Mountain

Gentle reader:

When James Mountain Inhofe registered to vote in Marshall County at the age of 18, he was one of three registered Republicans in the county. This is a true story he has told repeatedly in his career. Frank Lucas has told a similar story, but meaning no disrespect to Frank, this article is not about him, it's about Inhofe.  There was no discernable Republican Party in Oklahoma when Jim joined the party. It is unquestionable that he built our party as a conservative republican. It is further unquestionable that as an elected official he was strategic enough to know where he was going to lose a battle on lowering taxes or fighting regulation, he would make sure that Oklahoma got a full portion of the budget. He did this repeatedly as Chairman of the Armed Forces Committee. As one example, if you're in or near Pittsburg County, you need to thank Jim Inhofe. Inhofe worked to make sure that even the once insignificant Army Ammo Plant in McAlister became so important that it today is indispensable to the military, housing about one third of the munitions the army needs to defend the nation. That includes the MOAB bombs that have proven effective in destroying underground bunkers.

In our opinion, the FAA Center in OKC needs to be named after the Senator. Really. Inhofe was known as one of the strongest advocates for aviation in the Senate, and was a pilot himself that was infamous for vexing FAA authorities. He went so far as to force landings on closed runways, and landing in neighborhoods when he lost a propeller. When you have more than 11,000 flight hours, you can do things like that.

Inhofe was first elected to the state legislature in 1966. At the time, Oklahoma was dominated by conservative Democrats; during his first term, there were only nine Republicans in the state Senate (as opposed to 39 Democrats) and 23 Republicans in the House (versus 76 Democrats). Inhofe served two years in the House and then eight in the Senate.

He made an unsuccessful run for governor in 1974 and for Congress in 1976. Two years later, he was elected mayor of Tulsa, and then won an open seat in Congress in 1986. The left likes to point to his "climate change denial." That's just stupid, and we'll maybe discuss that at some point. If you were to ask Jim what he wants to be remembered by, he would say his faith in Christ, and his family. As a member of the US House of Representatives, Jim began attending a bible study in D.C., and committed his life to Christ. (some may say that DC is a godless place, but for those that have lived there, the community of believers is strong-perhaps even stronger than here where "faith" surrounds us.)

One thing in particular that we hope you all take away from Jim's career in the Senate: he believed in friendship. That doesn't mean only with people that think like you. That means everyone. Jim's faith drove him to meet people where they were, and build bridges where there was consensus. We say this because we were particularly disturbed by many of you fools that ignored the many conservative things he did throughout his career, and as he exited the Senate, said things like:

"The rino needed to go." -Guillermo Melchor, on the OKGOP post December 31, 2022.

"Ahhhh the OKGOP continuing to declare their eternal burning love for the RINO." -Kay Daniel, comment to the same post.

"We need those emails far more than comical accolades for a corrupt RINO politician." -Lynelle Medley, same post. (she had opted out of emails from the OKGOP and couldn't receive emails again until she opted back in. She, to this day, refuses to opt back in.)

Senator Inhofe was no keyboard warrior, he was the real deal. A conservative that moved the needle rather than moving a facebook post. When we started this piece, we noted that Inhofe built our OKGOP. Unquestionably he did. And he kept growing our conservative base throughout his career. Now we censure our Senators rather than try to build bridges and making friends. No, we will not have another Senator Inhofe. He was unique and special. But we won't have anything close to him because we don't respect the elected officials we have, and that's not on them, that's on us. 

With sincere respect for the passing of James Mountain Inhofe,

CW/CM/SC/WB