Draped in a flag, carrying a cross
With all of the struggles Michigan faces right now, it’s good to know that things aren’t so bad that religious zealots and “patriots” like Senator Patrick Colbeck have time to worry about censorship in the teaching of American History in our classrooms. This week, Colbeck introduced a bill to remedy this egregious (and essentially nonexistent) problem. The bill is modeled after legislation promoted and passed in 2005 by far-right conservative and tea party goddess Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota. Bachmann’s bill copies a law passed in North Carolina in 1997.
Colbeck bragged about his new bill on his Facebook page where he has been cutting and pasting passages from the Declaration of Independence referring to the tyranny of the King of England as if they are snippets of the Gospels:
Yesterday, I introduced SB 120 and 121. These bills are known as the American Heritage Act and Celebrate Freedom Week Act respectively. SB 120 would prohibit censorship of education material on the basis of religious content. SB 121 requires the instruction of core American principles during Constitution Week for public school students in grades 3-12. Many wonder why our nation is divided and experiencing negative economic growth. I would submit that it is because we have lost an understanding of the core principles that made us great and wandered from the execution of thes principles. Article VIII, Section 2 of the Michigan Constitution states clearly that the purpose of education is to develop good citizens. These bills will help to ensure that we adhere to this mission.
Here’s the text of SB120:
Sec. 1168. (1) The board of a school district or intermediate school district or board of directors of a public school academy shall permit grade-level instruction for pupils to read and study America’s founding documents, including documents that contributed to the foundation or maintenance of America’s representative form of limited government, the Bill of Rights, our free-market economic system, and patriotism.
(2) The board of a school district or intermediate school district or board of directors of a public school academy, or a school official or employee of a school district, intermediate school district, or public school academy, shall not censor or restrain instruction in American history or heritage or Michigan state history or heritage based on religious references in original source documents, writings, speeches, proclamations, or records.
The language and the title “American Heritage Act” are cut and pasted from similar legislation passed in Minnesota in 2001. Here’s the Minnesota law which Colbeck’s bill copies almost verbatim:
a) School districts shall permit grade-level instruction for students to read and study America’s founding documents, including documents that contributed to the foundation or maintenance of America’s representative form of limited government, the Bill of Rights, our free-market economic system, and patriotism.”
b) Districts may not censor or restrain instruction in American or Minnesota state history or heritage based on religious references in original source documents, writings, speeches, proclamations, or records.
This legislation was deemed entirely unnecessary but was a pet project of Minnesota tea partiers and, of course, Bachmann as well. From a piece by Chris Rodda at Huffington Post:
By his work with Bachmann on Minnesota’s “history standards,” Barton was referring to Bachmann’s 2005 introduction of legislation to allow the use of historical documents containing religious references in the state’s public schools — legislation that was completely unnecessary given that Minnesota already had a law on the books stating that, “Districts may not censor or restrain instruction in American or Minnesota state history or heritage based on religious references in documents, writing, speeches, proclamations, or records.” That law, passed in 2001, was also considered by many legislators to be unnecessary, because nothing prohibited the use of these documents at that time either. Barton had testified before Minnesota’s House Education Policy Committee on the 2001 bill, and was brought in as “an historian and consultant” in 2005 when Bachmann introduced her bill.
But Bachmann’s new law wasn’t the first. In 1997, North Carolina passed S442, their own version called, as you may have guessed, “The American Heritage Act” with this wording:
Local boards of education shall allow and may encourage any public school teacher or administrator to read or post in a public school building, classroom, or event, excerpts or portions of writings, documents, and records that reflect the history of the United States, including, but not limited to, (i) the preamble to the North Carolina Constitution, (ii) the Declaration of Independence, (iii) the United States Constitution, (iv) the Mayflower Compact, (v) the national motto, (vi) the National Anthem, (vii) the Pledge of Allegiance, (viii) the writings, speeches, documents, and proclamations of the founding fathers and Presidents of the United States, (ix) decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, and (x) acts of the Congress of the United States, including the published text of the Congressional Record. Local boards, superintendents, principals, and supervisors shall not allow content-based censorship of American history in the public schools of this State, including religious references in these writings, documents, and records.
Finally, in 2007, Oklahoma passed their own version added the following language to the school laws (Section 517.0.1. Veterans – Program for Observing. (70 O.S. § 24-152)):
By December 31, 2007, the State Board of Education shall adopt rules which require each public school district in the state to include, as a part of a social studies class, during Celebrate Freedom Week or during another full school week as determined by the board of education, appropriate instruction concerning the intent, meaning, and importance of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, including the Bill of Rights, in their historical contexts. The religious references in the writings of the founding fathers shall not be censored. The rules shall require the study of the Declaration of Independence to include the study of the relationship of the ideas expressed in that document to subsequent American history, including the relationship of its ideas to the rich diversity of our people as a nation of immigrants, the American Revolution, the formulation of the United States Constitution, and the abolitionist movement, which led to the Emancipation Proclamation and the women’s suffrage movement.
Senator Colbeck isn’t accomplishing anything of significance with these phony displays of patriotism. He’s attempting to solve yet another problem that doesn’t exist. Our children aren’t being denied access to the teachings or writings of the “Founding Fathers” based on religious censorship any more than President Obama is a tyrant akin to the King of England in 1776 despite what the good Senator may want you to believe. These are empty gestures that simply shore up his support among the most rabidly conservative and politically active tea partiers in his district and will help him avoid a primary.
We have problems in Michigan. Big problems. Real problems. Many of them are taking place right outside of Sen. Colbeck’s southeastern Michigan front door. While these problems fester and become worse day by day, Senator Colbeck is wasting our time and our tax money on demonstrations of faux patriotism.
One thing is very, very clear: the 7th Senate District needs new leadership.