ELECTION 2010

Candidate runs for governor on Constitution

Brogdon seeks to reform Oklahoma by restoring limited government

Posted: September 22, 2009
10:02 pm Eastern

By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2009 WorldNetDaily


Randy Brogdon

Oklahoma Republican state Sen. Randy Brogdon has decided to run for governor on a platform that stresses limited government and a return to the principles of the Tenth Amendment.

Brogdon's main opponent in the July 2010 Republican gubernatorial primary in Oklahoma is expected to be Republican Rep. Mary Falin

"The restitution of our constitutional liberties is the central theme of my campaign," Brogdon told WND. "I recognize that the elimination of our freedom is alive and well in the United States, and my goal as governor would be to stand against an over-reaching and tyrannical federal government that is reaching into the lives of Oklahomans right now."

Echoing themes heard in town hall meetings and tea party protests, Brogdon has campaigned hard against Obama administration trillion-dollar federal deficit spending and bailouts of the auto and financial services industries that Brogdon sees as attacks on the free enterprise system itself.

"The Obama administration and the Democratic Congress in Washington have created a generational federal debt that our children may never be able to pay off," he said.

"I'm calling for restoration. I want the values of our founding fathers restored in the heart of every Oklahoman and American that loves liberty and is willing to defend it."

Brogdon opposed Oklahoma taking its nearly $2 billion share of the $787 billion Obama administration economic stimulus package, and he told WND that as governor he would appoint an attorney general who would refuse to take federal funds when federal programs created unconstitutional continuing obligations for Oklahoma.

"When the federal government passes something that is unconstitutional and expects the state of Oklahoma to participate in it, I'm going to look in my copy of the Constitution, and if the measure does not comply with Article 1 Section 8, I'm going to tell the federal government, 'No Thank You!'"

Brogdon achieved national recognition in 2007 when WND reported his determination to fight the expansion of the Trans-Texas Corridor Interstate 35, or TTC-35, into Oklahoma. Brogdon sponsored an Oklahoma resolution requiring the state to withdraw from the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America or participate in any project that would involve building NAFTA superhighways in the state.

WND subsequently reported Brogdon sponsored an Oklahoma legislature joint resolution under which the state claimed sovereignty relying on the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The Tenth Amendment specifically provides, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

"As governor, I would stand in the gap between the federal government and the people of this state," he said. "I will battle the federal government every single day until Washington realizes that Oklahoma is going to create a haven for private enterprise
and freedom right here in this state."

Brogdon believes that as governor he can use the Tenth Amendment to set a model in Oklahoma that other states will follow.

"It won't be long before other states start asking, 'How is Oklahoma standing up to the federal government,' and it won't be long before they follow our example."

Brogdon's main opponent in the Republican gubernatorial primary, Fallin, was elected in 2006 to represent Oklahoma's Fifth District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

From 2003 until 2007, when she resigned to go to the U.S. House of Representatives, Fallin was the first woman to serve as lieutenant governor of Oklahoma, under Democratic Gov. Brad Henry.

Henry was re-elected in 2006 and cannot seek a third term in 2010.

Republicans are gaining in Oklahoma state politics, having added a majority in the state Senate last year to their majority in the state House of Representatives.

Last year, WND reported Oklahoma passed House Bill 1804 by overwhelming majorities in both houses of the state legislature, imposing stiff penalties on employees who knowingly hire illegal aliens. The law makes it a felony to transport or shelter illegal immigrants and forbids the state to issue drivers licenses or pay social welfare benefits to illegal immigrants or their families.

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