( - promoted by William Tucker)
What do we think of when we imagine a Republican office holder from New Hampshire? We think of someone who is rational, sober, fiscally conservative, and opposed to high taxes. We think of someone who wants small, thrifty, and efficient government, right? Wrong! Ever so wrong! Perhaps, there was a time when Republican office holders answered to that description, but no more.
Today, Republicans in the New Hampshire legislature are a witch's brew of Free Staters, Tea Party members, and extreme libertarians who have concocted weird legislative potions that are making our state the laughingstock of the nation.
Rachel Maddow held New Hampshire Republican office holders up to ridicule on her nationally-televised program (1/5/12). Maddow notes, "When Republicans won up and down the ballot all across the country in the 2010 mid-terms, there were few places where their victories were as big as they were in New Hampshire. (Before the election) Democrats controlled the New Hampshire House by a margin of 216-173. . . . Republicans flipped the New Hampshire House and they flipped it by a huge margin. They gained 124 seats."
"That was basically the same story in the State Senate. Republicans went from being a minority in the senate to having their biggest majority there in nearly half a century."
"So what have New Hampshire Republicans done with their big new majorities? They have taken a state with a national reputation for being sort of sane and within the mainstream among the Republican Party and they have decided to let their freak flag fly."
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Maddow then cites specific examples. A Republican legislator proposed a commission be formed to bring charges of treason against President Obama, Shortly thereafter, nine Republican state representatives joined with Orly Taitz, a leader of the birther movement, to have Obama's name taken off the New Hampshire Primary ballot. Maddow comments, "A few weeks after that, New Hampshire Republicans crafted a pair of bills aimed at rolling back the teaching of evolution in the schools."
In the past week, Republican House and Senate members passed a bill that would allow parents to have their children opt out of particular lessons in specific classes. Teachers would have to accommodate themselves to this new rule by creating an alternate lesson plan for each parental objection. The arch-conservative New Hampshire Union-Leader, normally an ally of Republicans, called this legislation "a simply awful bill that is neither workable nor sensible."
The Portsmouth Herald added in an editorial (1/8/12), "so now any parent could stop any teacher from teaching any lesson without any reason. As if our teachers didn't have a hard enough job already."
But wait - there's more Republican craziness. The Herald adds in the same editorial, "Despite the pleading of police and school leaders, the House passed a bill making it legal to carry concealed weapons on any public property, including colleges, any public land or any publicly financed buidlings." Oh boy, just what we need - concealed weapons at college beer parties. Under the bill, people would be able to surreptitiously carry guns into private businesses at Pease International Tradeport (who rent from the state) without the business owner's knowledge or permission.
But that's not all. Republicans were the main source of support for a bill eliminating the need to get a license to carry a concealed, loaded weapon. Under the bill, anyone, except convicted felons, can get and carry a loaded, concealed weapon, anywhere and anytime.
Don't go away; there's more. House Republicans heavily supported a bill allowing payday loan businesses to increase their annual interest rates from 36 percent to as much as an eye-popping 400 percent.
But, the topper is yet to come. Maddow comments, "Three Republican state lawmakers introduced a bill that will force state legislators to say where in the Magna Carta they get the right to propose any new given law for New Hampshire. The Magna Carta - the ancient list of feudal demands made of the king of England in the 13th Century."
That's right. Showing that a bill is constitutional isn't enough; it also has to pass muster with the Magna Carta. What can we do about Republican lawmakers making New Hampshire a national joke? To avoid mocking laughter when we go out of state, we might wear a disguise and never mention that we live in New Hampshire.
Or we can vote these Republicans out of office in the 2012 General Election. The Portsmouth Herald notes in its editorial, "We're confident that, once voters get the full sense of exactly what these lawmakers have been up to, the politicians will be tossed out of office and their reign of terror brought to an end."
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