People who attack librarians, who fear books, who fear ideas, who fear other people and other ways—these are the arsonists of democracy. These people have a friend in my opponent Speaker Scott Bedke.
This is no hypothetical anecdote. It’s real. The library in Bonners Ferry is under attack.
This month, the Boundary County Library Board canceled public meetings because they are being threatened by local extremists. A group mobbed a board meeting in June, demanding that “groomers” be stopped. One man even accused a woman of being a witch.
The mob, by the way, doesn’t care that “bad” books don’t exist in the library. They don’t care that there’s a religious section where they can browse Fabio-free book shelves and never be scandalized by Fifty Shades of Grey or To Kill a Mockingbird or Macbeth.
These anti-freedom folks don’t want to risk us being exposed to ideas that they haven’t approved.
So, the library staff and volunteer board are being harassed. Even threatened. Afterall, what are they supposed to think when fanatics blow a shofar outside the building? A shofar (according to books) is a Hebrew horn, generally from a ram, which is blown to gather people for battle.
When I am elected Lieutenant Governor, I will use the office to promote freedom.
Remember the horrible way that Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin used the office as a bullhorn to promote her radical agenda? I will use the office to alert Idahoans when politicians are trying to limit our freedom.
This year, I would have alerted everyone about this year’s House Bill 666, which sought to make librarians criminals if a minor obtained a “harmful” book.
Speaker Bedke let the bill pass. He made sure to be “absent” when it came to voting so that no one can accuse him of being for or against freedom. But let’s face it, he let the extremists burn down the Idaho House long ago. (The bill failed to pass the Senate).
I won’t be such a wilting violet in the face of extremism. I am proud to tell you what I believe. I am proud to stand with librarians. I honor their work. I respect their wisdom. I am humbled by their courage.
And, I will never give the State the power to tell us what ideas are too dangerous to read.