A
local democrat fights an uphill battle every day. Chadwick Cox, Vice-Chair and
Treasurer of the Cleveland County Democratic Party, has worked hard to fight
for a cause that leaves him battling against the more popular Republicans of
Oklahoma.
Cox
was formerly a professor of microbiology and the University of Oklahoma Health
Science Center in Oklahoma City, but after retiring he did what many people do
not. He continued to work, perhaps even harder than he did before retirement,
he said.
Cox
has been a Democrat for about 45 years. The Democratic Party takes up most of
his time these days, but he said he is also an active member Oklahoma Native
Plant Society and the Thunderbird Sailing Club.
His
mission is to spread the Democratic message to the community because he truly
believes that it is best for not only Oklahoma, but the country as well. Each
day Cox finds himself trying to spread the Democratic message in a largely
Republican state when it comes to the results. The registered voters in
Oklahoma are in favor of Democrats by two-to-one, but the results show
otherwise.
"I
just dislike most Republicans because they seem to be just out for themselves,
and I think that we're a country that should share," Cox said.
The
governor, both U.S. senators, four of five House representatives, the entire
executive branch of the Oklahoma State Government, 32 of the 48 state senators,
and 66 of the 97 state house representatives are Republicans.
"There's
been a real mark shift to conservatism over a fairly good period of time.
[President Lyndon B.] Johnson said that he was going to force integration and
that pretty much destroyed democrats as far as the Southern conservative
people,” Cox said.
“That
is a cycle that is going on right now and I'm hoping that it is peaking out and
they are going to realize they aren't benefiting from Republicans running this
country, [or] this state," Cox said.
With
the domination, Cox admitted that it is a challenge to win over votes at any
level. However, to combat the Republican domination, "they got me down
here working," Cox said with a smile. "That is true of a lot of
people even though we [democrats] are so far behind."
He
also mentioned that it is tough on their particular office because they are so
close to the OU campus, which poses all kinds of problems for their impact.
Students often do not care too much about politics, many are out of state
students and do not know the voting process for Oklahoma and many just do not
know the entirety of the messages, Cox said.
In
an effort to get students more involved with the Cleveland County Democratic
Party, Cox said he tried to have their office moved closer to campus so they
could interact with students more. After all, the office has to be moved soon
anyway, but his idea was not successful.
"Even
though we do have students come in, I think we could be doing a better job with
students and getting them more involved," Cox said.
Cox's
view that OU students could use more information is shared by a campus-wide
initiative called OU Votes. This shared opinion was proven well-based by OU
students.
David
Starr, an OU junior, said he has never voted and because he is an out-of-state
student he does not know much about the voting process.
Joey
Purull, a sophomore microbiology major, echoed the similar views to Starr.
Purull has never voted, does not know about the voting process in Oklahoma and
does not pay attention much to efforts to get students registered to vote.
"I've
seen a couple of the emails [from OU Votes], but they kind of just went to
trash," Purull said.
"I've
seen some emails from OU Votes and seen some stuff on campus, but I don't
really pay too much attention to those, they don't really catch my eye,” Starr
said.
When
people think of Democrats, the face of the party today is President Barrack
Obama. However, Cox, although he endorses Obama, feels that Obama does not
fight hard enough at times.
"One
[issue we wanted brought up] would be to have a single payer healthcare system,
we wanted [Obama] to bring it up... He didn't even bring it up," Cox said.
As
for "Obamacare", Cox believes it is "certainly a step in the
right direction, but as far as going to be something that is going to reduce
the healthcare costs I think that they might be able to do it on a different part
of it than I care for," Cox said.
Cox
said that Mitt Romney poses a threat to President Obama’s attempt to be
reelected.
"Beating
[Obama] in that first debate certainly didn't help [Obama's cause]," Cox
said.
Yet,
Cox feels that Romney offers no difference from past Republican presidents who
have failed to improve the country.
"[Romney]
has the same Republican plan in mind, it is to reduce the taxes, especially on
the wealthy, and he somehow thinks that is going to bring jobs," Cox said.
"It has never worked. We just went through this with [President George W.]
Bush, and it didn't work."
OU
Votes is set out to register students to vote so that they can have help our
country improve. The problem is many students did not think either candidate
could help.
Do
students think Obama did a good job in his first term as president?
"I'd
mark that by progress, and we really don't seem to have made any stretches
towards the future in terms of the economy and war,” Starr said.
Will
Romney present a positive change if elected president?
“[Romney
and Obama] honestly just seem to be arguing on every point, and its more words
against words,” Starr said. “No real plans, no real actions have been set, so nothing
leads me to think that.”
“Nothing
is ever going to get done when two parties cannot agree and are just constantly
bashing,” Starr said.
OU
Votes campus-wide initiative has the mission of “Registration. Education.
Mobilization” and to encourage students to be engaged in the presidential
election. However, the students I spoke to feel their vote just does not count.
“It’s
tough to keep saying [my vote matters} and think your vote will count when
there's no progress been made with past votes and past people who have [been
president],” Starr said.
"Everyone
just seems to run and what they give their message as is just what they think
people want to hear, get their votes,” Purull said.
"Deep
down I know [my vote] should, but honestly I feel like it doesn't really matter,”
Starr said. “You just think there's never going to be a good outcome."
As
for Cox, the students pose a problem that he wants to attack head-on because he
feels change is necessary. The fight for Cox continues, but it is only getting
tougher.
Cox
continues his uphill battle because he would “like this country to have a
government that represents the kind of beliefs I think that most democrats
have"
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