We are well into May of a midterm election year and in spite of an unseasonably cool spring, primary election campaigns are off and running. Regardless of what may be happening in the larger national and global picture, the focus on local state legislative politics is heating up. Given that all politics is local, that…
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A citizen’s testimony of a failed state government
Like many other evolving stories which illuminate and illustrate our life and times along this, the most conservative stretch of Old Route 66, I have had to stop myself more than once from writing this piece before the subject matter was ripe enough to rate appropriate commentary. Since January 2011, the Oklahoma State Senate, House…
Continue ReadingA look back on a leader in crisis
As I have often mused while waxing nostalgic, the more things change the more they stay the same. As a child, I remember asking certain of my elders what they thought of what we were seeing on the evening news only to be dismissed by categorical proclamations that the World and the nation were “Going…
Continue ReadingThe bottom line question for all voters in 2018
As most regular readers have noticed, there is a stock in trade of what gets published on this blog. For the most part, the stock in trade of Reason Rest Stop is information. There may be an occasional humorous story or a run down of an entertainment event or a book or movie review, but…
Continue ReadingA rising Democratic tsunami
Oklahoma’s own Will Rogers once pointed out as only a political pundit of his stature could: “Conditions win elections and not speeches.” As anyone with a thorough knowledge and understanding of the history of American politics will tell you, there has always been an element of contentious polarization from the beginning of the Republic to…
Continue ReadingThe heartbreak of failed leadership
Having served in the Navy as long as I did, I learned a few things about leadership. I remember receiving an intense hands-on tutorial on the subject in my early enlisted days. I have the direct authority of front line superiors to thank for those valuable lessons. Some of those mid grade and senior NCOs…
Continue ReadingThe horror of normalizing chaos government
We are nearly four and a half months away from being a mere three years removed from the emergence of the ultimate political chaos candidate announcing his intent to seek the nation’s highest office. As a political novice who had previously never been elected to anything, he managed to turn convention on its head by…
Continue ReadingEndings, beginnings, aspirations and expectations
This week as I transitioned into living in 2018, I experienced a deep and visceral sensation that I am sitting stationary on a huge existential conveyor belt being slowly but forever pulled forward on a great master timeline. So many times in my life the month of January has been one of endings and beginnings,…
Continue ReadingThe appeal of a narcissist
The 2016 Presidential campaign is beginning to take shape and those in the political pundit class are formulating their opinions. This is something Yours Truly has been following as you might guess. This past week it was noted by many that the campaign of multi-billionaire Donald Trump has, by any reasonable assessment, reached critical mass. It matters not how annoyed…
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