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To hear some on the right tell it, the left’s concerns about treating people with respect have made Republicans the nation’s true champions of free speech. That’s certainly one perspective.
But here’s another: The GOP is also the party of removing books from libraries if conservatives deem them offensive. It’s the party that’s also desperate to control what some doctors tell their patients and what many educators tell their students.
And once in a while, it’s even the party that’s home to those who embrace book burning.
Last fall, for example, some conservative school board members in a local community in Virginia not only targeted LGBTQ+ books in a school library, they also said at a public meeting that they’d like to see the removed books burned.
Yesterday, as The Washington Post reported, this came up again.
The Republican-led Tennessee state House passed a bill Wednesday that would require public school librarians to submit to the state a list of book titles for approval, as a GOP lawmaker suggested burning books that are deemed inappropriate.
At issue was a debate over a proposal that generated a fierce debate: Instead of having librarians choose books for schools’ collections, Tennessee Republicans want to give the state’s textbook commission the authority to approve or reject books in school libraries.
Republican state Rep. Jerry Sexton, a sponsor of the bill, argued on the chamber floor that this would help ensure libraries have “age-appropriate books” — because he considered some texts in school libraries to be “obscene.”
Democratic state Rep. John Ray Clemmons wanted to know what would happen to the books that conservatives deemed inappropriate. “You going to put them in the street? Light them on fire? Where are they going?” Clemmons asked.
“I don’t have a clue, but I would burn them,” Sexton replied.
“That’s what I thought,” Clemmons said.
Coincidentally, not long after this debate unfolded in Nashville, the White House hosted an event to honor teachers of the year. President Joe Biden spoke at some length at the gathering, and at one point told attendees, “Today, there are too many politicians trying to score political points, trying to ban books — even math books. I mean, did you ever think — even you younger teachers — did you ever think, when you’d be teaching, that you’d be worried about book burnings and banning books, all because it doesn’t fit somebody’s political agenda?”
It was a well-timed question.