In a letter to the editor of the Tulsa World, reader C. R. Ayers of Tulsa talks about keeping politics local. The thought being that we have more control over what happens the closer the issues and leaders are. So why waste so much effort on national or out of state issues when we have more power in our cities and state? Here is the full letter:

We often are distracted. Distracted from our more important local issues. We focus too much on national issues instead, issues over which we have little control: Florida murder trials, abortion laws in other states, filibusters, presidential appointees, global warming, etc. All these puzzling issues are featured nightly on broadcast or cable news.

Someone once said, “All politics is local,” meaning all these troubling things come back down to where we live, to trying to resolve problems in our own little town before taking on the larger national issues.

Which is to say, there are enough priority issues here in Tulsa and our state to keep us busy for a while. There are issues that most of us sometimes gloss over or completely ignore. There are issues facing our governor. There are issues facing our Legislature, our U.S. senators and representatives. Our mayor and city council face issues as well. But our local politicians love pointing their fingers back toward our national leaders in Washington instead – locals absolving themselves from being part of any national problem.

I suggest we first bring our attention back to our local leaders and hold their feet to the fire. Are they working in our best interests? What do they really stand for? Are they beholding to out-of-state interests or to we the people in Oklahoma? We might want to fire some of the slackers and replace them. Then what might be resolved here locally could make a difference in the rest of the country.

Once again, we would like to ask that you keep the letters rolling. We love reading them.