LAWTON, Okla_By now you're sure to have heard the disgruntled rumblings of some people in Oklahoma, and nationwide over the outcome of the presidential election. But some are going a step farther than just complaining. Over 40 states have formed petitions to secede from the nation, and Oklahoma is one of them. A petition must receive 25,000 signatures to have it go in front of the US Government, and while only Texas, Louisiana and now Florida have reached that milestone, many others are not far behind.
7 News spoke with a variety of people today to get to the bottom of why people are responding like this, and what, if anything, it means for us.
An important fact to keep in mind is, 25,000 people or signatures is just a minute fraction of the population. Even if a petition were to get 100,000 signatures there are over 300 million of us in the United States. Professor Lance Janda of Cameron University says it's important to acknowledge people are unhappy, but these cries of outrage will most likely soon fade.
Dr. Lance Janda has been a professor of government and history at Cameron for 13 years, and he says what we're seeing now is nothing new.
"People are frustrated every single time we have a presidential election, and some how the republic manages to survive. And we go on. And we will this time, too, " said Janda.
He's not saying we should count out those who feel cast out or jilted by the outcome of the election, but he is saying that secession is not the way of addressing those concerns.
"People don't think through this stuff. They're just angry and they want change, " Janda said.
We were curious to see how the people of Lawton felt, so we took to Facebook and the streets to let you sound off.
From our Facebook Page, viewer Tyler Savage said, "I think Oklahoma needs to secede with Texas. We would have everything we need!"
While others had a different opinion...
"I can't think of anything stupider in my life, " said resident, Jeff Froude.
And resident, Vanessa Sargent echoed his sentiments, "I think it's a terrible idea. We don't have any real economic sources we can stand on alone.
It is Dr. Janda's hope that the country comes together. He says the government coming up with a plan to ease the deficit and seeing both parties more willing to work together would be key factors in doing so, but ultimately those who are unsatisfied now will find themselves on the other side of the coin one way or another.
Janda explains, "You live long enough, sooner or later somebody you can't stand gets elected. And that's when you find out whether you really believe in democracy or not. It's easy to believe in it if everybody that gets elected is someone you like, but when the system does something you don't like, that's when your faith gets tested."
Janda says that if you are one of those who is unsatisfied with the state of things, the most effective thing you can do is embrace the system, run for office and work to change things as an elected official.
We put in a call to Governor Mary Fallin about the matter. In a statement from her office she said, "Oklahoma is not going to secede from the union."
