Leave it to Missouri – the “Show Me State” – to show us the way of the future.
This week, Republicans in the Missouri House of Representatives voted to defund all of the state’s public libraries as part of its proposed state budget, and forwarded the bill to the GOP-controlled Senate, where chances of passage were, frankly, less than certain.
Even so, you have to ask yourself, why would they do such a thing?
It seems that last year, the Legislature passed a law removing certain material it considered “too sexually explicit” for school libraries, which upset the Missouri Association of School Librarians and the Missouri Library Association. So the ACLU, on behalf of these librarians, responded by challenging last year’s law, and that led the lawmakers to cut off all library funding … period.
According to reports, the House spent more than eight hours debating various budget cuts that also included funding for diversity initiatives, childcare and pre-kindergarten programs. The Republican Budget Committee chairman allegedly proposed cutting library aid as retribution for the ACLU lawsuit, which contends that a bill to ban more than 300 books from school libraries is unconstitutional. Many of the books include LGBTQ characters or racial justice themes.
Democrats, of course, supported the libraries, arguing that Republicans are just angry that their authority is being challenged, and are taking out their wrath on the state’s libraries. Apparently, it’s not nice to piss off your lawmakers in Missouri.
All of this raises some interesting questions, such as will this happen in other states where books are being banned, and why stop with public libraries?
I mean, c’mon, Missouri, you can do better than this. After you’re finished raping your state’s libraries, why not turn your attention to motion pictures that address these same taboo subjects? I think maybe you should close all of the theaters in the state. And television programs that address said subjects? Why not black out all of your TV channels? Sporting events? What if the Cardinals or Chiefs gave away rainbow towels or mugs on National Diversity Day. Shouldn’t these teams be suspended from playing their games?
And don't even get me started on the internet.
Seriously, if defunding libraries is the answer to banning books, I can see a lot more opportunities for the Missouri Legislature to shut down other forms of entertainment that threaten to illustrate life in the real world in 2023 while the state marches relentlessly into the past. It’s all there waiting for you, Missouri. Don’t pass up a chance to score big.
