Confirming the utter insanity of the US, Alabama failed yesterday to pass a state constitutional measure that would get rid of segregation. You heard right: Alabama voters decided by a majority that they would keep segregation. You can read about it here.
The real mind-twister is when you get to the part about how "powerful groups and personalities on the right campaigned heavily against it, claiming that the amendment opened the door to lawyers to sue the state and raise taxes."
Huh? Did I miss something here? After further reading, the "argument" (and I use the term loosely) seems to go something like this: if we remove this constitutional language referring to education, left-wing trial lawyers will start suing saying that people shouldn't have to be taxed for education because it isn't guaranteed by the constitution. This is one of those things that makes me sputter and spit because I can't decide which ludicrous part of that argument to demolish first. A couple of ideas:
1. The government taxes for all sorts of things not enumerated in the constitution.
2. If trial lawyers are aligned with the left, which the right is repeatedly alleging, then doesn't that mean that they'd be logically less likely to oppose taxes?
3. Wait a minute, you're part of the Alabama Conservative Coalition? Doesn't that mean it's your mission to push socially conservative (fire is a newfangled thing not to be trusted) agenda? Are you the same people that are seriously trying to get schools to push creationism as something that should get equal classroom time with evolution? Why don't I trust what you say?
(Oh, and incidentally, it's called SCIENCE class. You want your kids to learn creationism, send them to Sunday School. I have zero problem with that. But keep your belief system [with far less objective evidence] out of my public education.)
I wish I could say that this will make Alabama the new laughingstock of the country. I wish I could say that everyone would just point their fingers at the insane peeps down south and shake their heads. Sadly, I know that the general reaction will be for most people to pretty much ignore it.
What the hell is going on?
