NOT THAT YOU ASKED

I know last week I wrote that I hoped the Legislature would stay in session for a while just for the entertainment value, but after what happened in its last week, they couldn't get out of Little Rock fast enough. From a representative from Jonesboro making a fool of himself, to the Governor signing a bill legalizing discrimination, I can sum up my feelings by paraphrasing Dr. Martin Luther King's famous speech,"Gone at last! Gone at last! Thank God Almighty, the Legislature has gone home at last!"

State Representative Brandt Smith pulled one of the most boneheaded, idiotic, and just plain juvenile stunts I've ever heard of. After State Senator Joyce Elliot called for a voice vote on one of Smith's bills (More on that bill later) that killed it, he hijacked one of her bills on the House floor saying, "I'm going to kill it. It's retribution." Then when Elliot's bill came up for a vote, tough guy Smith wilted just like every schoolyard bully who is finally challenged. He voted present. Even some of his fellow Republicans were disgusted with him. It looks like Smith is destined to become the Ted Cruz of the Arkansas Legislature.

And just what was that bill of Smith's that Elliot killed? It would have said that in Arkansas, the U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land. Now that sounds pretty agreeable at first, but there are two things wrong with it. First, it's based on the idiotic assumption that somehow Muslims will gain control of state government and force their way of life on us. That's never going to happen, but let's suppose it did. Once the Muslim Governor and Legislature passed bills outlawing beer, outlawing women drivers, and forced women to be covered from head to toe in public, the good ole boys and girls of Arkansas would start using them for target practice.

The second thing is, if Smith and some of his Tea Party crazies would ever read the U.S. Constitution that they claim to know so well, they would find out that it already is the supreme law of the land. In Article V is this sentence, "The Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance of thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land, and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding."You can't get much plainer that that. I guess Smith had a coach for a social studies teacher.

Then, in one of his final acts of the session, Gov. Hutchinson signed the "Defense of Religious Liberty Act" into law. He asked the Legislature to "fix" the bill, but a provision barring discrimination was not part of the fix.

He did it in spite of seeing the way a similar law had made Indiana a laughing stock. That should have been enough to stop him, but it wasn't. I guess we won't be adopting the slogan, "Thank God for Indiana" anytime soon.

I admit that this is a difficult issue to deal with. A baker shouldn't refuse to bake a cake for a gay wedding that he won't be asked to attend. On the other hand a photographer or caterer shouldn't be forced to participate in a gay wedding if they oppose gay marriage on religious grounds. Finally, no one should be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation.

Coming up with a solution to this problem that is fair to everybody is not going to be easy. To be honest, I don't know what the answer is. What I do know is that the law Gov. Hutchison signed is not the answer.