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Look what's going on in the democracy "laboratories"!
By CHUCK McFADDEN
of TheColumnists.com
Someone once called
America’s 50 states “laboratories of democracy,”
the idea being that new ideas could be tried out in the states
before going national.
New ideas. Good Lord. If what passes for new ideas in the states
becomes more widespread, we’re in for it. Arizona has just
passed its “be Hispanic, go to jail” bill and Virginia’s
governor recently issued a proclamation declaring April Confederate
History Month, talking about the South’s proud heritage
without, somehow, mentioning the slavery part of the South’s
proud heritage. When all hell broke loose, he muttered something
about intending to encourage tourism. Mississippi’s governor
wondered out loud what all the fuss was about.
My home laboratory of democracy, California, has never settled
for the back seat in matters involving the bizarre. I’m
not talking about our penchant for electing actors as governor.
We’re on to new adventures. This year, for instance, California’s
Legislature is wresting with the issue of whether being gay is
a matter of choice, or something you’re born with.
The whoopla results from the discovery that current California
law directs the State Department of Mental Health to conduct
research into “the causes and cures of homosexuality.”
Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, a Democrat from Long Beach, has
introduced a bill (AB 2199) to repeal the law. It recently passed
the California Assembly with only one dissenting vote.
The right-wing, religious fundamentalist Traditional Values Coalition
is outraged. The Coalition believes that homosexuality is a learned
behavior, apparently something people do just because they are
anti-establishment, or just plain perverse. With proper spiritual
counseling, the Coalition argues, gays can become straight --
maybe even join the Boy Scouts. Lesbians can learn to like guys,
even if guys belch and leave the seat up.
The Coalition is telling its members:
“AB 2199 would forever strike from the Welfare and Institutions
code the requirement that the State Department of Mental Health
conduct research on the ’causes and cures of homosexuality.’
Right now, this is required in the law. But homosexual advocates
do not want the state to study ways to help people leave the
homosexual lifestyle. They want the world to think that people
are ‘born gay.’ ”
In taking its “snap out of it” stance, the Traditional
Values Coalition is at odds with the nation’s psychiatrists,
who some years ago removed homosexuality from its official list
of mental disorders. But what do psychiatrists know, compared
with right-thinking Christians? And anyway, it’s a “lifestyle,”
not a condition.
Lowenthal’s bill now heads for the California Senate. Despite
the lopsided Assembly vote, advocates for gay rights say they
are bracing for a battle over the issue. The Traditional Values
Coalition wants its members to inundate the state senators with
letters, telephone calls and emails informing them that homosexuals
can be made to see the error of their ways.
(By the way, the Coalition is also distressed over the proposed
federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act or ENDA.)
(“Children will be trapped in classes taught by men who dress as women and students will be indoctrinated to affirm that this is normal behavior,” the Coalition fumes.)
As if the populace hasn’t enough to worry about what with male teachers being measured for their frocks, the candidates for governor are adding to the din. Meg Whitman, the former CEO of EBay, is spending tens of millions on her campaign for the Republican nomination. Her opponent is Steve Poizner, the current insurance commissioner. Whitman has so far spent upwards of $30 million on her campaign, keeping every radio station in the state rejoicing. She is stomping Poizner flat. The poor guy is something like 30 points behind in the polls, and Whitman has just announced she is adding another $20 million to her campaign. And this is just in the primary.
On the Democratic side, we have Jerry Brown, who has already been governor. He served two terms, back in the 70’s. Now he wants his old job back. No one quite knows why, since the state’s budget is a few tens of billions short. People say Brown really ought to know better. He faces no significant opposition in the primary, so as of now, it looks like a Brown-Whitman face-off in November.
Everyone, especially Jerry Brown, is wondering how much Whitman is prepared to spend in the general. After all, with $50 million to spread around in the primary, she may be prepared to spend some real money in the big circus.
Whitman could singlehandedly send the children of radio people to college and make newspaper publishers dream happy dreams about beachfront condos in Hawaii. Television anchors could dream of moving up from beachfront condos in Hawaii with three master suites to condos with five master suites and a putting green.
Are gays real gays or just pretending? Will Whitman manage it? Will she have buyer’s remorse? Will the Traditional Values Coalition endorse Whitman? Will Brown seek to legalize marijuana? Will Arnold go back to making movies? Will they be any good? Will California politics ever become sensible?
Let’s hope not. Where else but in our biggest laboratory of democracy could you get so much free entertainment?
©2010 by Charles M. McFadden. The McFadden caricature is ©2001 by Jim Hummel. This column first posted May 3, 2010.
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