He used to be, before we moved. He's always been kind of an odd duck.
>>After abruptly withdrawing his bill and storming out of a meeting, a Fairfax senator blasted members of the House Education Committee yesterday as "pinkos" and "liberals" for striking a section that required schools to suspend students who disrupt the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.
. . . .
Yesterday morning's debate evolved into an emotional discussion of the best way to instill civic pride and
national honor into youth while respecting their freedom of expression.
While he said he supported fostering the pledge, Del. W.W. "Ted" Bennett Jr., D-Halifax, said, "I'm afraid the bill starts to go over the cliff from fostering and promoting patriotism to force and coercion." Legislators must be careful to avoid "a constitutional quagmire."
Del. Paul C. Harris, R-Albemarle, a veteran, described the country "as going to hell in a handbasket" and that the pledge might help staunch "the pervasive liberal orthodoxy."
Barry took his action after a series of proposed changes to his bill. The amendment that most incurred Barry's wrath was a proposal by Del. Thomas M. Jackson Jr., D-Carroll, which would allow local school divisions to determine how to punish students who disrupt the daily recitation.
Jackson explained students are now automatically suspended for possessing drugs or guns on school
property. The penalty for disrupting the pledge should be left to local divisions, he said.
Barry countered that taking out the suspension penalty watered down the bill.
"I'd send them to 10 weeks on Parris Island if I my way," Barry said, referring to the Marine boot camp in South Carolina."<<
Virginia is quite conservative, in case you didn't know. I disagree with Barry on this, but if the law passes I doubt that it would be enforceable if someone wanted to challenge it.
It strikes me as somewhat odd, and certainly worth mentioning that students are being hemmed in on all sides by the forces of orthodoxy - here, the forces of conservative orthodoxy. I consider the political correctness movement to be the forces of liberal orthodoxy.
I'm a fan of heterodoxy, myself. I tell my kids that unfortunately, people want to control the way they think, but to just laugh it off. If they don't want to say the Pledge of Allegiance, they don't have to say anything; and if they really want to make a point, they can remain seated, and I'll take care of it if they get in trouble. But they don't get in trouble because they are polite and respectful.
When I was in high school, I didn't want to say the Pledge of Allegiance, and I used to remain seated, but I never got in trouble because I was polite and respectful. Civility goes a long way.
I don't see our role as much different than the way we would act if we attended a religious ceremony in a church not our own, or attended a patriotic ceremony in a country not our own. In my America, people are not required to say the Pledge of Allegiance, we say it because we want to. But my teenagers don't always live in my America, sometimes people who think they know better than I do get to tell them what to do. |
