BY SHARON MARTIN

U.S. Rep. John Sullivan will get in your face if you’re wrong. So, who decides if you’re wrong, John Sullivan?

I believe he’s wrong about the Affordable Care Act. I would be glad to discuss why he thinks it’s a bad idea.

But get in my face because I disagree? That’s bullying.

When two people get together and discuss opposing ideas, that’s progress. When an intelligent person convinces someone with an opposing viewpoint by using logic and reason, that’s statesmanship. When two people with opposing viewpoints get together and hammer out a compromise, that’s the way a democratic republic works.

John Sullivan, a Tulsa Republican, will get in a president’s face. His ads say so. Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona got in President Obama’s face. Since when is it politically expedient to be disrespectful of the office even when you disagree with the officeholder? What happened to dialogue?

What kind of constituent is swayed to vote for these in-your-face politicians who believe they are right and everyone else is wrong?

What can the rest of us do to make discourse and statesmanship politically popular?

What can we do to end the bullying?

It doesn’t befit the greatest nation on earth.

– Sharon Martin lives in Oilton, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer