OCPAC – Is Your Legislator Conservative? Part 1
John Michener
1. Program July 6: Gary Richardson
2. Reclaiming America Conference
3. Election Results
4. Is Your Legislator Conservative? Part 1
1. Program July 6: Gary Richardson. Our speaker this Wednesday at noon at Mama Roja will be Gary Richardson. Gary is a successful attorney from the Tulsa area who ran for governor in 2002 as an Independent. He has authored three books: Fear is Never Our Friend, Thank God They Ate the Apple!, and Black Robe Fever which is an expose of judicial corruption.
2. Reclaiming America for Christ. Mark your calendars for this Christian worldview conference on July 22-23 at Edmond’s First Baptist Church. The conference will begin Friday night at 6:30 PM and conclude Saturday at 1:00 PM. It will cover topics such as the Christian’s role in politics, Christian apologetics, and evidences of creation. Go to www.reclaimamericaforchrist.org or click on this flyer for conference details and speakers.
3. Election Results. Here are the complete election results. In Oklahoma House and Senate primaries, OCPAC endorsed eleven candidates. We had two outright victories with Tess Teague in House District 101 and Sen. Nathan Dahm in Senate District 23. We had five losses, and we have four candidates who will face runoff elections on August 23. The runoff elections for OCPAC-endorsed candidates are:
SD 39 (Tulsa) Amanda Teegarden vs. Dave Rader
SD 41 (Edmond) Paul Blair vs. Adam Pugh
SD 25 (Tulsa) Joe Newhouse vs. Lisa Kramer
HD 67 (Tulsa) Scott McEachin vs. Tom McCloud
Perhaps you have been busy helping another candidate whose race is now won or over. Please direct your attention to helping these conservative candidates take office. Follow the links above and donate to their campaigns. Help them knock doors, make calls, and place signs. Encourage your friends in these districts to vote for our picks. Mark your own calendar so that you do not forget to vote in these runoffs. If you did not vote previously because you were not registered, you can still register by July 29 to vote in the runoffs. The deadline to request an absentee ballot is August 17. Early voting is August 18-20.
4. Is Your Legislator Conservative? Part 1: The Right to Self-Defense. A few weeks ago we explained that many officials cry, “Faith! Family! Freedom!” but may not actually govern in a way which supports these ideals. Show me your principle by your policy, we said, for principle without corresponding policy is dead.
The best way to tell how well a legislator’s policy corresponds to his espoused principles is to look at the Oklahoma Conservative Index. This is a comprehensive scorecard which rates how well our legislators implement principles of good government. It is created by The Oklahoma Constitution newspaper in conjunction with OCPAC. You can reference the latest scores for your senators here and your representatives here. Over the next several weeks we are going to explore various policies which made it onto the Oklahoma Conservative Index and explain why they reveal whether our legislators truly support principles of liberty, free markets, and Judeo-Christian values.
The first issue we will examine is the natural right to self-defense. Rights come from God, and men have no right to take away what God has given. There are three God-given moral rights to which we refer separately, but which are inextricably linked to each other: 1) The right to life, 2) The right to self-defense—there is no right to life without a right to defend it, and 3) The right to bear arms—there is no right to self-defense without a right to bear arms.
These three rights are self-evident in the laws of nature, but they are also evident in scripture. Murder, for example, has been universally recognized from the beginning of time as wrong. This moral law was etched in ancient law codes for as far back as we can trace, its most famous version coming in the Sixth Commandment, “You shall not murder.” The Old Testament is brimming with examples throughout of self-defense. Read the “War Psalms,” for example, and see also Exodus 22:2. Jesus recommended the bearing of arms for self-defense in Luke 22:35-38. Jesus also sanctioned the bearing of arms on a routine basis, even in times of worship and prayer, as evidenced by his telling Peter to “Put your sword back in its place” when Peter attacked the guard in the garden of prayer.
If our Legislature is going to support our natural right to self-defense then they must accomplish these three objectives: 1) Fix the Oklahoma Constitution, 2) Allow the carrying of arms without licensing, and 3) Allow the carrying of arms in all public places without restrictions. Any places where arms are banned, such as college campuses, become killing zones.
This year the Legislature attempted to correct the Oklahoma Constitution. Unfortunately, our Constitution favors gun-control. A clause in Article 2, Section 26 states, “nothing herein contained shall prevent the Legislature from regulating the carrying of weapons.” House Joint Resolution 1009 would have allowed the people to vote to fix this inappropriate phrase in our Constitution. Therefore, a YES vote on this measure is conservative, and the vote was chosen for use in the Conservative Index. HJR 1009 passed the House and Senate, but died in conference committee because of Senate amendments.
Additional Notes
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· Become an OCPAC member with this form.
· We currently meet on Wednesdays at noon at Mama Roja Mexican Kitchen.
· The views expressed in this email are the personal opinion of John Michener and do not necessarily reflect the views of OCPAC, its leadership team, or its members.