clowns

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

Surely, that is the feeling that Mark Norris has as leader of the Tennessee Legislature.

He has a reputation as a clever and opportunistic politician, but the Senate Majority Leader has to shake his head at some of the machinations of his fellow legislators exercising their Tea Party mentality.  Of course, he regularly abdicates the high road and dutifully repeats the conservative mantra himself about how lower taxes and less government creates jobs (despite research to the contrary) in order to maintain favor with his minions.

In his speeches and writings, Mr. Norris extols the way that the Legislature is focused on strengthening the Tennessee economy.  Less attention is paid in his speeches to the steady stream of whacky bills that flow out of the General Assembly, that make Tennessee a punch line to much of the country, and that result in the Legislature being considered one of the worst in the nation (and these days, that’s a pretty high bar).

Extremism Reigns

It is of course asking too much for our legislators to be Mensa Club material, but these days, we would just settle for balance and fair play, not to mention a modicum of compassion and an appreciation for diversity.  The most disturbing thing of all is not that he and his colleagues take the opposite side on all things Obama-related, but their willingness to put their own political ambitions ahead of small things like the health of tens of thousands of Tennesseans by refusing to expand Medicaid while they concentrate on important issues like making sure that no place in Tennessee – except, notably their offices – is safe from gun shootings.

There is the wasted energy – and continued extremism – that typifies too much that happens in the Legislature, such as the bill by Sen. Mae Beavers of Mt. Juliet and eight co-sponsors to nullify the Affordable Care Action.  It would prohibit state government, its officials and agencies from implementing or administering any part of the Affordable Care Act.

She’s the same legislator who also introduced the bill to stop the alleged (and paranoid) “usurpation” of the Second Amendment by the federal government.  Motivated by race and radicalism rather than a real threat, it is the latest in the Legislature’s love affair with firearms.

It is a curious fact of life that governments can limit First Amendment freedoms, but somehow, pistols are more important than people and the Second Amendment is sacrosanct.  You can’t shout “fire” in a crowded theater but these days you can take a gun into a theater and fire it.

Nothing Is Sacred

There has not been a time in the modern history of Tennessee legislatures that legislators have been more willing to inject their personal beliefs and biases into the lives of Tennesseans.  There has never been a time when the Tennessee Legislature has taken routinely to altering the long-held values of the Tennessee Constitution with its partisan amendments.

State legislators put a referendum on this year’s state ballot that would politicize the election of appeals and Supreme Court judges in Tennessee and subject them to a Tea Party litmus test, to remove a woman’s right to privacy in medical decisions, and to prevent an income tax in Tennessee even if events, crises, and public opinion require it.

As is often the case with this Legislature, they are constantly pursuing “solutions” in search of a problem.  There is the Voter ID law to reduce voting, there is the meddling into policies of the City of Memphis, there are educational bills (think vouchers) that are motivated by an anti-urban school attitude, there is the law preventing Memphians from setting their own living wage and prevailing wage ordinances,

The irony is how quickly any suggestion by the federal government is met with howls of protest from legislators and hysterical charges of political heavy-handedness.  And yet, when it comes to bullying Memphis and Memphians, there is no such reluctance.

The Tennessee Legislature opened this year’s session with a tribute to the late Representative Lois DeBerry of Memphis, whose temperament, honesty, compassion, and fairness exemplified what a legislator should be.  Stay tuned: you’ll be surprised how quickly her example is forgotten.