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Texas Surpasses California as Kook, Spook State

In the last (March 2nd) Texas primaries, the GOP had a series of six "ballot propositions." These asked Repub voters in my state to vote yes or no on such matters as whether there should be a national photo I.D., a spending control measure, and requiring mandatory sonograms for mothers thinking of an elective abortion. Yes, they hit all the bases and I have not omitted the most offensive one out of any mischief other than leaving it to last for dramatic effect. Get this:

"Ballot Proposition #4: Public Acknowledgement of God

"The use of the word 'God,' prayers, and the Ten Commandments should be allowed at public gatherings and public educational institutions, as well as be permitted on government buildings and property."

I thought these geeks were conservatives. It is not conservative to espouse such a thing, as it surely would be ruled an unconstitutional overstepping of the boundary between church and state. This would invite mass litigation, which is very, very expensive. It ties up the courts, and as conservative as the New Majority is on the Supreme Court, the Nine Nutty Professors have shown no inclination to agree with the religious right and their fellow traveler politicians that the church-state barrier is a "myth." Note that the onslaught of separation attacks coincide with the Texas School Board's decision to eliminate from history texts the name of Thomas Jefferson. For it was he who came up with the doctrine, saying that it was encompassed by the language of the 1st Amendment.

I am sorry to say I did not follow the results of the initiative voting and for that reason I want to ask another Texan (or wonk from any state) reading this to enlighten me: Did Prop Four pass? As Kurtz would say, "Horrible...horrible...."

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Permalink Reply by Karen Greene on July 4, 2010 at 11:41am

Prop #4 didn't pass. I agree that Texas is full of kooks. I live in San Antonio.

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Permalink Reply by James M. Martin on July 4, 2010 at 2:49pm

Whew! One more like that an I will have to move.

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Permalink Reply by david hartley on July 4, 2010 at 12:29pm

Could a weakness of the American system be the fact States themselves can be picked off individually. My case in point would be the Volstead act where the Temperance movement brought State after State under the influence of the evangelical Temperance movement, which of course is exactly the same as the evangelical Christians. They also had lobbyists in DC but their greatest success was in converting individual States, do you think this could be possible in America in the future or is the seperation of Church and State strong enough in the Constitution to be able to withstand such an assault.

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Permalink Reply by Susan Stanko on July 4, 2010 at 12:55pm

I think it can withstand the assault as long as "activist judges" do not put thee personal biases into the interpretation of the constitution.

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Permalink Reply by Reina Bosque on July 4, 2010 at 2:30pm

Wow, the mandatory sonograms thing really pisses me off. I recently had to have an abortion, which was a difficult and painful decision, but the best decision I could have made under the circumstances. Being forced to undergo a sonogram would have made it even harder.

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Permalink Reply by James M. Martin on July 4, 2010 at 2:47pm

That is the point, Reina, and this from a religion that is supposed to make people happy. (Most conservatives are rabidly Christian.)

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Permalink Reply by Olga Spelts (Human Bean) on July 7, 2010 at 4:20pm

Right. Whats worse is they want some condescending lecture to be given! From what I've read ultrasounds are already performed simply to make sure theres no problems but what they want is an infanatlizing lecture to be given while undergoing it. In many cases they dont even want exceptions for rape and incest victims!

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Permalink Reply by James M. Martin on July 7, 2010 at 4:38pm

Sick, sick, sick! It's not enough they parade their silly signs outside the clinics, making women feel guilty for doing something that if men had to do it there wouldn't be a peep from any of these nitwit Christers.

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Permalink Reply by Olga Spelts (Human Bean) on July 4, 2010 at 6:30pm

Dang! I was going to post something on the Texas Republican platform! They also wanted to ban anal/oral sex, outlaw strip clubs and porn, plan B, endangered species act and department of education!

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7050170.html

http://static.texastribune.org/media/documents/FINAL_2010_STATE_REP...

other gems....
-Getting rid of no-fault divorce.
-Raising age of consent to 18.
-"Morning After Pill - We oppose sale and use of the dangerous "Morning After Pill."
-"We deplore all discrimination.... We urge immediate repeal of the Hate Crimes Law. Until [it] is totally repealed, we urge the Legislature to immediately remove the education curriculum mandate and the sexual orientation category in said Law."
-Regarding Israel: "Our policy is based on God's biblical promise to bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel"
-The first part of "Protecting Women's Health" is: "Because of the personal and social pain caused by abortions...."
-Banning women from ground and submarine combat (and homosexuals from the military period)
-banning third trimester abortion (being as third trimester abortion under roe v wade is only allowed in cases of serious issue what are they suggesting; that she should die?)

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Permalink Reply by Dale on July 7, 2010 at 9:16pm

If I remember correctly they also wanted to do something about the external influences on the United States and the conspiracy of the United Nations interfering in the running of the country.