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What a dangerous and disturbing bill our state House of Delegates has just passed. How many of the 85 who voted in favor of House Bill 4654 must be regretting their decision about now?
The House approved -- and therefore sent to the state Senate -- a measure that would remove bona fide schools, public libraries and museums from the list of exemptions from criminal liability relating to distribution and display to a minor of obscene matter.
It's an assault on education and the First Amendment, let alone localized control and decision-making, that has unfettered potential to harm our kids (all of us, really) if it advances.
State code defines obscene matter as anything an average person believes depicts or describes sexually explicit conduct, nudity, sex or certain bodily functions; or anything a reasonable person would find lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.
Among the many reasons such language is dangerous is the question of who gets to decide what an "average person" would think.
"Average," reasonable people understand this is horrifying political theater, so we know the definition won't truly come from them. It will come from the kinds of people who would shut down the Galleria dell'Accademia if they could for displaying Michelangelo's "David." It will come from the kinds of people who fear their children won't be kept in the dark forever, and that they might actually learn something that lets them propel us into a brighter future -- might actually learn to think, and ask questions that challenge the status quo.
It will come from the kinds of people who have been looking for ways to strike fear into the hearts of librarians and teachers who are already fighting against the chill that has been placed over their ability to do their jobs.
It will come from the kinds of people who are desperately seeking as much control as possible over what we here in the Mountain State think, say and do.
Remember, many of these lawmakers are the same folks who claim to be steadfastly loyal to the values of our founders and our Constitution. They've dropped that facade with this one.
When Patrick Henry repeated Voltaire's idea that "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it," he could never have imagined how a small group of lawmakers in West Virginia would trample it one day.
And make no mistake, those who grudgingly go along are just as guilty as the small band gleefully trampling so much of what this country and this state used to stand for.
Enough is enough, West Virginia. Tell your state senators. Tell Gov. Jim Justice. Mountaineers are ALWAYS free, and we won't tolerate yet another attempt to take that away.