Assailing the States: Legislatures Become Labs for the Far Right
If you don’t want Zealots running your state you better get out the vote.
The Republican takeover of the U.S. Senate was the big political story of 2014. But a second development that may have a more direct impact on many Americans shouldn’t be overlooked: the rise of extremely conservative legislators in the states.
A Religious Right-Tea Party alliance enjoyed great success in many states last year. As a result, we’re seeing a slew of bills that threaten the separation of church and state.
States like Georgia, Wyoming, Texas, South Carolina, Oklahoma and others are considering bills that would permit discrimination against gays and lesbians under the guise of protecting “religious liberty.” Some of these bills are a reaction to the spread of same-sex marriage in the states.
Vouchers or tuition tax credits are under consideration in at least seven states, and measures that would open the door to creationism in public schools are pending in Indiana and Montana.
Some bills are so strange and extreme that you have to wonder if the sponsors are serious. A Texas proposal, for example, would mandate that any government official who grants a marriage license to a same-sex couple be fired. In Indiana, a bill to “protect Christmas” is under consideration - even though the December holiday isn’t under any threat there.
These are just a few examples of what we’re facing this year. Americans United’s Legislative Department works hard to track and combat bills like this. We expect to see more before the year’s end.
What happened? How did so many states become laboratories for Religious Right zealots?
The short answer is that too many people didn’t vote in November of 2014. Polls don’t show support for many of these ideas, yet they keep surfacing in the states.
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