Soonerthought Wrong. Boomers Right

Sooners v Boomers:







A Left VS Right Comparison
Most of us who went to public school in Oklahoma know the history and definitions of Sooners and Boomers. I say 'most' because Soonerthought blog defines it as, "arrived first" but that may not be fair since I don't know if he went to school here or not... so we'll just give him the benefit of the doubt... name aside.

Elias C. Boudinot, son of Elias Boudinot, encouraged the abandonment of old tribal customs concerning property ownership. He felt that progress and the Indian economy would be served by opening the Territory to white settlement. In 1878 Boudinot published a letter in the Chicago Times. It announced that, because the 1866 treaties provided for government purchase of unoccupied Indian lands, those lands were public domain and therefore would become available to homesteaders.

On with the story...
For those who may not know, the readers digest (short) version of it is that there were these land runs (racing on horse, wagon, and on foot) as Oklahoma Territory was opened for settlement, the one rule was... you can't leave early and break the rules, just because you disagree with the rules or don't care about the rules.

But I digress, before the Sooners ever had a chance to sneak in across the boundaries and hide until the others caught up before 'claiming' their free land, the 'Boomers' as they were called had been trying and pressuring the government to open the Oklahoma Territory up for business development, trade, settlement and opportunity... sometimes illegally doing so, themselves for years.
Boudinot agreed with this idea obviously.

Following the building of the Railroad right across the Oklahoma Territory (some claimed illegally) and the resulting pressure on the Government, the Boomers won out and the Land Runs came about.

It was then that the Sooners as they were called, cheated the system for free stuff while it was the Boomers who had actually pressed the system for that opportunity. The Native American Indians weren't exactly given a say in the matter, but that's for another post.

Today 'Sooners' has a completely different meaning to most folks, I suggest we change the meaning of Boomers to reflect the upcoming growth boom in Oklahoma.

Since statehood Oklahoma has been controlled and governed by the 'sooners' mentality, cheating the system and riding on the promises of free stuff.... until now.
In the past two elections, Oklahoma has changed direction... the pro-business, pro-growth, low tax, 'Boomers' are almost in charge of the House and the Senate for the first time in history.

Let's give the Boomers the next 100 years and I'll bet ya' something gets done around here.

BTW- Wouldn't 'Boomers' be a good name for an Okla pro sports team?
And, before anyone thinks I'm bashing OU, God Bless the Sooners and the Cowboys...
and NO, I'm not in favor of excessive use of "public domain" laws today...
-red