Grover Norquist's Oklahoma Lackeys

Sooners don't want their federal lawmakers to think for themselves. Not when they've got Grover Norquist thinking for them.

Norquist, of course, is the head of Americans for Tax Reform, a virulently anti-government group that has extracted pledges from Oklahoma's Republican lawmakers to never, ever raise taxes. Naturally, Sens. Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn have signed on, as have Reps. John ("Potted Plant") Sullivan, Tom Cole, Frank Lucas and James Lankford.

But as the Tulsa World's Mike Jones points out in today's paper, this is an odd and hypocritical idea, considering that the federal government has bills it must pay (or so we thought) and, by the way, we are fighting two—no, three—wars, among other federal obligations.

Do Sooner state Republicans really want to starve the federal government, the same federal government that kicks in millions of dollars to fund our highways? Do they really want to stop federal spending that feeds poor children? That supports thousands of our seniors?

If Grover Norquist has his way, that may be the unpleasant and harmful result.

Jones also makes another good point: Norquist represents yet another Washington special interest group, lobbying Congress for his own goals, which are not necessarily good for the people of Oklahoma.

As we noted above, we wouldn't want our representatives to have an independent streak or to think for themselves.