BY SHARON MARTIN

This morning, on my way to work, I entered an alternate universe. This is the only way I can explain the yard sign on the outskirts of Cushing: Had Enough? Vote Republican.

Had enough of what?

Class sizes have exploded. Administrators are handling the influx with fewer resources and more demands. Textbooks are coming apart at the seams. Teachers don’t know from one week to the next what hoops to jump through.

Have you had enough disdain for education and for education professionals? Vote Democrat.

Tax cuts pushed through the Republican Legislature by the governor and her minions will save the average taxpayer $13 a year. It will cost that average taxpayer much more in essential services that will pay for the huge cuts by the not-so-average taxpayers.

What’s more, our Legislature must pass a balanced budget. Cuts will have to be offset by increased fees somewhere. Guess who’ll pay those?

Had enough of the party that caters to the rich and sticks it to the poor? Vote Democrat.

A state legislator erected a Ten Commandments statue on public land, a direct violation of the separation of church and state. He could have bought private land near the capital, but he chose instead to invite lawsuits, Satanists, and vandals.

Have you had enough of legislators ignoring the Constitution? Vote Democrat.

Legal abortions are safer that back-alley abortions, but there are those who think that if they just make it hard enough to have one, women won’t. These are the same folk who think if you tell a teen, “Just say no to sex,” they will.

Honest sex education and access to birth control will reduce the number of teen pregnancies and the need for abortions. That should be the focus of legislation.

Have you had enough of the Dark Ages attitudes? Do you think women can be trusted with the choices they make for their own bodies, their own lives? Vote Democrat.

Have you had enough of a governor who makes a point about how much she dislikes the president by denying healthcare to her constituents? Vote Democrat.

Have you had enough of a governor who says, “Washington should stay out of our business,” then pushes through a law that tells cities and counties what they can and can’t do?

Have you had enough with the payouts to cronies, the flip-flops on education policies, the cavalier attitude that loses federal money and treats poor people as less worthy of justice?

Have you had enough? Vote Democrat.

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