"Why are people in the Tulsa Metro Area so conservative?"Dunno.
Why is the sky blue?
Why is it offensive to be even mildly critical of a Kennedy when living in Massachusetts?
Why are New Yorkers so rude?
Why is Chicago so full of BS? (hint: they don't call it the
"Windy City" because of the weather)
Why can't Indiana ever become "a swing state?"
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I think we have a "perfect storm" in national scale poltics that will keep Tulsa (and Oklahoma) in the "Red" column for years to come...
1. The oil industry is still huge here and their people will wholehartedly support a candidate who thinks global warming is a hoax
(see Senator Inhofe)... they will also support any politician who promises reduction or elimination of the "windfall profits tax" ... although these same people can be downright libertarian/liberal when it comes to social issues...
2. The aviation industry has traditionally been big here... when I was growing up in Tulsa, some of my family members worked for either Rockwell, McDonnell Douglas or American Airlines... the first two, especially, had employees who were deeply affected by any cuts in military spending and experienced multiple temporary layoffs or lost their jobs completely... lots of these folks could have been counted on as pro-labor Dems once-upon-a-time, but voted as "Reagan Democrats" back in the day because of Reagan's call for a "strong national defense." They still overwhelmingly vote Republican in US senate and presidential elections.
I keep wondering why local pols underestimate this voting bloc... it didn't come as any surprise to me that the very same Tulsans who voted for MASSIVE SALES TAX SUBSIDIES, GOODIES AND CORPORATE WELFARE specifically to woo Boeing in the Vision2025 tax package could turn around and vote against a River Tax that included massive promised private funds last October...
3. The Religious Right. This is the group that our urban/northeast/west coast biased "national media" seems pretty clueless about... and, no mistake about it, Tulsa's firmly part of the bible belt (many consider it "the buckle").
But conservative Southern Baptists don't have alot in common with the
speaking-in-tongues' Assembly of God folks who like to look down on the trendy evangelical "superchurches" who in turn disagree and consider themselves "non-denominational" and only rebuke their conservative Christian counterparts
"in a spirit of Love." [
] Then there's the
"we're the only ones going to heaven"Church of Christ...
("I could have danced all night... but I was 'Church of Christ'"...) [
]
What do these people have in common and why do they continue to vote Republican? They want Roe v. Wade overturned. They will never, ever support legalized "gay marriage" per se... yet they have traditionally demanded public "prayer-in-schools"... freedom of religion? sure, they believe in "freedom of religion"... which means,
"you can go to any church you want to in Tulsa, just choose one..." Alot of them still consider "evolution" as a flawed theory having no place in public schools and will support "intelligent design" yet can be suprisingly "pro-environment" if push comes to shove...
The idea of "tolerance" for these folks means they'll vote outside of their religious denomination for a conservative Catholic
(see fmr. Okla. Sen. Don Nickles)...
---Okay, that was the cliffnotes version. I could add Tulsa's Southern Hills country club Republicans and the urban/suburban/rural rednecks and wanna-be rednecks...
Actually, if you seek them out, you can find LOTS of Tulsans who don't fit very well into any of these catagories (doesn't make 'em democrat or liberal, just not your run-of-the-mill Tulsan who rubberstamps any Republican on the presidential ballot and demonizes any Dem)... this is almost as much fun as looking for republicans in Massachusetts... [}:)]
Instead of concentrating on the obvious, be on the lookout for "Weird Tulsa," which includes some pretty fun, eclectic and independent groups that include rebelious colored-hair and/or tattooed twenty-somethings... young and old bikers who still look like "freaks" with their long Leon Russell hair... rednecks and "good 'ol boys" who are much smarter than they let on... and ORU castaways and Rhema rejects (people who came here as young religious zealots from all over the country/world... stayed and... well... did an REM style "losing my religion")...
Hope this helps.