Meet the Swiss Army Knife State Legislators

They Think They Can Do Everything. It Would Be Hard To Be More Wrong

Swiss Army Knife?

You get the reference. This refers to legislators who think that, now they have power (more on that later), they can act with the force of law on all of their pet projects and biases. The list is quite long these days.

Have no background in education? No problem – just go right ahead and dictate curriculum content, often in very specific ways. Do what you think is right for everyone! Say you have no experience in literay matters or library management? Not to worry. Go ahead and ban books. That list of books will get ever longer and will spill over to such things as field trips and school plays. Hey, you have to do this. God told you to do it!

OK, you have zero competence in medicine, no experience in pharmacology, have never even talked with anyone in medical ethics? So what! Just go ahead and tell women their bodies are public property and the decision to continue a pregnancy is best left to a bunch of old guys in the legislature. What do those women know anyway?!

So far, you have found zero evidence in the founding era of America that the founders wanted anything to do with church-state integration. All the evidence is in exactly the opposite direction, in clear and repeated language. But surely, it’s in there somewhere! The deep state must be hiding the text somewhere. Get on board the Christian Nationalist bandwagon without delay.  Be Christian or be gone! Surely that guy Jesus would agree;  I mean, at heart, he would be just another rifle totting white guy, don’t you think?

Say you don’t really know anything about entertainment or would not recognize the First Amendment if it walked up and introduced itself? No problem! Go right ahead and ban drag shows. Feel free to encourage harassment of LBGTQ+ gatherings of any kind.

And so it goes, endlessly.

Some Of The Worst Examples

We are only going to touch on a few examples here, by way of illustration. Where we to list all the bad news examples now in evidence, we would be here way too long. But take a look at some of these little works of legislative craftsmanship.

• Oklahoma has decided it would be a fine thing to have a Catholic charter school. Yep, a private school, based on very specific theology, made into a public entity, exempt from most rules and standards but financed with taxpayer money.
• The West Virginia legislature wants to mandate that schools will teach creationism as an alternative to evolution. Not as a religious course, but as a science course.
• Texas has signed off on replacing guidance counselors with chaplains. What could possibly go wrong with that?
• In Idaho and Kentucky, new laws allow teachers and public school employees to pray in front of – and with – students.
• In Missouri, they passed a mandatory Bible class bill.
• In Florida, they’re banning ever more books, as well as lessons on race, sexual orientation, gender identity and even periods.
• Several states are looking to mandate placing the Ten Commandments in school rooms and other public places. No such material from any other religion of course. The Christian Nationalists would not approve.

Why This Is Such A Bad Thing

You don’t have to be brilliant to understand the many ways this is a terrible path to set out upon for any society. It is one thing to have a strong set of specific, moral principles; it is quite another to make those principles and religious dictates forced upon everyone else by law and policy.

If someone knows of a society that came out well from banning books, send me a note – darned if I can find one. This country’s founders knew without doubt that anytime one mixes church and state in a sustained way, both systems are corrupted and doomed to failure by any democratic standards.

A free society in a remarkably diverse and large country only sustains itself and improves when it recognizes that the role of government and the courts is to protect the weak, ensure people have as much freedom of choice as possible, consistent with not hurting others, and recognizing that diversity in all areas is a strength, not a weakness.

The path chosen by the examples cited above will cripple the next generation hopelessly. They will be ignorant, intolerant, under educated, and losers in the modern global society. We all deserve better than that.

Why Would They Do This? Three Reasons Come To Mind

One, they have power (so often as a result of extreme gerrymandering) and they plan to use it. Two, they genuinely are intellectually blind and ignorant and thing their God wants them to do this stuff. Three, they can plot the data on so many levels that indicate their moment in the sun is about over – history will turn the page on them. And so they are cramming in whatever they can get done while the getting is good.

 Any Solutions?
You bet there are solutions.

One, show up at local government and education board meetings. Stand up and speak out for intelligence, moderation, and diversity. Do not leave the microphone to the others.

Two, miss no opportunity to meet with or to write to your state and national legislators and let them know voters hate this stuff and are keeping track.

Three, vote. Vote in every election. Fill your car up with others who need to vote.

 

Eventually, common sense and good governance will win out more often than it loses. … If we do the work and show up.

Hope you enjoyed a thoughtful Juneteenth. We have quite a ways to go, still.

     Bill Clontz

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