To the editor:
Rep. Barbara Bailey is on the wrong side of yet another important issue, and may even be guilty of trying to rewrite history in the manner of Tea Party favorite, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, from the state of Minnesota.
On April 4, the state House passed SB-5174 by a vote of 72-23. The Senate had previously passed it unanimously by a vote of 47-0. The bill, entitled “Encouraging instruction in the history of civil rights,” is clearly intended to teach students about the struggles of the civil rights movement and to remember and honor its leaders. It won’t come as any surprise to anyone that all 23 no votes were cast by Republicans and/or members of the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party.
To her credit, Representative Norma Smith voted in favor of the bill. But alas, not Bailey.
You may recall that recently Michele Bachmann floated the trial balloon that our Founding Fathers were actually against slavery and that they worked tirelessly for most of the following century to eliminate it from this nation’s landscape. Needless to say, after historians quit laughing, they promptly popped her trial balloon. It is certainly understandable that members of the political party most associated with views and policies generally considered hostile toward minority groups would try to rewrite that terrible history, but they are going to fail in that effort.
To see how desperate they are to try to alter that terrible history, an amendment was offered to SB-5174 (by a Republican, of course) that would have added Benjamin Franklin and John Quincy Adams, among others who were influential at the time of the founding of this nation, “as heroes of the civil rights movement.” OK, stop laughing. Needless to say, the amendment failed.
Thank you, Norma, for standing up to the extremists in your party and for doing what is right.
As for you Barbara, I think the Whidbey News-Times got it right during the last election cycle — you have outlived your usefulness in Olympia. Your anachronistic approach to governance is becoming an embarrassment to us all. Please step down after this term. It is time for you to go home and stay there.
Nels Kelstrom
Clinton
