Legislators Are Not Stupid People. So What’s Behind Their Stupid Behavior?

Following the Koch playbook, Tennessee keeps finding new ways to undermine the welfare of its citizens.

NASHVILLE — The 111th General Assembly of Tennessee convened on Jan. 8, and it will disperse on April 26, not a moment too soon. Already, its Republican supermajority has introduced bills that wouldfurther weaken lax gun laws, increase campaign-donation limits and undermine a progressive Nashville law passed by public referendum, among other assaults on democracy and good sense. Tennesseans should get down on their knees and thank God for the citizen-legislator model of government, because there’s no telling how much damage these people could do if they met all year.

Fortunately, much of what happens in the General Assembly is pure political posturing. So far this year, Tennessee Republicans have introduced bills to amend the state constitution (they want it to insist that “liberties do not come from government but from Almighty God”), prohibit state officials from recognizing marriages between people of the same gender, deny birth certificates to babies born to undocumented parents and, most controversially, outlaw abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Heart cells begin beating so early in gestation that many women don’t yet know they’re pregnant.

None of these proposed laws would accomplish anything at all. God is already invoked three times in the constitution of Tennessee, and the United States Constitution has already established birthright citizenship for babies born in this country. The Supreme Court has made same-sex marriage the law of the land, and the “heartbeat bill” would run afoul of Roe v. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that protects a woman’s right to an abortion. The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee and Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and Northern Mississippi have already announced that they will challenge the law if it’s passed, and they will win in court.

Bills like this are red meat to the constituencies that elected the Republican supermajority in the first place. But this year, resistance to their efforts has come from surprising places: business and the religious right... (Margaret Renkl, continues)