Gov. Brad Little is confronted with an easy decision: veto the Legislature’s attack on librarians, or let it become law. It should be super easy for him to veto this $250 bounty on librarians: 1) it is the right thing to do; 2) it is also the popular thing to do.
Honestly, it’s beyond baffling to watch Idaho’s far-right book-burners push around Idaho’s “traditional Republicans,” who rarely muster better than a Neville-Chamberlain-like courage. So, Idaho gets a state government that goes after librarians.
The fight should be an easy one too.
The professionals they are attacking are popular and they are trusted. An astounding 69% of Idahoans report they trust librarians to choose books for libraries (Idaho Public Policy Survey). That same poll shows that Idaho politicians are leading the way for an intolerant and inconsolable 23% minority of the state that doesn’t trust librarians.
Bear in mind, too, that politicians, like every one of the Idaho Republicans who pressed this bad law through the Legislature, are unpopular and untrusted. A whopping 59 percent of Americans say they distrust people in political life (Gallup survey).
So, these unpopular politicians press their unpopular attack.
One of the library attack sponsors, Sen. Cindy Carlson of Riggins, claimed the law is “fair to both sides of the issue.”
Look. I believe in fairness. As a lawyer, I make sure my clients are treated fairly. When I attend parent-teacher conferences, I make sure my kid is being treated fairly. When I feed my bird dogs, I make sure the bigger one doesn’t eat the smaller one’s food.
But “fairness” has nothing to do with it when one side is clearly wrong.
It is wrong to let Idaho’s far-right tell Idahoans what we can and cannot read.
It is wrong for craven politicians to invent divisive issues for personal gain.
It is wrong to call the people who oppose them supporters of obscenity.
Fairness? That’s a political ruse.
Brad Little has been a politician for ages and ages. He knows what’s going on here. And while he performs a waiting game to veto this bill—his deadline is Wednesday—he is signaling his far-right base that he takes their wrong-headed ideas “seriously.”
That’s also why Brad Little has not held another press conference to update Idaho on what he is doing about the racist attack on NCAA women’s basketball players in Coeur d’Alene. His mealy-mouthed assurance to the nation that Idahoans don’t support racism—when, clearly, racists harassed and harangued a team of college athletes who were trying to spend money at Idaho restaurants and hotels on an Idaho downtown street—was pathetic and embarrassing.
So here we are. Again.
Our governor is letting fools and fascists know that he’s being “fair” when he needs to show the state and the nation that he’s being “right.”
Veto the bill, immediately, Brad Little. Once you do that, let us know what exactly you are doing about the racists who are attacking innocent visitors to our state.