Indiana Shame

It is amazing that the Republicans in Indiana did not have the intelligence to understand the law that they passed.  As with most state legislators and the members of the US Senate and House of Representatives, the members generally do not read the bills they pass, but leave that responsibility to their aides who paraphrase the main point of bills and give the members a brief synopsis.  Had any member in Indiana actually read and understood the bill, hopefully, they would not have ever passed it.

Of course, some Hitlerian legislators may have read and understood that the bill allowed businesses to freely discriminate based on sexual orientation.  Let's say a business, a flower business, had a customer come in to buy flowers for a wedding and let's say the customer was gay.  Well, said business, under the bill, could have simply said, "We don't want your business."  This would have been totally legal.  Had the customer been black or a woman or a Jew, the discrimination would have been illegal, but for a gay person, the discrimination would have been just fine in Indiana.  Is this called religious expression?  It's not part of any religion I want to be a part of.

The last time I looked, under the 1st Amendment, freedom of religion meant that citizens can practice their religion without government intervention, but this does not give them the right to infringe on the rights of others.  In other words, if you want to have a public business, you must adhere to public laws. If a business thinks they can discriminate against gays then they need to put up a sign in their window saying so.  Let's see how many businesses do that.  

Watching the Republicans back peddle has been a real laugh.  As a long time Reagan Republican, I'm to the point of leaving the party.  Between the Tea Party Nazis holding up needed legislation to the constant drum beating against anything the President offers, the polarization of the Congress has further eroded confidence in our system.  They seem unable to get anything done. They have lost the art of compromise.  

The next Presidential election will be interesting.  Should Ran Paul or Ted Cruz get in, It might be time to move to Australia.