By Constitution Staff

With all the talk of IRS corruption, I'm amazed so many people say "we need a flat tax." Not only do we already have a flat tax, creating another one keeps the IRS intact and the government still in your pocket. Why can we not fund the government by not punishing those most in need? Middle income earners, the poor and small business owners?

Of course the rich should pay more in taxes, but should we punish job creation as a result? HR25 The FairTax Act funds the government fully, lets people keep 100% of their income but taxes wealth, effectively putting the individual in control of their taxes, not congress or the IRS. In fact, under this bill the IRS is GONE! So please, stop calling for another flat tax...we need a solution. That solution is The Fair Tax. Democrat, Republican, or Independent -- please research it for yourselves.

Tony Leach

Oklahoma City, OK

Stupid Power Rulings

There has been a continuing "propaganda" barrage over the overuse, or misuse, of energy and the blame game against the so-called "fossil fuels" of coal, gas, and oil, with some including atomic energy even though it is properly a mineral fuel. Most of what has been fed to the major media outlets and proclaimed by them to be factual actually has no practical basis in truth.

One of the big sources of "alternate power" has been touted as "wind farms" and numerous of these eyesores have been build around the nation. There are some here in Oklahoma. What is not admitted by the "greenies" is that the wind is not a reliable source of power. As is written in scripture, the wind blows where it will but you cannot see it. Further, the "windmills" (they are NOT turbans) are so big in blade diameter that they are wind speed limited because the blade tips can easily exceed the speed of sound. In that situation, they must be feathered and inoperative. Also not told to us are reports of thousands of birds being literally chopped up by them to the point that the EPA has issued permits to a number of them for an annual limit on bald eagle killing.

There have been grants issued to induce business and individuals to install solar panel electric generation. Laws have been passed requiring utilities to buy back excess power from these installations. Stupidly, in my opinion, some have required the utility to pay retail credit for such reverse power systems. In November of last year a newspaper story told about utilities in Arizona protesting that such systems "raise costs to other ratepayers." A later story, in the same source stated that Arizona had instituted a fee for these installations. The basis of all that was that the state law mandating the buy back required the utility to pay "retail" for the repurchased power.

That seemed completely stupid and unfair to me, since utilities often purchase power from outside generating companies, hence the "grids," but at a wholesale price. Thus it follows that such credits should be on the same "wholesale" basis as is paid to the other suppliers. It could be expected that this "fee" (tax) will cause some to simply shut down their solar collectors or drop completely off the power system.

Now, not to be outdone, Oklahoma has passed a similar law, effective November 1, for those that install such systems after that date. Of course, the marketers of these systems are having great sales now, but will probably shut down here at that time. So much for jobs and business taxes that are generated. One now wonders if the Oklahoma City water has been laced with a "common sense inhibitor" while the Legislature is in session and for the Governor's Mansion.

Also, the EPA has now mandated onerous CO (Carbon Dioxide) emission reduction rules which will result in massive increases in electric bills for all, because of the costs of the generating companies to comply. It would appear that this is another of the campaign promises made by PRESBO when he stated that he would "bankrupt the coal businesses and coal generating companies" and "fundamentally change America." It must be remembered that the USA still is the only nation that is making such massive and mandated changes in our economy, to its immediate, and probably permanent, damage.

We should remember that while we seem to have a massive supply of natural gas, it is in fact a finite supply and will someday be drastically reduced, so we should not bank on it permanently.

Robert W. McDowell, Jr.

Broken Arrow, OK

Learning from Mistakes

The battle between Establishment Republicans and the Tea Party continues and so does the discussion as to whether the Tea Party has vanquished the Establishment or the other way around. Recent primaries should show neither is the case.

Tea Party favorite David Brat who spent $122,000 (not counting millions of dollars of publicity donated by popular talk show hosts Glen Beck, Laura Ingraham and Mark Levin) on his campaign defeated House Majority Leader Eric Cantor who spent $5,000,000 by a margin of 55% to 45% in Virginia's 7th Congressional District. (Anyone want to tell me talk radio is dead?) That proves that immigration reform is dead.

Then again, the biggest primary winner was Senator Lindsey Graham whose sponsorship of the Senate Immigration Reform bill is hardly a secret. He garnered 59% of the vote in a field of 7 in the South Carolina primary. That proves that opposition to immigration reform is dead.

Really?

Does anyone seriously believe a primary in 1 of 50 states -- much less in 1 of 435 congressional districts -- will decide any issue? The debate on immigration reform is far from over.

The center right (Establishment) and far right (Tea Party) elements of the Republican Party will continue to disagree from time to time as we have for decades. The Tea Party has not defeated the Establishment, but it has become a significant part of the Establishment. The Establishment, having been appropriately reminded they need to pay more attention to voters, has moved somewhat to the right. The Tea Party, consisting mostly of people who were political novices until recently, has gained a lot of valuable experience and moved somewhat toward the center. And both are doing better working together, which is essential if we hope to preserve our form of government.

Several Tea Party candidates in Texas, California, Georgia, North Carolina and probably other states have learned it takes more than being able to stand up and say: "I am the Tea Party candidate; I am more conservative than anyone else," to be elected. I hope future potential Republican candidates will learn from their mistakes. Eric Cantor and Thad Cochran have learned that it's a mistake to think you're unbeatable. I hope other elected Republicans will learn from their mistakes.

Some media are mischaracterizing Congressman Lankford's victory as a "Tea Party setback." Lankford had lots of local Tea Party support. Most of Representative Shannon's "Tea Party support" was from out of state politicians.

The Tea Party is a grass roots movement, not a top-down national organization where self-appointed national leaders come into a state and tell who to elect. T.W. Shannon is a great man and I fully expect him to be a great U. S. Senator some day, when Oklahoma voters choose to send him to Washington.

There are plenty of conservative Republicans in both the "Establishment" and "Tea Party" camps that we need to support in the general election. And we need to stop bashing every Republican candidate we can find who we disagree with about anything.

Verne Horsley

Slaughterville, OK

Biblical Principles

America was founded on biblical principles, the people were a moral people that believed in God.

Have the citizens of the United States of America backslid so far that we are proud of the fact that we believe that Gay Pride Month is a time for celebration? Are we celebrating the fact that in the last twelve months, nine more states have made it legal for same sex couples to marry? Our President Obama is very proud, in a speech at a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) group, he said, "Because of your help, we've been able to protect the rights of lesbian and gay, and bisexual and transgender Americans more than any administration in history."

President Clinton was the first sitting President to participate in person at a gay and lesbian civil rights event when he gave the keynote address at the Human Rights Campaign's national dinner.

The U.S. Senate passed the Gay Bill of Special Rights in November.

The Bible condemns homosexuality as utterly abominable. Sodom was destroyed because of the sin of Sodomy. (Genesis 19:24) "And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel." (I Kings 14:24)

Why would the government, corporations, or anyone promote a lifestyle that caused aids, intestinal parasites, Gay Bowel syndrome and other strains of new diseases? In a pamphlet titled "Is God Right About Sex" is the following information: "We compared 5,371 homosexual periodicals with obituaries from two major U.S. newspapers. Those from the two major newspapers were similar to U.S. averages for longevity: the median age of death for married men was 75 -- 80% of married men died old (65 or older) unmarried or divorced men's median age of death was 57 -- 32% died old: for married women the median was 79 -- 85% died old; and for unmarried women it was 71, and 60% died old. For the 5,261 male homosexuals, if due to aids the median age of death was 39 and 1% died 65 or older. Of the 588 who died of non-Aids causes the median age of death was 42 and 9% died in old age."

Proverbs 10:27 states that the "years of the wicked are shortened." Paul warns that homosexuals "are paid in their own persons the fitting wage of such perversion." (Romans 1:27) "The way of the transgressor is hard." (Proverbs 13:15)

Anna Mayer

Guymon, OK

EDITOR'S NOTE: We encourage letters from our readers, offering a variety of views. Opinions expressed in the letters do not necessarily reflect the views of the Oklahoma Constitution staff or management.