Letters to the editor: On Trump, eminent domain laws, drug costs and more

'It's the guns, stupid."

I can identify the elephant in the stands of the Choctaw football stadium: Guns, guns, and more guns?

How did the 15-year-old get the gun? Are we going to hold people accountable when their guns kill someone?

To analogize a famous quote by a political consultant, “It’s the guns, stupid.”

— Pat Brown, Oklahoma City

Trump's attempts to overturn an election are criminal

It seems Donald Trump, his legal team and supporters are constantly beating on the First Amendment as a defense against his many criminal charges. Yelling, "Fire!" in a crowded auditorium when there is no fire is not a First Amendment right. It is a crime.

His constant harassment of those who want him tried for crimes against the United States and the citizens of our country, is not leadership, it is bullying of the worst sort. His attempts to overturn an election are criminal. And as J. Michael Luttig recently discussed in an interview on the "PBS NewsHour," Republican leaders and elected officials, who have continued to discount his actions or suggest our justice system has been weaponized against him in some way, have betrayed the American people and are cowards.

Those Republican cowards include all of our elected U.S. representatives and U.S. senators from Oklahoma, these individuals should have quickly and clearly called out Donald Trump for the lies he has told and continues to tell about the 2020 election. So, as Donald Trump yells, "Fire!" our democracy is being trampled by him and those who continue to either support him or remain silent about his crimes.

— Penny Barber, Edmond

Eminent domain laws need to be changed ― immediately

Now that the Oklahoma Supreme Court has opened the way for the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority to proceed with those bond issues, eminent domain comes into play. Before the OTA ever starts to use eminent domain, it should be a requirement that the OTA be made to pay any differences in the cost to relocate to a property of the same size and amenities to the party whose land was seized under eminent domain, especially if it involves the actual residence. No one should be forced to go back into debt that is far higher than debt they already had or for a property which had the mortgage paid off.

Eminent domain is just another pair of words that twist what it is essentially a "land grab" to hide what is being done. The seizure of property under eminent domain is essentially a state saying all property belongs to the state and the state can take it from you. It also attacks the concept of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness where someone had found what they want and is happy with it.

There are supposed to be laws that keep someone from taking your property by fraud or other means in this state. Eminent domain sets aside all of those laws and makes it legal for the state to take your property under false rhetoric. It also echoes the stance of communism in which the state tells you where you can live.

Eminent domain laws need to be changed, and immediately. And OTA must be held accountable for any seizure that causes a landowner to be deprived of their "Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness" guarantee by the Constitution of the United States of America.

— Andre Snodgrass, Norman

Giving state agency credit where it's due

I had the pleasure of bringing a young immigrant woman to get her first driver’s license on Saturday, Aug. 4, at the Classen Service Oklahoma office. It wasn’t exactly a pleasure getting up at 5:15 a.m. to get her and be in line at 6:45 a.m. (The first people in line came at 4:15 a.m.!) Nor was it thrilling to drive up and see 75+ people in line ahead of us. But we knew in advance that getting a license without an appointment would be an adventure!

Lo and behold, the doors opened at 7:30 a.m. ahead of the advertised 8 a.m. The line started moving and kept moving as they very efficiently moved people into a check-in line. A gentleman went down the line to ask who was there for an actual driving test and quickly assigned them a time to be back for the test. After checking in with someone who ascertained we had the correct documents, we were asked to wait in the area. After a couple of hours as we heard name after name called, an employee with a laptop walked around and told people where they were in line. Some still had two+ hours to wait and were told they could leave and come back. We only had about an hour, so we chose to stay. They were right on time with the hour estimate. We saw the agent who very pleasantly and professionally gathered the information she needed, and we talked out with a new license.

Even though we were there for 4½ hours, every employee had a smile on their face, was friendly and wasn’t bothered by the many questions people had. Follow through and follow up was excellent! I heard one employee say that they were trying to get people to stay late so that everyone could be accommodated. This office is not usually open on Saturdays, so I was very impressed that employees were willing to give up even more of their weekend.

Many of us from time to time find it easy to criticize state agencies, but this time, I was SO impressed that even as we waited for several hours, I was mentally composing this letter.

— Ann Knutson, Oklahoma City

Court ruling eliminated costly mandates that drive up Rx drug costs

In August, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down an Oklahoma law that restricted the ability of many employers to craft cost-efficient, uniform and quality-enhancing prescription drug coverage for their employees. That’s good news for anyone who needs access to affordable prescription drugs.

In 2019, the Oklahoma Legislature passed the so-called Patients Right to Pharmacy Choice Act, which, among other things, prohibited employers from encouraging the use of more affordable pharmacy options, such as mail-order delivery services, or from implementing preferred pharmacy networks that offer cost-saving options for beneficiaries. In a unanimous decision, the 10th Circuit ruled these provisions were preempted by federal law and are thus null and void.

As the court wrote in its decision, “… when federal and state laws collide, the Constitution is clear: Federal law wins. This case is about a collision between federal law and Oklahoma law.”

Legal wrangling aside, the decision to strike costly state-level mandates from the books is a positive development that will slow the rising costs of prescription drugs. Many Oklahomans are only able to afford their prescription drugs because of pharmacy benefit plans offered by their employers. The legislation passed in 2019 drove up drug costs by limiting pharmacy benefit plan design and implementation. It also reduced access to cost-saving mail-order drug services that a lot of people rely on, especially those with disabilities or in rural areas.

The court acted correctly by striking down the contested provisions of the law, thus ensuring that employers can put together affordable prescription drug benefit plans without having to comply with unwieldy state-level mandates. That’s a win for Oklahomans.

— Julie McKone, Oklahoma City

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Letters to the editor: On Trump, eminent domain laws and more