Originally Posted by Pooka

For the past few elections the Republicans here have always managed to put something on the ballot that would answer a 'State Question'. These things always get tossed out in court, but the reason the items are on the ballot is never to get laws passed. It is only to drive Conservatives to the polls where they hopefully will vote Republican while they are voting to make English the official state language or to allow guns in schools or to ban Islamic Law from overtaking the US Constitution.

All of those items have been on the ballot during the past few elections and so far all have been tossed out by Federal Courts. And after they are tossed the state makes no effort to appeal since the measures were never about passing laws but about getting votes.

This year it has all come to ruin. A State Question on 'Personhood', which polled great and was THE issue to suck voters into the the booths, has just been ruled Unconstitutional before it was even voted on. The question has been run through the Ledge where great sums of money and large amounts of time were spent crafting it and jumping through the hoops to get it on the ballot. And now it is all for nothing.

And the real problem? It is too late to get another State Question on the ballot, so there is no way to herd Republican voters to the polls.

I was talking to one of our Republican Ledge members and they were quite upset with this because they have no record to run on. Every change in State law they promised to pass was shot down by people in the state that wrote them by the tens of thousands telling them just what a waste of human life they were. That, by the way, was a quote from several letters he received from several long standing Republican donors.

Without a phony baloney issue on the ballot to scare the ignorant with (Oklahoma is rated at 48th in the US in education) and usually reliable voters still upset that the Republican Ledge wanted to start taxing Social Security and Veterans Retirement..... Things look bleak.

Can anyone suggest a way to make people vote for the Party that controls the state when they have spent the last two years accomplishing nothing?

I have already suggested begging for votes since that's what they did in 2010, but besides that what can the Party that praises hard work do when they have done no hard work?

By the way, the Ledge did vote to reduce the State Income Tax by 1/2 of a percent. To deal with the expected shortfall they just cut the Education budget again, so it is all good.

Originally Posted by disley

They don't need to cut taxes on businesses to increase employment, they should only cut taxes for the businesses that take on new employees.
Let them earn their tax cuts.

Originally Posted by Botnst

Nope. Let all businesses pay exactly the same taxes, no deductions, no incentives. Same with private citizens. And do-away with the much-abused 401c3 deduction.

Level the playing field.

Originally Posted by Pooka

All I have seen come out of these 'incentives' is companies moving from one state to another. No real job creation.

One oil company I know of moved from Oklahoma to Texas and lost about 50% of their workforce, but losing people was the reason they moved. It was cheaper than a layoff and the state of Texas paid for their move.

The only ones that come out ahead in a move like this are the politicians that can later brag about how many jobs they bought to the state. I notice that none of them have ever said at what cost to the taxpayers.

Companies once set-up in states that had the best education systems. Now it is all about incentives.

It reminds me of the old joke with the punchline: We have already established what you are. Now we are arguing over the price.