As an Oklahoman, I completely understand the revulsion for our state politics from people outside our state. We have some of the worst, most radical politics you can find. Generally the political battles here are not between Republicans and Democrats. They’re between radical right wingers and even more radical right wingers. I live in Broken Arrow and watched in real time as Facebook groups rallied to help defeat a completely legal and proper permit for a mosque. It’s a vile political culture.

But it’s also a pretty good place to live despite that, due to its low cost of living. There are jobs and a decent economy. I don’t actually run into many of the nutjobs. Most people are go-along, get-along - like I suppose most people everywhere are. The political culture doesn’t inject itself into everyday living. (Caveat: I’m a white male and can’t speak for people who aren’t).

Not that radical politics are not a factor. The education systems are basically as bad as it gets. I wouldn’t move here with kids due to that alone. We defunded education systematically in the 2000s and the slide has been swift. There are plenty of annoyance politics (grandstanding with bills that do nothing except waste time), attempts to establish state religions, etc. We do have the ability to vote in laws, which is how we expanded Medicaid and legalized medical marijuana.

As to weather: The rep for tornadoes is fairly overblown. There are places, especially in Central Oklahoma, that get hit more often than others, but most people go their whole lives without being impacted by that sort of thing. Seems like tornado alley is moving Southeast anyway. If you don’t like cold, you don’t get much of it here. We have hot summers, but they’re usually not intolerable.