And You Wonder Why They're Called Dumbos?

The following list represents the craziest Dumbo ideas from GOP State Conventions to rescue the Land O'The Free and the Home O'The Brave from Them. The Grand Canyon State didn't even make the list. The Dumbos in AZ gathered in January 2010 in their state convention, but the hellish Arizona Immigration Bill of 2010 originated among the Dumbos in the AZ state legislature long after the Dumbos in the State GOP Convention had folded their tents and adjourned. All of this proves that Dumbos can be stupid any time, anywhere. If this is (fair & balanced) political inanity, so be it.

[x TNR]
In Search Of The Craziest GOP Policy
By Seyward Darby

Tag Cloud of the following article

13th abolish already amendment ban break caning civil congress constitution country departments explicitly federal final form foster gop illegal international iowa irs issue law legalize legislature marriage montana oppose original party percentage platforms republicans rights search seventeenth shariah sovereignty states support tea texas thanks think tnr treaty trump united wants

created at TagCrowd.com

Is "one-world government," whereby the United States would cede all sovereignty to a manipulative international force, a real threat to the country? Republican leaders in many states seem to think so: The platforms they've written this year explicitly ban it.

This is just one example of the kind of language that's working its way into state Republican platforms this election cycle, perhaps thanks to the growing influence of Tea Party conservatives. TNR searched for some of the most outrageous planks out there. Here is what we found:

Texas

The GOP wants to make it illegal "to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple and for any civil official to perform a marriage ceremony for such." Gay marriage is already banned in Texas—so, for people to break this proposed law, they'd have to be... already breaking the law?

Idaho

Republicans want to abolish the seventeenth amendment, because having state legislatures appoint U.S. senators again would "[restore] the constitution’s checks and balances that protects the rights and sovereignty of the states." Apparently, states' rights trump those of individual voters.

Iowa

Republicans want to get rid of the federal agriculture and energy departments, the federal and state education departments, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the International Revenue Service (IRS). The party also calls for "the reintroduction and ratification of the original 13th Amendment, not the 13th Amendment in today’s Constitution." The original amendment would have outlawed the taking of noble titles and foreign offices; the final amendment, of course, abolished slavery.

Montana

Republicans "oppose the concept of 'gun free zones' in any form or in any place except detention facilities." Schools need not apply.

Iowa (Again)

The GOP "oppose[s] any effort to implement Islamic Shariah law in this country." I have yet to see a bill in Congress—or the Iowa legislature—that would legalize caning or stoning. Also, percentage of Iowans who are Muslim: less than 0.5.

Texas (Again)

"We support eliminating bureaucratic prohibitions on corporal discipline... in foster homes to help alleviate the shortage of foster parents." So the GOP thinks there are Texans who would take in foster children if they were allowed to hit them. And the party supports them.

Maine

The GOP wants to "[r]eject the UN Treaty on Rights of the Child." The only countries in the world that haven't approved the treaty are the United States and Somalia. Ω

[Seyward Darby is the assistant managing editor of The New Republic. She was previously a reporter-researcher at the magazine. Prior to joining TNR, with support from Duke University's Hart Fellowship Program, she was an assistant editor and correspondent for Transitions Online (TOL), a Prague-based magazine and media development organization that covers Eastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. In addition to reporting and editing for TOL, she researched journalism training needs in Central Asia (the "-stans"). She grew up in eastern North Carolina and holds a bachelor's degree in English from Duke, where she was editor of the daily student newspaper, The Chronicle.]

Copyright © 2010 The New Republic

Get the Google Reader at no cost from Google. Click on this link to go on a tour of the Google Reader. If you read a lot of blogs, load Reader with your regular sites, then check them all on one page. The Reader's share function lets you publicize your favorite posts.


Sapper's (Fair & Balanced) Rants & Raves by Neil Sapper is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Based on a work at sapper.blogspot.com. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available here.

Copyright © 2010 Sapper's (Fair & Balanced) Rants & Raves