Scopes Monkey Trial Revisited

Words flowing from the pens of ordinary folk are exceedingly ineffective in expressing disappointment. When tragedy strikes, we send condolences, try to express our concern for the bereaved, all the while feeling our own impotence in trying to make things feel right again.  So it is in Tennessee, and everywhere that true patriots and dutiful citizens contemplate the meaning of what they do.

As reported in the Memphis Flyer, "Governor Bill Haslam signed the "Special Access to Discriminate" bill into law yesterday, preventing city and county governments from passing ordinances requiring contractors to treat LGBT employees equally."  This, from a man whose campaign website proudly proclaims: "Bill's values are Tennessee's values"

Bill Haslam understands that protecting our conservative values comes first.  He respects the Bible’s admonition against losing our moral compass: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

In his headlong rush to preserve the Second Amendment, he tramples the First by disavowing separation of church and state, and puts "conservative values" ahead of responsible governance, and equal protection under the law.

We know who was the first on Gov. Haslam's list to be denied equal protection under the law. We desperately need to know who is next. Women? Muslims? Teachers of evolution? Atheists? Democrats? Lincoln Republicans? Hillbillies? Intellectuals? Or, perhaps we should ask, "Who is last on his list?" Nixon Republicans? Fundamentalist fanatics? Apocalypse prophets? Dog fight promoters? Run-of-the-mill plain vanilla bigots? Most Tennesseans probably think they're safely ensconced in the middle of the pack. It would be safer to ask, "Was Hitler the only Nazi?"

One presidential hopeful put it most prophetically  before the last election: “They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

Cross-posted to The Renaissance Post