Letter To The Editor: Who’s Crazy?
An eye-catching political flyer recently arrived in my mailbox displaying prominent labels, in large, upper-case letters: “conservative” and “crazy”. Most of us are aware that using labels is a somewhat lazy way for a candidate to present one’s positions; but is it appropriate for candidates to accuse their opponents of being insane?
What do these labels really mean? Judy Meyer and Regina McCrea want you to believe they are “conservative”. Why do they think that matters? And why do they describe themselves as “conservative”? The word itself applies to one who wishes to keep the status quo. These two women know that, generally speaking, residents of north Idaho consider themselves as conservative. Hence, using the mendacious tactic of the three self-described “conservative” NIC Trustee candidates last fall (which was 67% successful) these two incumbent trustees think they can pull a sleight of hand. Sadly, in many ways, they do indeed wish to conserve the status quo of pornographic and obscene children’s books they have permitted in our libraries – during their trusteeship!
Of course, M&M (as they call themselves) claim it’s because of the 1st Amendment. This is the response that countless verbal complaints have met with regarding questionable children’s books over the years: the misleading excuse given by library staff that it’s a Constitutional issue. Parents walk off disheartened, and M&M can boast that there are only a handful of formal complaints. Mrs. McCrea crows on the Save our Libraries website: “I will protect the first amendment rights of all patrons . . .” though, apparently, this doesn’t include the protection of children. The trustees have even come up with a plan, the “minor card” program. But they don’t tell you that this is not required for children to browse in the library, only to check out books.
Mrs. McCrea says in her mailer that she values “the ability to disagree with one another [which] is what makes our country great.” Unless you vow to “permanently remove the offensive books for minors from the library once and for all”. Then she will insist you are insane, as she did with opponent Tom Hanley, calling such an idea “crazy”. It’s a sad day for north Idaho when candidates calling for a return to a morality that the Founding Fathers espoused, and that our nation evinced for nearly two centuries, are called “crazy”.
Judy Meyer, meanwhile, tried a strawman argument: “censoring books is the wrong policy,” as if those of us opposed to tax-funded smut for children are waiting to raise the temperature on piles of books to 451 degrees Fahrenheit. She makes the illogical leap from legitimate parental objections to “censorship”. Taxpayer-funded graphically obscene books in the children’s sections have become increasingly numerous -- under her supervision for the last 26 years, mind you – but she has the audacity to accuse those wishing to protect children from such garbage as “censorship”. She conspicuously sidesteps the issue of using public funds to buy books that violate the deeply held convictions of the majority of North Idahoans. Talk about 1st Amendment violations! Why should our government use our hard-earned taxes for nefarious purposes that are antithetical to our beliefs? Mrs. Meyer, you may not care about where your tax dollars go; but don’t pick my pocket to buy pornography for children!
You may ask, “Are the books in the library really that bad?” Check the Clean Books for Kids website. It provides specifics regarding the availability of pornographic and obscene books in the children’s sections of our libraries. Yet M&M claim that their opponents are spreading disinformation – that it’s “crazy” to think we need to clean up the libraries! The real insanity is that these two women, donning the mantle of “conservative”, want your vote again, so they can continue ignoring parental complaints about vile children’s books funded by our tax dollars and completely out of touch with community standards.
Apparently, Tom Hanley and Tim Plass aren’t the “crazy” ones after all. The definition of insanity, variously attributed to Ben Franklin, Mark Twain, or Albert Einstein, is said to be the act of doing something repeatedly with the expectation of a different outcome. If we allow Judy Meyer and Regina McCrea to continue as trustees, then we voters are the crazy ones, because it will be business as usual. Nothing will change. Now that really is crazy!
