BY SHARON MARTIN

A teacher friend of mine and I were having a serious discussion. She’s a good teacher. We get along even though we disagree on politics. I asked her a dangerous question.

“How can a teacher vote Republican?”

Of course, not every Republican is anti-education, but the current crop seems bent on privatizing everything, including our public school system.

“How can you be a Christian and vote Democrat,” she replied.

Say what?

I ran through a list of recent developments, trying to figure out which qualified as anti-Christian:

– Cutting food assistance to the poor

– Cutting long-term unemployment benefits

– Leaving Medicaid money on the table to further one’s political career, thus leaving a lot of poor people uninsured

– Raiding pension funds, then when the money is gone, demanding pension cuts

– Eroding the rights of those who labor to make the wealthy even wealthier

Granted, my friend and I probably have two different anti-Christian lists. It’s probable that we disagree on the issues of a woman’s right to choose and same-sex marriage. These are just hot-button traps that lure people into abandoning the real moral issues of the day.

Take privatization of public services.

Private prisons, charter school chains, education testing companies, and the for-profit health care industry make a few people exceedingly rich. But without a lot of poor people going along, people who lose out when public companies go private, these privateers can’t get the government contracts and sweetheart deals they need to fly.

Many private companies survive on government handouts. Then, as they siphon off funds needed for health, education, and welfare of the citizens, they launch a PR campaign to make us believe that big government is the bogie man.

Lying to the people for power and profit is not a Christian concept. Social justice is. Social justice is also logical. We are all better off when we are all better off.

Not every Democrat deserves our vote. But until Republicans get their act together and decide to include the rights of every citizen in a just society, I’ll continue to vote for and promote the best Democrats who run for office.

I believe it is the moral thing to do.

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