File Under, ‘Too Much Too Little Too Late’; James Lankford Comes Out Swinging In Favor Of Smaller Government

Government score taken from the Freedom Index.

Recently, Senator James Lankford has been Tweeting (X’ing?) about the number of US tax dollars our government is wasting. He points to the fact that he’s released his 8th ‘Federal Fumbles’ report this month (2.25) and includes some kind of instance where the government is screwing over taxpayers.

This is frustrating and I clapped back on a couple of the posts I found.

I helped start a group called the OKC912Project in 2008 after Barrack Obama was elected. In 2010, when Lankford ran for his first office, he appeared before the OKC912Project to interview. At that time, he assured us he would help stop Obamacare. He also indicated that he was in favor of smaller government, but that he felt it important to work with others toward consensus. Most of us were very keen on removing government-controlled health care, so I don’t think we worried too much about the idea of consensus as we were expecting that to mean that he’d work with other Tea Party-elected legislators to stop what we felt was the socializing of our American government.

The first year he ran for Congress, I voted for Lankford. I have not darkened a single oval for him since that time for numerous, numerous reasons – I’ve just left the space for ‘Congressman’ or ‘Senator’ blank in the general election after having voted for another candidate in the primary.

Because I want to be fair, I took some time and reviewed every Lankford vote listed on Vote Smart. It was eye-opening. Now let me say this as a disclaimer – there are a LOT of votes listed there in the 15 years he’s been in DC – I’ve done my best and I may have missed a thing here or there, so realize that as you read. I’ve mentioned a few single votes, but the most important thing here is the pattern of voting.

At first I thought his votes were all over the place, but then I realized there was a pattern (I’ve included some of the votes at the bottom of this post FYI).

Here’s the pattern: solid support against socialized medicine (Obamacare), solid support for 2A, solid support against abortion, solid support for funding the military – a pattern almost right out of the Republican playbook, though the military funding issues is more than problematic.

This funding is funding with no oversight. This is funding because “I support our military”. Well, ok. A good chunk of Americans still support the military, but to an extent – they’re certainly not for throwing money at the military without oversight or reason. Part of the reason we have the military industrial complex stoking our national debt is votes like Lankford’s.

But here’s where we really diverge. Lankford supports the continuation of government funding.

He’s voted for nearly every budget and nearly every continuing appropriation over the years. What’s worse, he’s solidly for bills that strengthen the Patriot Act and/or government spying on its citizens. For Pete sakes, he voted for the COVID-19 HATE CRIMES BILL and then justified it by saying that he and Inhofe and another senator added an amendment to protect life! Would these bills have passed even if he had voted no? YES. But the fact that ‘my no vote doesn’t matter’ is not the reason to add a ‘good’ amendment and then vote for a bad bill.

Then there are the votes to keep the military stationed in Iran, Iraq and Yemen. And possibly worse than anything to so many Americans, are the votes to fund OTHER NATIONS while American taxpayers foot the bill. Examples here include voting to aid Syrian opposition, voting yes on the 95 BILLION foreign aid package last year and sending aid to the US border to help the illegals swamping the country.

Of course, for many Oklahomans/Americans, the fact that Lankford voted to certify the Biden election was the nail in the coffin of their support.

Yet there are just as many souls who support Lankford on the basis that he is a Christian and a ‘sweet man’ who worked for a short time at one of the largest Baptist summer camps in the nation. Their analysis of his votes aren’t necessarily important, he keeps babies safe and loves his fellow man. In the face of opposition, or confrontation with his votes, these people often claim that he couldn’t have done anything because ‘Republicans weren’t in control then’.

Here are the number of years Republicans have been in control since Lankford was elected.

There were at least a couple there with Republican control, where Republicans could have worked together to make some lasting changes protecting the American people, but that’s not really the point. The point is the ideology at play here.

It doesn’t matter whether he could have ‘done’ something or not, Lankford’s votes tell the tale. That, and the 3 and 4 page explainers that respond to criticisms from constituents and other citizens that justify every vote as though any criticisms are silly because, well, he knows better. He has always seemed to believe that Oklahomans sent him to DC to do what HE thought was best, not to do what the CITIZENS thought best.

Lankford’s votes tell us that he trusts government. They tell us he thinks the military is great – whether there are generals protecting a soldier’s right to wear dresses or not. They tell us he thinks government is trustworthy and would never spy on its citizens without provocation and if there was provocation, the citizen probably deserved to be spied upon, or that it’s a shame they were ‘accidentally’ caught in a net that caught a very bad person. They tell us he thinks all life is precious – and so much so – that he must vote to send Oklahoman/American taxpayers dollars to other countries to protect their citizens, even while liberals here scream that America is bad and President Trump should be impeached. And all the while the debt clock keeps ticking, whether Americans see the amount of debt piling up around them or not.

Is James Lankford a nice person? Yes – even when people aren’t kind to him. His office even helped our family get one of our children out of a National Guard deployment during COVID that became abusive and unjust and I’ve been one of his biggest critics since his first term as a Congressman.

Does Lankford vote wrong every time? No. He certainly came out strong for all of Trump’s cabinet picks this year and has definitely voted against some very destructive policies over the years. But these are exceptions to the pattern and the pattern is destructive to American sovereignty, national debt and the right of citizens to their privacy.

Unfortunately for Lankford, it’s time for Oklahomans to understand this and to ask him to let someone else take a stab at the job after 15 years. It’s time for James Lankford to move on.

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Here are some of James Lankford’s votes according to Vote Smart:

• 2011 he voted for ‘various extensions of the Patriot Act’
• 2011 he began voting to continue federal appropriations
• 2011 he voted for the budget
  • voted against Obamacare
• 2012 he voted to continue federal appropriations
• 2012 he voted for a stop-gap spending and disaster relief bill
• 2012 he voted to both raise the debt ceiling with certain spending limits (after voting no in 2011) and for the budget
  • voted against Import/Export bank reauthorization and against Obamacare
• 2013 he voted to continue federal appropriations
• 2013 he voted to approve the budget
  • voted against disaster relief appropriations and Obamacare
• 2014 he voted to aid Syrian opposition
• 2014 he voted to continue federal appropriations
• 2014 he voted for the budget
  • voted against Obamacare
• 2015 he voted to continue appropriations
• 2015 he voted for the budget (with Obamacare repeal and other ‘conservative’ items added)
  • voted against the Budget Act that would have extended the debt ceiling
• 2017 he voted for the budget
  • voted against disaster relief appropriations and for health care freedom bill
• 2018 he voted for continuing appropriations
• 2018 he voted for the expensive farm bill
  • voted against consolidated appropriations, sanctuary cities, bipartisan budget act and removing the military from Yemen
• 2019 he voted against removing military from Yemen
• 2019 voted yes on an enormous/costly bill related to reducing recidivism in the prisoner population
• 2019 voted for appropriations that included all kinds of money for the Census, other items and extended the Patriot Act
• 2019 vote to send millions of dollars to the border for humanitarian aid
  • voted against the bipartisan budget bill with an extension of the debt ceiling and other pork
• 2020 voted for the CARES Act
• 2020 voted to keep military in Iran
• 2020 voted for the USA Freedom Act increasing surveillance on Americans
• 2020 voted for continuing appropriations
  • voted against impeaching Trump but then voted yes to the impeachment procedures
  • voted for John Ratcliffe
• 2021 voted to certify Biden’s election
• 2021 voted for Biden’s picks for Treasury, Sec. of Defense, National Intelligence, Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs, Secretary of Agriculture
• 2021 voted for Merrick Garland as Attorney General
• 2021 co-sponsored the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act
• 2021 voted FOR THE COVID-19 HATE CRIMES ACT
• 2021 voted FOR THE GROWING CLIMATE SOLUTIONS ACT so farmers can sell carbon credits
  • voted against impeaching Trump
  • voted against the budget
  • voted against Blinken, Buttigieg, Mayorkas several others
  • voted against the American Rescue Plan
  • voted against the Delivering Emergency Assistance Act
  • voted against further appropriations
• 2022 voted for emergency funding to Ukraine
  • voted to rescind the national COVID emergency
  • voted against Ukraine funding
  • voted against Inflation Reduction Act
  • voted against Ketanji Brown
  • voted against several other Biden initiatives
  • voted against appropriations
  • voted against Respect For Marriage Act
• 2023 voted against repealing authorization for use of force in Iraq
• 2023 voted to provide money to United States Fire Administration and firefighter assistance grant programs
• 2023 voted for continuing appropriations
• 2023
  • voted against providing funds to Israel following the terrorist attacks
  • voted against numerous Biden administration rules
  • voted to repeal national COVID emergency
  • co-sponsor of bill to protect kids online
  • voted against increasing the debt limit
• 2024 voted to stop the government shutdown and increase funding to various agencies
• 2024 voted to extend FISA
• 2024 voted for American Relief Act for more government appropriations
• 2024 voted for Wildlife Innovation and Longevity Driver (WILD) Reauthorization Act which provides funds to save animals OUTSIDE the US
  • voted against national security act
  • voted against increasing EPA regs
  • voted for Social Security Fairness Act to allow people to keep the money they paid into the system
  • voted no to expand access to fertility treatments
• 2025 voted for all Trump’s picks and the Laken Riley Act