2014 OK Senate debate: on Budget & Economy

James Inhofe: Free enterprise is the key to national prosperity

Inhofe: Strongly Agree

T.W. Shannon: Debt is a form of slavery

Shannon the Baptist Sunday School teacher quotes Sacred Scripture about the evils of debt--including allusions to debt as a form of slavery. Lankford the ordained Southern Baptist preacher fluently cites framers of free-market economic theories. T.W. Shannon has been a consistent foe of the Affordable Care Act; James Lankford was elected in part based on his predictions that ObamaCare would destroy the health-care system and that its mandates boost long-term debt.

In Congress, Lankford fights presidential overreach from the Legislature. Shannon assails federal interference with legislative state prerogatives and authority--and empowered an ally to form a "State's Rights" Committee to press against federal encroachment.

Rick Weiland: Federal shutdown is more than wrong; it is shameful

Weiland, who has called the shutdown a sellout to an extremist Republican minority that is representative of neither the American public, nor even the Republican Party, said Rounds should be ashamed of his support for the most irresponsible political position taken by a major party in the last 50 years. "This is pandering to extremism in its crudest form. Mike Rounds believes in his heart the shutdown blackmail game of the extreme right is wrong. We need to re-open the government and pass the Farm Bill." Weiland added. "It is a disgrace that Republicans are playing politics with Head Start programs and the Social Security benefits that our seniors depend on. It's more than wrong, it is shameful," Weiland continued.