Pence and Cents

The Indiana General Assembly, working faster than it ever has, added language to the Freedom of Religion Act stating it cannot be used as a defense for discriminating against anyone including the LGBT community. It's a few more words than I just noted but those are the essentials.  The law was sent to Governor Pence who signed it behind closed doors with no media allowed. He then left for Europe.

It's no surprise that he didn't want to be seen signing the law because he didn't want to do it.  In his opinion millions of people, including corporate C.E.O.'s are too stupid to read and understand what we just read. We are not able to connect the dots. It's a given that most politicians consider their constituents less than bright and sometimes they're right. But it's not politically wise to show such contempt.

Pence and his allies in the legislature truly don't get it. Society is moving forward with or without them. It is time for Indiana to take the next step and include LGBT protection in it's Civil Rights Law. It is long past time for the U.S. Congress to do the same. Would Pence sign such legislation? Not without being dragged kicking and screaming. The leadership of the General Assembly are not likely to want to touch the issue next year. Pence has made it clear it's not on his agenda.

Before the storm about Indiana's Freedom of Religion Act, none of the justifications offered up by Pence and legislators were used as a reason for the law. The Hobby Lobby case, Federal Court rulings that the U.S. RFRA law didn't apply to states, etc.. All of those reasons came after the fallout. They weren't used prior because they believed it would quietly become law without any consequential blowback. The Indiana law was brought to us courtesy of the same people that brought us anti gay marriage legislation which was preempted by a Federal Courts order declaring gay marriage legal.

The language of the law, no matter what Pence and company say, was not a reflection of the Federal law. That law  passed in 1993 was prompted by two Native American men being fired for using paoti during a religious ceremony. It did not provide individuals or businesses with a legal defense for acts of deliberate discrimination. Indiana's law did provide that defense.

Either the Republican leadership of Indiana are truly a collection of dimwits who didn't understand the ramifications of their own law or they knew exactly what they were doing. Whichever the case they should be defeated in the 2016 General Election. Unfortunately I do not believe even for a moment that they will.

One thing that is certain, unless Ted Cruz is the Republican nominee, Mike Pence just moved way down on the list for V.P.