Speaker T.W. Shannon featured

Oklahoma Speaker of the House, T. W. Shannon

Appearing on the Glenn Beck television program Thursday, Oklahoma Speaker of the House T. W. Shannon participated in a panel of conservatives to discuss remedies to the challenges facing the black community.

Syndicated columnist and political commentator Star Parker moderated as guest host and was joined by Marc Little, a lawyer and the author of The Prodigal Republican, Scott Turner, a state representative from Texas, Katrina Pierson of the Dallas Tea Party, and Rep. Shannon.

Each of the guests presented their own stories, and how they came to be conservatives, before plunging into a discussion of the economic issues facing the community.

“Why did you enter public life?  This is not a fun place for black conservatives – you can believe that,” Parker said.

Rep. Shannon said he was inspired to be a conservative not from listening to politicians, but from the teaching of his church.  Further, he asserted the hope for America is in those Christian principles applied to policy that Oklahoma has put in place to lower taxes and empower individuals to be successful.

On economics, Parker said, “I’m wondering about black mobility and prosperity…There must be something that can be done about African Americans’ economic prospects and progress.  What do we do to brighten this?  Is there an opportunity for personal retirement accounts and social security?  Would that help at all?”

Parker turned to Rep. Shannon for the answer, who promptly replied: “The first thing is, you don’t do it from a government standpoint…You have to first recognize what has worked for the rest of the country, for the rest of the world.  The system that has gotten more people out of generational poverty has been our system of promoting job growth, the free market system.  Start a business.  We have too many African Americans working for government, frankly…”

Rep. Shannon draws increasing attention from national media and policy makers, but he promotes Oklahoma.  Rep. Shannon is the real deal, an honorable public servant and a unapologetic Christian.