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Our lawmakers have a rare opportunity to take some real steps to address chronic budget issues and to make our state a better, safer, more attractive place to live.

In recent months I have written several articles about a rural revitalization program for Oklahoma that mirrors the Rural Opportunity Zone (ROZ) program in Kansas, a program I helped to create. ROZ was the first economic plank in Governor Sam Brownback’s plan to address 50 years of lackluster economic performance by the state.

Scouting is done, the draft is over, and the rosters are set. In sports, nobody at this point would think the season is over. And in politics, with the election behind us, this is right where we are.

The Oklahoma legislature passed a straightforward law legalizing brewers to sell their own beer on their own premises. They could already give out samples, and wineries were earlier freed to sell their own wine and host wine tastings. With the brewery law set to take effect on August 26 of this year, everyone was happy. Everyone except Keith Burt.

It was a free speech forum, of all places. This month at the University of Missouri, CNN commentator Sally Kohn declared herself “happy” if people she disagrees with feel “under assault” for expressing their beliefs. “If they feel like they can no longer speak … good.”

The White House Council of Economic Advisors recently released a report claiming the Dodd-Frank financial services law of 2010 is not harming community banks. Not so, say the bankers, the General Accountability Office, and the clear numbers.

Congress threatened to stop it, a federal judge delayed it, but, in the end, it was local leaders in Oklahoma and neighboring states who stopped the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from listing the lesser prairie chicken as endangered.

“Raise a glass to freedom,” the hit musical Hamilton recommends. Many Oklahomans did just that last Friday in celebration of Senate Bill 424. Of course, implementing the law to allow beer sales at breweries almost didn’t happen. Last-minute hijinks at the Alcoholic Beverage Laws Enforcement Commission threatened to nullify the legislation that had passed easily through the Legislature with bipartisan support.

The tragic deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, and then the horrific ambush murders of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, drew the usual statements from President Barack Obama. Yes, it was awful, he allowed, but then he engaged in divisive rhetoric about gun control and race.

Great levels of scrutiny have been placed on the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust’s recent attempt to hire an additional administrator at a salary of $250,000 a year. At a time when nearly 20,000 Oklahomans have lost their jobs due to the price declines in the oil and gas industry and state spending is being cut, TSET’s decision has been met with outrage. But Oklahoman’s should be aware that TSET’s recent decision is by no means the most egregious and TSET is not the only governmental entity in Oklahoma that creates positions for the politically connected.