Sunday, July 31, 2016

A Blogging Milestone: 8 Years



8 years ago this evening, I started MuskogeePolitico. I was just 18 at the time. Since then, I've published 1,772 posts, and received 994 reader comments. In 2011, my blog was named one of the top three political blogs in Oklahoma. Since 2008, my posts have been referenced in major newspapers, and my readers have included sitting members of Congress and state Supreme Court justices.

Through my blogging, I've made friends and connections across the country that I otherwise would not have met. It's been a great experience.

Sometimes, "real" life gets in the way of blogging. Blogging is not how I make a living to provide for my family (but if you'd like to help out and advertise, let me know!), so while my posts may be infrequent at times, I do my best to keep at it regularly.

Whether you agree with my opinions or not, I'm grateful that you stopped by to read them.

Thanks for a great 8 years, and I look forward to more to come!

Jamison Faught
Blogger, MuskogeePolitico.com

OCPAC announces 2016 legislative awards


From John Michener, President of the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee (OCPAC):

On July 13 members of OCPAC debated and then voted on which legislators should receive special awards for their principled policy and leadership.  These legislators will be formally recognized and presented with their awards at the annual OCPAC Awards Banquet on Friday, February 10, 2017.  In most cases the runner-up will also receive an award.  Here are the winners of OCPAC’s 2016 legislative awards:

Senate Legislator of the Year:  Nathan Dahm (R-Broken Arrow).  Sen. Dahm scored a perfect 100 on the Index.  Beyond simply voting the principled way when given the opportunity, he authored and championed many of the bills on and off the Index which supported conservative values.  As Majority Whip, he rallied the other conservatives to each cause and negotiated tirelessly with Senate leadership and less conservative senators to gain support for property rights, States’ rights, gun rights, and the right to life.  This is our most prestigious award in the Senate.

The runner-up is Sen. Mark Allen (R-Spiro) who scored 93 on the Index.  For two consecutive years his score has been 90 or better, and our members have been pleased with his conservative leadership.

Senate Freshman of the Year:  Joseph Silk (R-Broken Bow).  Sen. Silk scored 90 on the Index.  In his second year as a freshman, and without an official leadership position, Sen. Silk made his voice heard on issues such as life, federal tyranny, and parental rights.  Leadership is more than a position; it is a character quality, and OCPAC applauds Sen. Silk’s leadership.

Senate RINO of the Year:  Ervin Yen (R-OKC).  Sen. Yen scored 10 on the Index.  That is not a typo.  One wonders how he got elected and why the State GOP does not revoke his party membership.  His Index score is the lowest in the entire Senate.  Every Democrat scored higher, by an average of 26 points.  Some RINOs are simply ignorant or gullible.  They repeatedly vote the wrong way because they do not know any better and are easily persuaded to go along with liberal leadership.  But Yen is neither of these.  He is dangerous because of his big-government and collectivist beliefs and his willingness to implement them in policy.  In 2016 he fought hard to force parents to vaccinate their children, and he openly admitted in a committee hearing that he would go after religious exemptions.  Yen is an enemy of liberty on every front.

The runner-up is Sen. Jack Fry (R-Midwest City) with an Index score of 33.  His liberal ideology is evidenced by his votes for more debt, more police surveillance, unlawful seizure of private data, and more regulations on small businesses.

House Legislator of the Year:  David Brumbaugh (R-Broken Arrow).  Rep. Brumbaugh scored 100 on the Index and earned OCPAC’s highest award in the House.  Beyond his tough votes under pressure, he also spent many late nights building a coalition committed to closing every abortion mill in our state.  This was not a popular project with House and Senate Leadership; without Rep. Brumbaugh’s tenacious shepherding of the legislation at every step, it would not have made it to a vote on the House floor.

The runner-up is Rep. Jason Murphey (R-Guthrie).  Rep. Murphey’s steadfast commitment to conservative principles in policy is the standard in the House.  After ten years of service, his lifetime average on the Index is still 100.

House Freshman of the Year:  Chuck Strohm (R-Jenks).  Rep. Strohm scored 93 on the Index and several times this year debated passionately on the House floor in favor of bills to defend property rights and transparency in government.  His bill to force internet publication of school district finances was used on this year’s Index.

The runner-up is Rep. Travis Dunlap (R-Bartlesville).  With an Index score of 80, Rep. Dunlap showed great understanding of conservative principles and how they are manifested or come under attack in policy proposals.

House RINO of the Year:  Leslie Osborn (R-Mustang).  Rep. Osborn scored 23 on the Index.  She actively advanced anti-liberty and anti-free-market policies.  Osborn was a vocal advocate of complying with the federal REAL ID Act, an unconstitutional act which violates state sovereignty and grows the police and surveillance state.  Right after the primary filing date passed, and after seeing that she had no primary opponent, Osborn came out in favor of the governor’s budget plan which featured a whopping 150% tax increase on cigarettes.

The runner-up, another big spender on immoral and unlawful projects, is Rep. Mike Christian (R-OKC) who scored only 21 on the Index.

Wilberforce Champion of Life:  Joseph Silk (R-Broken Bow).  William Wilberforce (1759-1833) was a member of the British Parliament and is famous for his life-long campaign to abolish the slave trade.  Year after year he introduced legislation to abolish slavery, even when he knew it was not popular and would not help his political career.

Freshman Senator Joseph Silk took a similar stance this year when he authored Senate Bill 1118 which would have put the practice of abortion back under the state’s murder statutes.  Sen. Silk knew that in so doing he would likely be forfeiting future positions of power.  By taking the morally and constitutionally correct position that the federal government and U.S. Supreme Court are wrong on abortion, Sen. Silk has created enemies in the Oklahoma Senate.  We praise Sen. Silk for matching policy to principle, regardless of the opposition or personal risk.

Braveheart Champion of Liberty:  Josh Brecheen (R-Coalgate).  William Wallace is famous for his leadership in the Wars of Scottish Independence.  His willingness to sacrifice everything for liberty was portrayed in the film Braveheart.

Senator Josh Brecheen holds the view that Washington is an oppressive overlord.  At every turn he is looking for a way to fight against federal tyranny and restore Oklahoma sovereignty.  He fought to put his principles into policy when it came to federal education standards and federal trans-gender bathroom mandates.  At the local level, he fought the tyranny of our own overlord, Gov. Mary Fallin.  Fallin vetoed legislation protecting parental rights regarding vaccination; she vetoed legislation allowing farmers to hunt destructive wild hogs on their own property; and she vetoed legislation which would have torn down all Oklahoma altars of child sacrifice.  Sen. Brecheen was a key leader in the coalition which attempted to override the governor and her liberal lackeys in the Senate.

Davy Crockett Champion of Property:  Kyle Loveless (R-OKC, Mustang).  Davy Crockett was a member of the Tennessee Legislature and the U.S. Congress.  He became famous for defending property from the money-hungry hands of government—see his speech “Not Yours to Give.”  He died in defense of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution.

Senator Kyle Loveless has realized that government at every level has means and methods of stealing private property.  He has worked tirelessly over the last year to educate the public about the abuses of civil asset forfeiture, and he proposed legislation to protect private property from seizure by law enforcement without due process.  His efforts appear to have been thwarted by law enforcement unions and lobbyists who exerted pressure on Senate leadership, but Sen. Loveless remained vocal, and his efforts led to some moderate reforms being heard in the Legislature.  We appreciate Sen. Loveless’s Crockett-like tenacity to defend our property.

Korczak Defender of Individual Rights:  Rep. Randy Grau (R-Edmond), Rep. Mike Ritz (R-Broken Arrow), Sen. Rob Standridge (R-Norman), Sen. Nathan Dahm (R-Broken Arrow).  Janusz Korczak was an author of children’s stories, a pediatrician, and the headmaster of an orphanage for Jewish children in Warsaw, Poland.  When the Nazis moved the orphans to the Treblinka extermination camp, Korczak had been offered sanctuary, but he turned it down repeatedly, saying that he could not abandon his children.  Attempting to provide comfort and protection from the state until the very end, Korczak boarded the train with about two hundred of his children and was never seen again.

Statists and collectivists are working at every level to take away parental rights, destroy local sovereignty, and control populations in every meaningful way.  One of the greatest manifestations of these efforts is the move toward mandatory vaccination.  Although Sen. Yen’s vaccine mandate was defeated, grassroots activists wanted to go on offense by attempting to secure in Oklahoma law parental rights to informed consent.

Rep. Grau agreed to carry the Parental Rights Immunization Act for the Oklahomans for Vaccine and Health Choice PAC.  Rep. Ritz (an OBGYN doctor) made sure the bill was heard in his House committee.  Sen. Standridge (a pharmacist who had already spoken against Yen’s tyrannical bill), readily agreed to hear the Parental Rights bill in his Senate committee.  Sen. Dahm co-authored the bill in the Senate and secured the votes necessary for passage.  These legislators fought to empower parents to defend (like Korczak) their children from the deadly overreach of state power.

Charlie’s Overall Conservative

Every legislator who has completed at least two years of service and has a lifetime average of 90 or better on the Index receives the Charlie's Overall Conservative award.  This award recognizes the hard work it takes to be consistently conservative, and it is named in honor of OCPAC founder Charlie Meadows who always wears overalls.

Congratulations to Senators Anthony Sykes (R-Moore) and Nathan Dahm (R-Broken Arrow).  Congratulations to Representatives Jason Murphey (R-Guthrie), Dan Fisher (R-El Reno), Sally Kern (R-OKC), David Brumbaugh (R-Broken Arrow), Paul Wesselhoft (R-Moore), Chuck Strohm (R-Jenks), and Travis Dunlap (R-Bartlesville).


Visit OCPAC's Facebook page here, and become a member here.

Saturday, July 30, 2016

100 Days Left: Who do you support for President?

With 100 days left until the Presidential Election, I thought I'd put up a poll to see how readers are leaning right now. GOP all the way? Make history with Clinton? #NeverTrump? Is the Libertarian Party appealing to you? Are you through with them all? Answer away!



To see detailed results and a visual map, click here.

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Fallin considering calling special session for teacher pay raise


Governor Mary Fallin Considers Special Session to Address 
Pay Raises for Public School Teachers

OKLAHOMA CITY – Governor May Fallin today issued this statement on the announcement that $140.8 million initially cut from agency allocations midyear can now be allocated.

“I’ve begun discussions with legislative leaders to consider calling lawmakers to return in special session to address the issue of teacher pay raises. I continue to support a pay raise for teachers, having called on lawmakers at the beginning of this year’s session to approve a teacher pay raise. Lawmakers considered it, but this was an extremely difficult budget year and a funding agreement couldn’t be reached. With this available money, I am again asking lawmakers to act on this important issue of providing a raise for every teacher in this state.”

The money is available because General Revenue Fund allocation reductions required by the FY 2016’s midyear revenue failure were deeper than necessary. Without a special session, the $140.8 million would be distributed equally among all agencies receiving general revenue allocations.

Monday, July 25, 2016

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Trump/Pence officially becomes GOP ticket


Donald Trump is now the Republican nominee for President. Here's the official vote tally from earlier this evening at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland:

Donald Trump - 1,725
Ted Cruz - 475
John Kasich - 120
Marco Rubio - 114
Ben Carson - 7
Jeb Bush - 3
Rand Paul - 2

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence was nominated for Vice President by a voice vote.

Monday, July 18, 2016

Music Monday: Six Studies in English Folk Song

This week's Music Monday is Six Studies in English Folk Song by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Enjoy!



Click to go below the page break to see all previous Music Monday posts. Do you have a song you'd like to submit for a future Music Monday? Email me at JamisonFaught@MuskogeePolitico.com.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

"Fair"-well: Steve Fair reflects on National Committeeman term

On Sunday, Steve Fair wrote the following "farewell" op-ed on his blog, concluding four years of service as the Oklahoma Republican Party's National Committeeman.



TENURE AS NCM COMES TO A CLOSE!

     Tomorrow. I leave for Cleveland, Ohio to attend my last Republican National Committee meeting as Oklahoma National Committeeman.  When the gavel falls and the GOP convention is adjourned, my four year term will come to an end.  I chose to not seek re-election to the RNC for a number of reasons and I have peace that I made the right decision.  I have served as one of the 56 members of the rules committee the entire four years and have enjoyed working with some of the most dedicated, principled Americans I have ever met.  I have made friendships that will last a lifetime.  My replacement has already been elected and will take office on Friday after the convention.

     On Monday, July 18th, the national convention will convene for the purpose of nominating our candidates for President and Vice President.  This week, the various convention committees are meeting: Rules, Platform, and Credentials.  Each of the 50 states and 6 territories have two representatives on each committee.  I chose not to seek election to the rules committee( the 43 Oklahoma delegates elect the representatives to the committees).  The male member from Oklahoma is State Auditor Gary Jones.  Normally, the meetings are routine and not very controversial, but there is a group on the convention rules committee who want to ‘unbind’ the delegates and allow each delegate to vote their conscience.  As of this writing they haven’t been successful at getting the 28 needed to get it to the convention floor.  Fact is, like Trump or not, he won the race fair and square and stealing the nomination would be a move that could permanently destroy the Republican Party.

     It also appears the platform committee meeting may be headed to a showdown.  Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin is the Co-Chair of the Platform committee.  There is a movement to ‘tone down’ the platform stance on same-sex marriage and some of the more conservative in the Party are committed to keeping the current plank in place.  Gun control is another plank under attack.  Most of the members of the platform committee are Party regulars and conservative, so major changes are not likely to happen.

     This will be my fourth convention and what normally happens is the Vice Presidential nominee accepts the nomination and gives their speech on Wednesday night.  The Presidential nominee accepts the nomination on Thursday night, but the word is that Donald Trump wants to speak every night.  Trump has run an unconventional campaign, so expect the convention to be unconventional.

     Stephens County will be well represented in Cleveland.  Hope Sutterfield, the Stephens County GOP Chair, is the youngest female delegate.  Hope was the first delegate elected at the 4th district convention.  Her dad, Richard Sutterfield, is going as an Alternate Delegate.  Stephens County will have more people at the convention than any rural county in the state.  Hope plans to post lots of photos and report from Cleveland.  Watch the Stephens County GOP Facebook page for live updates.

      Oklahoma has 43 delegates and 40 alternates to the convention.  We also have over 100 guests who attend.  Unlike the Democrats, statewide elected officials are not automatic delegates.  In fact, we have only five elected officials-legislative & county- in our delegation.  Gary Jones is the only statewide elected official to be a delegate.  Senators Lankford and Inhofe, and Congressmen Cole and Lucas will attend and interact all week with the delegation.

      To a political junkie, going to a national nominating convention is like going to the Super Bowl for a football fan.  Being one of the 2,472 delegates on the floor when the nominee accepts the nomination is electric.   Throughout the week, I post to my blog a recap of the day’s events, sometimes with photos.  It will provide you a great ‘behind the scenes’ look at the convention.     Donald Trump is an exciting candidate, whose unorthodox style and outsider approach has energized the average American about politics.  He is different, but different isn’t always bad.

Monday, July 11, 2016

Music Monday: From Everlasting to Everlasting

This week's Music Monday is From Everlasting to Everlasting, recorded by the SoundForth Singers and Orchestra of Bob Jones University.

Enjoy!


Click to go below the page break to see all previous Music Monday posts. Do you have a song you'd like to submit for a future Music Monday? Email me at JamisonFaught@MuskogeePolitico.com.

Saturday, July 09, 2016

Sens. Ford, Halligan, Mazzei to launch new think tank


State Senators John Ford (R-Bartlesville), Jim Halligan (R-Stillwater), and Mike Mazzei (R-Tulsa) are starting a new think tank to focus on state issues. Ford and Mazzei are both leaving the Senate due to term limits, while Halligan opted to not run for a third and final four-year term.

From Oklahoma Watch:
Mazzei, a certified financial planner, told Oklahoma Watch that the Opportunity Project will reflect the views of fiscal conservatives like himself on issues of state finance, education and health policy.

“Our goal, in the era of term limits, is to offer policy ideas and institutional knowledge to members of the Legislature who would like to have some expertise that doesn’t come from lobbyists and agency employees,” Mazzei said.

Mazzei said organizations such as OK Policy and OCPA play an important role in the legislative process, but generally lack the insider perspective gained from years of service in the House or Senate.

“Our ideological friends out there sometimes make proposals that sound good on paper, but they don’t work in the real world,” Mazzei said. “And neither do they understand the political realities of how to get stuff done at the Capitol.

“That level of detail and expertise frankly just doesn’t exist at the think tanks,“ he said.
Ford leaves office with a lifetime Conservative Index score of 63, Halligan with a score of 45, and Mazzei with a score of 64. Comparing those scores to the rest of the Senate, Mazzei is tied for 13th most conservative/19th most liberal, Ford is tied for 14th most conservative/18th most liberal, and Halligan for 22nd most conservative/9th most liberal (2nd most liberal Republican).

Read the full story at Oklahoma Watch here.

Monday, July 04, 2016

Happy 240th, America!

240 years ago today...




IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.


Signatures in Column 1
Georgia:
   Button Gwinnett
   Lyman Hall
   George Walton

Signatures in Column 2
North Carolina:
   William Hooper
   Joseph Hewes
   John Penn
South Carolina:
   Edward Rutledge
   Thomas Heyward, Jr.
   Thomas Lynch, Jr.
   Arthur Middleton

Signatures in Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Signatures in Column 4
Pennsylvania:
   Robert Morris
   Benjamin Rush
   Benjamin Franklin
   John Morton
   George Clymer
   James Smith
   George Taylor
   James Wilson
   George Ross
Delaware:
   Caesar Rodney
   George Read
   Thomas McKean

Signatures in Column 5
New York:
   William Floyd
   Philip Livingston
   Francis Lewis
   Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
   Richard Stockton
   John Witherspoon
   Francis Hopkinson
   John Hart
   Abraham Clark

Signatures in Column 6
New Hampshire:
   Josiah Bartlett
   William Whipple
Massachusetts:
   Samuel Adams
   John Adams
   Robert Treat Paine
   Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
   Stephen Hopkins
   William Ellery
Connecticut:
   Roger Sherman
   Samuel Huntington
   William Williams
   Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
   Matthew Thornton

Music Monday: The Stars and Stripes Forever

In celebration of Independence Day, this week's Music Monday is The Stars and Stripes Forever by the great American composer John Philip Sousa. The official National March of the United States, this is probably Sousa's most well known and beloved work.

Enjoy!

First, the "The President's Own" United States Marine Band (led by Sousa himself from 1880-1892):

Also, one of my favorite renditions, from the barbershop quartet Acoustix:


Click to go below the page break to see all previous Music Monday posts. Do you have a song you'd like to submit for a future Music Monday? Email me at JamisonFaught@MuskogeePolitico.com.