Casual Friday–Redder than red, bluer than blue

If we need any more evidence for how divided politics is in our nation today, here’s a couple video clips. Here, Rep. Henry Waxman, Democrat from California, argues for his cap-and-trade bill on climate change, while Oklahoma Republican Rep. Mary Fallin argues against.

If you were a pessimist, you could take this interchange as another sign that our differences are irreconcilable and you’d move to one of the states that wants to secede. If you were an optimist, you’d believe that there’s room in the middle for a solution, whether this year or later. We blog, you decide.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paul Shinn

Paul Shinn served as Budget and Tax Senior Policy Analyst with OK Policy from May 2019 until December 2021. Before joining OK Policy, Shinn held budget and finance positions for the Oklahoma House of Representatives, the Department of Human Services, the cities of Oklahoma City and Del City and several local governments in his native Oregon. He also taught political science and public administration at the University of Oklahoma, University of Central Oklahoma, and California State University Stanislaus. While with the Government Finance Officers Association, Paul worked on consulting and research projects for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and several state agencies and local governments. He also served as policy analyst for CAP Tulsa. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from University of Oklahoma and degrees from the University of Oregon and the University of Maryland College Park. He lives in Oklahoma City with his wife Carmelita.

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