I want to thank Kurt Hochenauer for this opportunity to be a part of this blog.  I have long admired Kurt’s writings and commentaries. I am honored to be associated with his efforts to bring a sense of justice and balance in a state which sorely needs it.

I would like to make my first observations on the political posturing going on in present campaigns.  The German pastor and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer warned of something he called “Cheap Grace”.  He described this as Christianity without suffering, without a cost.  I see many politicians in America and particularly in Oklahoma offering a similar type of citizenship.  We are being offered easy patriotism, cut rate democracy , and self-serving stewardship. 

Beware of the politician who tells you everything you want to hear, who appeals to what you “feel” is right.  Beware of the person who claims he or she know the “pure and simple truth” not recognizing that truth is rarely “pure” and never “simple.”

Take, for example, politicians who rail against the “gay marriage” claiming that they wish to “protect the sanctity” of the one man-one woman monogamous relationship. First, looking at the marriages that people like Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gringrich, Strom Thurman have had, I worry that the institution needs to be protected from its protectors.  However, we have to recognize once we consider the economic and social implications of family units, things get a bit complicated.

Consider that businesses like AT&T, for example, offers generous benefits, including health insurace, to “domestic partners”.  The catch is that for an AT&T employee to include his or her partner as a beneficiary, some type of legal documentation for their partnership may be required.  Can someone say “Catch-22”? 

So when Brad or Ernest or Todd or Denise or whoever says that s/he wants to “protect” your marriage from those wicked gays, be aware that they may be asking you to pay for someone’s health care or the healthcare of her child through your taxes and/or higher health costs. Afterall, those hospitals have to recoop those unpaid emergency rooms visits somehow.

Remember also to be one your guard when Joe or Joesphine Politico offers you the obvious solution to the latest problem that has caught the media’s attention. Or, as my papa the preacher told me, “Son, if it sounds too good [or to simple] to be true, it probably is.”

I will deal with more examples of “Cheap Citizenship” because I believe this is a real threat to our Republic in later diaries.

In Solidarity,

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U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook, who is running for governor here, conceded today he just recently discovered he is campaigning for the state’s highest position in Oklahoma, not Utah.

In a speech at the Bible Belt Snake Handlers Association’s annual convention, Istook admitted “it is true, my fellow rattler lovers, I initially believed I was running for governor in Utah, but, come on, the two states look a lot a like on the map, and we all love ol’ George Bush in both states, so does it really matter?  I think not, snakies.”

After his speech, Istook told reporters, “this whole ‘state’ business is just a political ploy cooked up by fringe leftists.  I tell you, this fringe left, they can talk state this state that, but, really, Utah and Oklahoma are one in the same.  That’s why as a United States of America Representative, I, along with my good friend Jack Abramoff, pushed for programs that would help Utah.  This, in turn, helped the Oklahoma economy because they are the same.  Get it?  Let us pray now.

“Dear God, I pray for a hedge of thorns around Utahoma to protect decent Americans from the pagan left-wing’s 40-hour work week and their evil Social Security for senior citizens.”

When told by a reporter the two states do not actually resemble each other at all on the map given that Oklahoma has a panhandle and Utah is more evenly squared, Istook lashed out in righteous anger, “The pan is the actual state.  The panhandle is just that, a handle.  You can’t cook on a handle.  You can’t live in a handle. It’s that simple.”

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