Via Eschaton, there is a lawsuit brought by Oklahoma companies that challenges a recently passed state law allowing employees to keep guns in their locked cars on company property.
As phase one of winning back the West, we should support gun owners in this lawsuit. We should file an amicus brief in this case that basically says, "Hey, Wal-Mart! Let 'em keep their damn guns in the trunk in the parking lot."
I know it sounds loony, but hear it out. Right now, our biggest issue is that people in the West think we don't respect their life choices. Hunting is something that's very important to them. Keeping your gun in the car so you can go straight to the woods on a Friday sounds loopy to me, I can see how some folks would think keeping sparkly shoes under your desk so you could go clubbing right after work is also loopy. To each his own.
Corporate America often stands in the way of personal liberty--through gag clauses in contracts that restrict freedom of speech and whistleblowing, by using laws to stifle compettion and restrict consumers' freedom of choice and opportunities to start businesses of their own, by polluting and ruining public lands, etc. etc.
Right now, people in the West don't understand how the things that Democrats value will imporve their lives. We talk about "special interests," and "the powerful," but they don't understand exactly who those interests are and how they're infringing on their personal liberty. This is a case in point where we can demonstrate to them how fighting for them against special interests will make concrete improvements in the things they care about in their lives.
Instead of making fun of them for being rednecks, let's defend their right to be rednecks. It's what America is all about.
Oklahoma Candidates? Oklahoma Democrats? What do you think