By Charlie Meadows

With the thousands of people attending the tea parties, and 912 Groups and increasing numbers participating in existing organizations, the big question is, what will be the effect upon local, state and federal representation for the state of Oklahoma? While not everyone in these new groups are new to activism, many and perhaps most, are.

Since the first of the year, I have had and continue to have the privilege of meeting and interfacing with many of these new activists. I would describe them as follows. They tend to be very passionate, some are angry, many are fearfully concerned, intelligent, hungry learners and willing to commit their time and resources to making a difference in various levels of government. Initially they tended to be more focused on the federal government, but I sense a growing realization in these new folks, that local and especially state government may be as important, or more so, than federal issues. Especially when it comes to the growing 10th Amendment movement.

Perhaps the question concerning the effect upon Oklahoma government will be decided by whether or not these new activists get co-opted or side tracked by establishment types, or by misguided tangent issues and efforts. Some of those tangents might be the belief that we could solve all our problems by throwing ALL of the current bums out of office and replacing them with all new representatives. While there are plenty of bad lawmakers, it is naive to believe they would necessarily be replaced by better folks. It is really foolishly idealistic, and some who would advocate that action are really being lazy -- not willing to exert the time and effort to determine which elected officials are really standing for good government and which ones are not. We need to keep the good ones, and throw out the bad ones.

Another potential tangent is that of term limits. Our Founding Fathers thoroughly debated term limits during the constitutional convention and decided against it. They believed the fear of not being re-elected would do more to keep them responsive to the people and good government than knowing they couldn't run again and thus had no care about governing properly once they were in their last term.

After observing our great experiment in self government, which is now more than 200 years old, I personally favor the CONCEPT of term limits. However, I will only support such, as long as the term limits are at least two terms for the U.S. Senate (12 years) and a minimum of four to a maximum of six terms (8 years to 12 years) for our U.S. Representatives. I believe the limits in Oklahoma"s state legislature -- 12 years in the House, or 12 years in the Senate, or a combination of the two bodies with a lawmaker serving no more than 12 years in the legislature -- is a very good model.

I have come to the position of supporting term limits because of the immense advantage of an incumbent. In addition, any elected lawmaker deciding to self-term limit himself, gets into the same mind set as someone in a forced term limit situation. My final reason is that our Founders knew the success of our government was dependent on a quality citizenry. I believe quality citizens are in a minority today, and thus I am willing to see a system that forces out those who would otherwise be almost impossible to remove. The problem with most of the term limit advocates today is their insistence upon too few terms.

Perhaps the greatest risk of neutralizing these new activists might come from a decision to start a third political party, or to become independents. Most of them realize the Democrat Party is gone, finished, completely in the hands of the most radical, socialists, progressives, fascists, Godless immoral types and sorts of organizations in our state and nation. On the other hand, they are also irritated at the Republican Party, and are angry that it betrayed limited government and fiscally responsible principles when they were in total control in Washington.

Today, most of these new activists are in the Republican Party. What they must understand is that the party across the nation and in Oklahoma is not, and has not, been controlled by limited government conservatives. Rather, they are controlled by establishment Republicans who are more likely to be moderates and sometimes down right liberals.

These new activists must realize our nation did not get into this jam overnight, and thus we will not correct it overnight. They must develop a long term vision. They must prepare themselves for a long struggle where conservatives must win incremental battles. Most important though, these new activists must realize it will be easier and more likely to succeed by making the Republican Party more conservative through their involvement, rather than expending the energy to try and erect a new party or succeed as an Independent.

The answer to the effect upon Oklahoma will be determined by whether or not these new activists will roll up their sleeves and work through the Republican Party. Will they have the patience and fortitude to perhaps overcome a few immediate setbacks, so that we may eventually gain enough strength, numbers and power to move the state in a conservative direction in the future.