Letter from the Editor

With the election season at a close, here are my plans for Only To Thinking.

Since election season is well and truly over, I thought I would sit down for a few minutes to tell you what you can expect from Only To Thinking in the future.

To my new subscribers: welcome to Only To Thinking! Here, I write about philosophy and politics with a specific focus on issues affecting Lawton and the University of Oklahoma. My most notable essays have been about a mayoral candidate making promises he couldn’t keep, the local results of the general election, and student government finances at the University of Oklahoma. In between, I’ve also written essays about a variety of subjects, from perceptions of crime in Lawton to an analysis of the vice presidency. I’m thrilled that you’ve subscribed. For you, it’s just an email, but for me, it’s a show of confidence in my work.

Since the election is over, I’m going to be changing tact from current affairs in politics to the sorts of larger, systemic matters that I find really fascinating. Here are some articles that I’ve either already started work on or that I’m going to start soon.

Local Matters

In the next couple of months, I plan on writing essays about:

• The stories behind Lawton’s street names (ex: Quanah Parker, Gore, Sheridan)

• The legacy of the New Deal in and around Lawton

• The history of Lawton’s downtown and, of course, Central Mall

• The oddities of Lawton’s zoning code

Of course, I will be also continue writing about current affairs as needed in Lawton and Norman. We are, after all, in the midst of a public spending boom in Lawton, and there will doubtless be things to discuss on that front. Due to a decline in local media in the past few decades, many communities don’t have professional news organizations to cover local events. While Lawton has KSWO and the Constitution, the former publication is bound to TV-worthy, current events, and the latter is locked behind a high paywall. While I do not begrudge either of these organizations for operating according to economic incentives, I want OTT to transcend the limitations of both of these projects.

Political Matters

In the next few months, I also plan on writing about:

• What “republic” means, from a historical perspective

• What a liberal democracy is

• Why monopolies are important— and often good

I expect the essays in this category to perform relatively poorly, but I think they’re important. For the past few decades, America has been engulfed by a populist wave, and this has been especially evident in the past ten years. As someone with a deep abiding interest in society who studies politics in an academic environment, I feel that intellectual elites are ineffective at communicating substantive ideas to the general public and that the general public is largely ignorant of how our system of government works. Again, while I don’t begrudge anyone for acting according to their interests, I do want to serve a role in correcting these discrepancies.

Beyond Brayden J

Only To Thinking sometimes publishes works from local writers, the most recent example of which is an avant-garde short story in the style of David Foster Wallace. I plan on publishing more of these works in the future. It’s a rare thing for publications to have a readership, so I have no qualms about sharing my good fortune with interesting Oklahomans who share my partiality for local art, local culture, and local politics. Currently, long-time contributor Emily Spotts and public policy researcher Daniel Zavala are cooking up some humorous pieces that, I think, might make for nice Christmas gifts in that jolly time of year.

Conclusion

To cap this little piece off, it’s been a fascinating few months working on OTT, and I look forward to writing more in the future to carry out what I perceive to be my responsibilities. If you enjoy OTT and would like to show your confidence in my work, I encourage you to subscribe. If you would like to reach out to me, I invite you to email me at braydenjohnson@onlytothinking.com. The important takeaway of this letter is that I’m not going away now that the votes have been cast. So long as OTT is the best way that I can use my knowledge and serve my community, I will continue to publish.


Best,

Brayden J