The Theocratic Republic of Oklahoma?!?

Fallout has been raining down from the June 30th Oklahoma Supreme Court decision banning the Ten Commandments monument from the grounds of the State Capitol building in Oklahoma City.  It seems Governor Mary Fallin and a few members of the state legislature aligned with her are not happy about not getting their way.  The Governor insisted that the monument stay pending the outcome of a request by the Oklahoma Attorney General that the case be reheard.  Along with a flurry of accusations of judicial bullying and abuse of judicial power, this statement by Oklahoma GOP Chairman Randy Brogdon is very telling:

“What makes the Supreme Court think that the seven justices have a better opinion than the super majority of the state Legislature,”

 I can think of a number of reasons but it all comes down to what a legislative majority can and cannot do.  Among the things on the “cannot do” list is rewrite the state constitution to make sure it is consistent with your legislation.  As it is currently, you have to rewrite your legislation to make sure it is consistent with the Constitution, which is as it should be.  Fear not though, certain members of that GOP majority in the State House filed House Joint Resolution 1036 in an effort to change the state Constitution to make the action correct after the fact.  Let it never be said that lock step ideologues won’t go to extremes to impose their will, legally speaking.  I mean if you don’t like the outcome of a ruling on your action, change the rules in your favor, stack the deck if you will, do whatever you have to ensure you get your way.  That is what you were elected to do after all, right?

image by religious-symbols.net

What the judiciary provides is a check to the legislative supermajority to which the GOP chairman referred.  It would also be greatly appreciated that a working knowledge of the three branches of government be apparent when explanations are provided by democratically elected officials.  Governor Fallin states at the 1:46 mark in the video at the top of the linked story that there are three branches of government:  “The Supreme Court, the legislative branch and the people.”  Anyone feel compelled to help out the Governor on that one?

There is a huge downside to believing that your ideology, political and/or religious, is infallible.  When there can be no flaws in your belief system, nothing is ever your fault.  If you fail to get good results from policies you put in place with a super majority or if a judicial ruling goes against you then it cannot possibly because your ideas or beliefs are bad.  It is because liberal laws impose too much regulation or a judicial bully is persecuting you.  The son of a term limited state representative imparted to me what his mom told him regarding our state legislature, “It is like meeting with the top high school valedictorians of every House district in the state.”  Based on what we have seen over the past few days since this Supreme Court decision, I totally understand.  How dare anyone rule against any member of a super majority.  After all, they really do believe rights come from God.  Their contempt for the wall of separation of church and state is obvious.  Where is it going to stop?  I can think of around half a dozen other issues where taxpayer money would be better spent not to mention legislative focus but this religious privilege dog and pony show is taking center stage yet again!  I for one am not ready to surrender to theocratic governance.  That said, it would behoove those in charge to do the right thing and abide by the court ruling, especially if it fails muster in a rehearing.  We’ll see how the proposed legislation to strike and/or reword Article II, Section 5 of the state constitution works out next session.