The campaign season is in full force. No doubt we have all heard candidates from both parties tout that they will do something to bring, create, grow or support jobs. There’s a reason: Candidates know that most people, especially Oklahomans, understand the importance of hard work and how a job can provide the pathway to meeting one’s needs, wants and even dreams.

President Ronald Reagan rightly said that the best social program is a job. Yet still politicians suggest numerous ways to grow jobs, many times offering more government involvement by means of increased spending, creation of new programs and other bureaucratic efforts. The major political parties have numerous examples of government-centric job promotion efforts that failed miserably.

Since the start of the new millennium, Oklahoma has implemented a number of pro-growth policy changes to expand employment, opportunity and freedom. Implementing a right-to-work law, eliminating the death tax, keeping the initial penalty on oil and gas production competitive, lawsuit reforms, overhauling our broken workers’ compensation system and cutting the state’s top personal income tax rate by 25 percent serve to build the environment for job creation. It’s no coincidence that Oklahoma has been one of the top performers of the 50 states in per-capita income growth, low unemployment rates and job growth.

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