Arkansas Republicans continue to demonstrate how quickly they will throw their supposed principles on the trash heap if doing so will help impose their worldview through government.
Most of the time we hear how the “liberals” want bigger government they can use to achieve some nefarious end, but the GOP majority in Little Rock has embraced a heightened level of activism to achieve their good ends, not the bad ones Democrats have wanted.
Take, for instance, the bigger-government approach to prayer in schools pushed by Rep.
Debra Hobbs of Rogers and adopted as law.
Well, the bill doesn’t say it’s about prayer inschool, but that’s what Hobbs and her colleagues want it to ultimately be about in practice. Her House Bill 1690, which became Act 576, amends state law to mandate all public school studentsparticipate in a moment of silence to start each school day.
Hobbs’ comment in the newspaper refl ects how she had to overcome her own standards to embrace big government reaching into the schools.
“I wrestled with the ‘may’ and the ‘shall’ because I don’t like mandates. But the more I though about it, the more I decided that one minute was not to much to ask of our teachers to give the children,” Hobbs said.
In other words, such mandates are wrong when the other side wants them, but they’re right when their purpose is just and valid.
Conservative members of the GOP continue to be frustrated the Constitution has for years blocked their insertion of religion into the public schoolhouse. The “moment of silence” mandate is the best they can do - right now - to communicate to their voting base that they’re doing the best they can against the liberal establishment to get prayer back in the schools.
Seriously, who’s going to enforce this law? It puts the burden of enforcement on the teacher to make sure all students participate and none distract others from their moment of silence. Let’s say the teacher can’t make that happen. Are the cops going to come busting in? How should we sentence the teacher? Cut her tongue out?
This has been a General Assembly led by Republicans intent on ignoring the protections of the U.S. Constitution, except, of course, for the Second Amendment. They even fi led bills asserting the state could ignore certain parts of the Constitution the state found unreasonable.
This is legislation focused on making lawmakers feel good and to play to a certain constituency. It’s useless, unenforceable legislation many teachers will nonetheless try to follow.
And this Legislature embraced it.
Rep. John Payton of Wilburn, responded to an email question about the law’s impact on a woman’s atheist daughter. Payton’s response?
Romans 1:19-3 addresses the concerns, he wrote back.
The verse says “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.”
That helps explain the GOP mindset taking hold as its members work to reintroduce their faith. Why can’t they grasp the idea public schools are not made for expanding their faith or any other?
Republicans have unfortunately used much of this year’s legislative session to demonstrate they’re the party of yesterday’s ideas. Good luck to them trying to sell that for long. The national party has tried, and look where it got them.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 04/10/2013