Oklahoma state legislators get a lot of criticism. That goes with the job, but sometimes criticism becomes downright absurd.

Consider the Tulsa Regional Chamber of Commerce, which earlier this year paid a consultant to collect bad press about the Legislature from national media. It was a cheap shot, and suggests the TRCC wants Oklahoma legislators to be guided by the New York Times and MSNBC rather than their own constituents.

In fact, last week’s elections vindicated Oklahoma legislators on some critical issues. One is the Obamacare Medicaid expansion. The Obama Administration tried to force Medicaid expansion on the states, but lost in court. They tried free money: the federal government would pay the whole tab for the first few years, charging it all to the national debt. While some are willing to mortgage their children’s futures for politicians’ promises, many Americans and most Oklahomans were appalled.

This year’s attempt at Medicaid expansion was the so-called Rebalancing Plan. It would have put hundreds of thousands of able-bodied adults onto medical welfare while pushing 175,000 pregnant women and children into some version of the failing Obamacare insurance exchange. Legislators again said no, and now, with Obamacare going away, there is no doubt they were right. The most vulnerable were protected and the safety-net for the truly needy was preserved because of their courage.

Read the rest over on The Journal Record.