Let's Pod This

A couple of legislative updates, but really, let's talk about "outrage fatigue." It's real, and we need to address it together if we're going to save democracy.

Also, please join us: letsfixthis.org/volunteer

We take a few minutes to catch up on where the Oklahoma legislature is in session, along with candidate filing information, open primaries, and how immigration is factoring into the Drummond v McCall not-yet-official race for Governor.

Links discussed:

• Oklahoma group weighing open primary ballot initiative to increase inclusion, reduce divisiveness (Oklahoma Voice)

We're joined by Michelle Tilley, executive director of the south region Generation Citizen.

*** Editor's Note: If you have the means, we encourage you to support or volunteer with Freedom Oklahoma.

We're joined again by Rev. Dr. Shannon Fleck from Oklahoma Faith Network to talk more in-depth about Christian nationalism, both as an ideology and as a political movement, and, more importantly, where those things intersect.

Links mentioned:

• Pew Research Center on Christian nationalism.
• PRRI research (Feb 28, 2024)
• OFN's Sign-on letter in support of separation of church & state

In honor of National Public Schools Week, Andy is joined by Erika Wright, founder & director of the Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition, to discuss the state of public schools throughout Oklahoma and the unique challenges they face in rural areas.

It's been a busy week! Andy summarizes several recent, relevant stories:

• Proposal to eliminate requirement for sex education 
• Grocery sales tax reduction & its impact on the state budget
• OK County selects location for new jail
• Drummond dismisses suit against ClassWallet, again
• Edmond School Board fights back against State Dept of Education
• Proposed changes to the ballot initiative process

RSVP for our upcoming The West Wing watch party on 2/28

Andy is joined by James Davenport, Associate Dean for Social Sciences at Rose State College and noted Libertarian, to discuss governance, civility, and what civic engagement really means.

Governor Stitt delivered his sixth annual State of the State address to joint session of the Oklahoma legislature and we noticed a higher-than-usual amount of religious content. Given our conversation last week with Rev. Dr. Shannon Fleck and the rise of Christian nationalism across the country, we felt it important to highlight those excerpts for you. You can also listen to the full speech at the end of the episode.

Read the full text of the speech

Watch video of the speech

We're joined by Rev. Dr. Shannon Fleck, executive director of the Oklahoma Faith Network, to discuss how they bring together the interfaith community and how to understand white Christian nationalism so that we can fight it together.

We're joined by Arielle Mizrahi, Partnerships Manager for Unify America, a national nonprofit that creates interactive experiences to help people bust out of their bubbles, build civic muscles, and work together to tackle our country’s biggest challenges.