoma, could ever be a stronghold for Progressives, right? If this is your perception of my state, you are not only deceived, but I will show you that not only is Oklahoma not Conservative, it’s Socialist. Progressive politics could win over the state in one election cycle, and this is the way to victory for America’s Progressives in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma’s history is filled with Socialists and workers advocating politics. To start, one of Oklahoma’s most famous citizens, Woody Guthrie, is actually a Communist. Although the US and the local Oklahoma government have done their best to scrub this part of his history from public knowledge, Guthrie advocated for Communism to be implemented through land reform, worker safety regulations, wealth redistribution, and limiting the power of oil companies. He was also against any form of racial discrimination after his father joined the KKK in 1915, causing him to push for equal treatment for all Oklahomans. Woody Guthrie, however, is only the beginning of Socialist influence in Oklahoma. In 1914, the SPO (Socialist Party of Oklahoma) had over 800 locals and over 175 elected officials, including six state legislators. In that year's gubernatorial election, Socialist candidate Fred W. Holt took 20 percent of the vote. In addition, Oklahoma had the largest branch of the Socialist Party in the entire country, and in the 1912 election, Eugene Debs, the Socialist Party’s presidential candidate, got the second largest amount of votes from Oklahoma. By 1914, the Socialist Party was more of a rival to the ruling party of Oklahoma, the Democratic Party (rather than the Republican party). The Socialist Party also looked poised to take power in Oklahoma from the outset of the 1914 legislative election due to their growing influence. Oklahoman Socialists were also supported by Evangelical communities and preachers from every denomination who saw Socialism in accordance with the teachings of Christ. The Socialist Party of Oklahoma’s power unfortunately reached a fever pitch in 1916 when the government started to suppress the party’s influence illegally and violently. The state government even changed Oklahoma’s state flag to remove the “radical color of red”(Blanc). Meanwhile, in 1917, the US entered WW1 which allowed President Wilson to pass the Espionage Act: a huge overstep in civil liberties which allowed the government to arrest any “potential enemies to the state,” which of course, in Wilson’s eyes, included Socialists. The Socialist Party fired back by igniting the Green Corn Rebellion in Oklahoma which was a small and, in some areas, armed rebellion to the draft in Oklahoma and a general resistance to the war. This allowed Wilson to crush the party, which had already started to decline as a result of the President’s previous actions. During this time however, Woody Guthrie was growing up and would attempt to revive the ideas of the party during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl to some avail. Most people would look back and assume that some change must have come out of the Socialist Party’s leverage and the cooperation during the New Deal Program but, unfortunately, this is not true.
Oklahoma, the Land of Opportunity, is still impoverished, economically polarized, and just as company owned as it used to be. Almost all of the advancements in workers’ rights, equality, and anti discrimination laws the Socialist Party attempted to implement have been decisively destroyed. The lingering effects of this setback are apparent in four modern examples: continued poverty and wealth disparity, Oklahoma’s handling of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Opioid Crisis, and the devastatingly low teachers’ salaries and resulting “walkout” (walkout means strike, but in Oklahoma, striking is illegal so it has to be called a walkout). First, Oklahoma is visibly just as economically and urbanizationally polar as it has always been. I live in a medium-sized town north of Oklahoma’s second biggest city: Tulsa. There is a massive difference between the wealth and quality of life to be found in the cities when compared to where I live. In my town, Phillips 66 and Conoco, two oil companies, are still the largest investors in the community and have a strong hold on the state with the ability to control its politics. Furthermore, at least 15% of Oklahomans live below the poverty line (this metric is largely flawed and historically has been tampered with; the real number is probably around 27%). Coupled with rampant poverty is the current pandemic and Opioid Crisis, which have both caused the situation to worsen dramatically.
I have previously written about the terribly perfect storm that was created in Oklahoma with desperate and poor workers needing help from a medical system which neglects them combined with chronic pain and easily addictive and accessible drugs, creating a recipe for disaster and suffering only matched by New Hampshire and West Virginia. “In 2017, prescriptions for opioids were dispensed at a rate of 479 prescriptions per hour, enough for every adult in Oklahoma to have the equivalent of 156 pills” (Hunter). This is part of a report that describes the issue from State Attorney Mike Hunter. In addition to the previous chaos, add an incredibly business friendly governor, state government, and judicial system that punishes drug abusers rather than address their medical issues properly through rehabilitation, creating yet another problem that clings onto the state like a parasite: only growing as the state's institutional incompetence continues to destroy lives. Luckily, it seems our state attorney still has enough humanity to attempt to hold these companies responsible.
Similarly, these same problems have been replicated in Oklahoma’s handling of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Although the healthcare system is a national issue, it still poses a huge problem for most Oklahomans. Especially when Oklahoma receives such a small amount of testing kits due to our low population and inability to pay for them. Contrastingly, every player on the Thunder as well as the wealthy in Oklahoma have been tested multiple times. While Oklahoma is not nearly the hardest state hit by the pandemic, if the situation continues to be handled in this manner and the virus is not controlled at a national level, we could easily see a larger outbreak similar to the Opioid Crisis (in terms of severity and fatality) in Oklahoma and across the Midwest.
Finally, there is the issue of teacher pay and the reactionary politics which are a byproduct of their low wages. The teachers, to some extent, represent the common worker in Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, teachers make around 25 thousand dollars a year right at minimum wage. I personally know several teachers that either have more than one job or a side job just to make ends meet. In addition, Oklahoma has cut education and teacher pay continuously for the past decade. Now, Oklahoma is ranked 45th in education. However, I detest this number as the curriculum has changed and the situation has slightly improved since the walk out. Oklahoma used to be ranked 52nd in education (behind the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico). Education has gotten so bad that Oklahoma is now facing a teacher crisis, as many leave the state for a reasonable wage or quit. In fact, in 2016 the Teacher of the Year for Oklahoma left the state for Texas. This has also caused a major lack of new teachers in Oklahoma, and people now joke about the idea of becoming a teacher as they make so little. Two years ago, however, teachers across the state had a “walkout,” (strikes were made illegal because of all the Socialist activity in the early 1900’s) which called for a stop to continued education fund depletion and better teacher pay. This achieved less than gratifying results with teacher pay raised by 5 thousand dollars for one year, and the state “promised” to stop cutting education funding. That was it. While the walkout did not achieve the results teachers had hoped for, it represents the ability of Oklahoman workers to come together, organize, stri-I mean walk out, and demand better pay, showing the government that they can resist. This is the sign of a resurgening workers’ movement and a potential Second Labor Movement. With this kind of low pay and maltreatment found in almost every industry in Oklahoma in tandem with the general poverty and wealth disparity still found in the state, this type of worker action will not be limited to teachers if the state continues to deteriorate. This is the time to harness that energy and achieve some equality in this country to give Oklahoman workers a better life and fulfill the vision of the original Oklahoman Revolutionaires. Here is how this can be achieved.
Clearly, the most important issues to Oklahomans are those that affect their well being, such as healthcare. They also seek to get rid of extreme inequality just as they did with the Socialist Party all the way back in 1914. So, my message to Progressives looking to win Oklahoma, which will probably be the Democrats making this last bit addressed directly to them, all you need to do is two simple things:
Run a campaign on the issues Oklahomans care about, such as healthcare and higher wages
When you win your campaign, uphold your promises to make the lives of everyday Oklahomans better.
This is not a game, and quite frankly this is not House of Cards where you lie to your constituency to get elected in a Machiavellian manner. I am only giving this advice to the Democrats, not because I like them, but unfortunately because they are the only shot Oklahoma has at obtaining a better future. The state has already had a rather popular Democratic governor, David Boren, thus the party is not totally foreign. The Greens don’t stand a chance, and the Libertarian Party in Oklahoma is now associated with Joe Exotic rather than Socialists. However, if the Democratic party is to survive in Oklahoma, here are some requirements. First, don’t even think about lying to consitutentants. I know I already mentioned this before. but if this happens just once, the party could lose the state permanently and it will only serve to prove most Oklahomans correct about the stereotype of the Democrats being elitists and liars. Second, and this part is by far the most important, whether the Democrats like it or not the “Corporatist” wing of the party will NEVER win in Oklahoma nor will they have the workers support, period. This goes back to the lying part: all these career politicians have lied about their records and do not care about workers or their needs, which they have proved through their policies time and time again. Vocal support means very little: what you support in office and what legislation you pass is what matters. Neoliberalism is already represented by the fake Populist Republican party, and we do not need another party just like them. At the very least, what Oklahoma needs right now is Social Democracy: a series of very light Socialist reforms that are still based in Democracy and Capitalism, has made America great in the past through Presidents like FDR and JFK and continues to live on through Bernie Sanders.
Democrats, this is not radical if you want to win in Oklahoma, this is the bare minimum. That means no Super PACs, wealthy donors, or half measures to the Republicans. In fact, I stipulate that if you want a successful candidate in Oklahoma, the requirement should be that they support Medicare for All. It won in Oklahoma’s Democratic Primary, and the state needs it desperately as you have seen. This is not a radical idea, the Democrats are supposed to be the party of FDR ,and he attempted to implement Medicare for All towards the end of his fourth term but passed away before he could achieve it. JFK also supported the idea. Thus, if the Democratic Party wants to harness the energy of the worker movement, the party must stay true to the workers.
Ultimately, this is about helping Oklahomans with or without the Democratic Party. Oklahoma is “the Land of Opportunity,” and it is the goal of all Oklahomans to realize it. In the words of one of Oklahoma’s most famous citizens, I will leave you with the vision I hope to one day see realized in Oklahoma: “This land was made for you and me”.
WORKS CITED:
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/04/teachers-strikes-oklahoma-socialism-sanders-unions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Party_of_Oklahoma#Growth