Thriving? Hardly

Yes, now former Speaker Charles McCall can certainly identify parts of Oklahoma doing well – even thriving – but that certainly doesn't fit the vast majority of our state.

Examples abound illuminating our problems: Thirty counties have lost population over the last 10 years. Many don't even have a health department or adequate doctors and nurses. Cancer rates put us in the Top 5; heart disease in the Top 3; diabetes in the Top 2 in the nation.

Yes, teacher salaries have gone up, but only after a divisive and long walkout back in 2018 coupled with the defeat of several ardent, anti-public education lawmakers in the same year.

Meanwhile, in higher education, Speaker McCall presided over annual cuts to our 27 colleges and universities which were the deepest in the country. Under McCall funding for these institutions of higher learning plummeted from $1.1 billion in 2006 to around $810 million in 2019.

Hardly the way to treat what could be our strongest economic drivers.

Speaking of the pursuit of jobs, time after time we have been the bridesmaid in chasing large international corporations such as Panasonic, Volkswagen and Tesla only to see them choose a different location that was more invested in education and health care. Additionally, our strident and unforgiving opposition to abortion certainly is a negative to more progressive corporate leadership.

On infrastructure and broadband, only because of the federally passed legislation known as the American Rescue Plan will we see any progress in these two critical areas and, of course, not a single Republican in Congress voted for it.

However, you can bet they will be at the ribbon cuttings, ground breakings and public speakings.

But for me, regardless of what they actually say, hypocrisy will drip off their every word.