Election Integrity Bills - What Is Ranked-Choice Voting?

Wendi Montgomery Dial joins us to discuss the election bills she's following so far this 2024 session here in Oklahoma. Several of these regard Ranked-Choice Voting. Do you know what that is and how damaging it can be to the ability of citizens to exert their voice in Oklahoma elections? Watch this brief video to learn about Ranked-Choice voting and see the list of bills Wendi is following. To see the full list, check out our blog here: https://rope2.org/2024/02/11/election-integrity-bills-that-need-our-attention-as-of-2-11-24/

Oklahoma History Standards and the Southern Poverty Law Center...Huh?

I am still studying (off and on as time allows) Oklahoma's new "Social Studies" standards. Imagine how upset I was this morning when I found that The Southern Poverty Law Center was cited in their "Resources Referenced and Used" section (page 96, Southern Poverty Law Center. Teaching the Movement: The
State of Civil Rights Education in the United States 2011. 2011.  Southern Poverty Law Center. Teaching the Movement: The State Standards We Deserve. March 2012.)

If you are unfamiliar with why this would be nearly the worst thing in the world to find anywhere in your state's history standards, please just perform a cursory internet search for the Southern Poverty Law center to find out what other people say about them.  Here's an interesting article that covers an issue centering around emails to and from the SPLC and the Justice Department under Eric Holder.  Basically, the SPLC is a radical group that likes to call out any persons or organizations that consider Christianity and/or a love of the Constitution (among other things) as a 'hate group'.  This organization has NO business being even CITED in a document prescribing history standards for Oklahoma children. 

I don't care how 'well rounded' you are trying to make standards, you DON'T include information from one of the most far radically left-leaning organization in the US today. That's insanity! But then again, we live in a Constitutional Democracy according to these same standards as well (page 11) - an interesting tidbit we wrote about in our blog "A Republic Ma'am If you Can Keep It".

I've also found that Oklahoma has subverted some standards that could be used for more US government (look at the graduation requirements for social studies at the bottom to see how bare little we invest in the study of our own country and its government!) for PSYCHOLOGY! What? Now remember, these are the new C3 standards (page 11 combined Common Core and Oklahoma Social Studies standards). Why in the heck are we including PSYCHOLOGY in Social Studies? My brain could go all over the map with that one. Consequently, one of the other resources Oklahoma uses is the American Psychological Association - another organization that has produced at least questionable information over the years.  One quote in this article is especially eye-opening,

While mental health professionals are trained to believe in the political neutrality of prevailing psychological theories, these theories are not politically neutral. 

I am certain there are some good things in these standards. I am also certain they do NOT provide the framework necessary for students to understand AND appreciate their REPUBLIC!

3 Units or Sets of Competencies Social Studies
1 United States History,
1/2 to 1 United States Government,
1/2 Oklahoma History, and
1/2 to 1 which may include, but are not limited to the following courses: World History, Geography, Economics, Anthropology, or other social studies courses with content and/or rigor equal to or above United States History, United States Government, and Oklahoma History.


We must continue to stay on top of this issue.  After much study on this topic as an organization early on in our formation, ROPE truly believes the lack of and/or leftist-version-teaching of American government to be the main reason behind the death spiral of our Republican form of government today. 

Do We Really Know What It Means to "Privatize" Education and Other Government Services?

The following is a commentary I wrote for my Facebook page this morning.  Last weekend I took part in an absolutely excellent workshop for a number of researchers, researching a number of different areas. It was very eye-opening to see how ANTI-REPUBLICAN governance is occurring across all spectra of government and how few people (including me!) really understand how pervasive this phenomenon is.

I will be writing some more well-researched (with links) blog posts on such topics as Technocracy, but today's post is more of a down-and-dirty, opinion piece.  I urge you, however, to "google" or "bing" or whatever you do - some of the topics and ideas I present here and see what you find.  We MUST begin to see our government as it is rapidly becoming - essentially Marxist, with rising Fascism components - or we will most certainly be lost.

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Many national Republicans - (including Oklahoma Senator Clark Jolley) - want to privatize government services such as education and DHS.

Is privatizing public services BAD?  If so, how?

Yes, privatization of public government is BAD.  A Republic is governance of the people through members of the people elected to represent the populace using the force of law to protect them from their government.

When you PRIVATIZE government, you remove (shut out/eliminate) the voice of the people in the process. When government services are privatized, citizens PAY for services which exist in a private sector sphere, thereby eliminating 'free market' principles from working. A 'privatized' government agency can't fail because tax payers prop up it up to prevent that from happening. This produces ZERO oversight or accountability to the taxpayers who pay for the 'services'. This, a process directly akin to Fascism in many ways.

Senator Jolley wants to privatize DHS. Okay, let's say a DHS head is paid via public money, but is 'elected' to that position by a PRIVATE BOARD through what is called an appointment. Now, tax-payers little to no ability to call for his/her dismissal because he/she is under PRIVATE contract with an essentially private board.

Additionally, education in America according to the Founders, was to be PUBLIC so that ALL people - whether rich or poor - could take advantage of the ability to learn to read and to write in order to understand the Bible and the Constitution. Latin American (and many African) countries have PRIVATE education, which results in a situation in which much of the poor populace is never even able to be taught how to read and write.

This shift in 'consent of the governed' to 'governance' is completely antithetical to the Constitution. Those suggesting we should privatize government services in order for it to become more efficient are simply attempting to take complete control of government moving it from "consent of the governed" to "consent of the APPOINTED". Americans should NEVER consent to PRIVATIZED government, yet we have been lied to and told that this is better for all. I say NO to Fascism! How about you!?

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 Here are a couple of examples I found in my inbox just today:

Politicians and Team Owners Snooker Sports Fans and Taxpayers

vouchers boo hiss

Bill Gates: Selling Bad Advice to the Public Schools

Obamacare Has Literally Replaced the Constitution Not about education, but about exactly the idea we explain here.