Well, yesterday was Presidents' Day and MAGA patriot St Sen Doug Mastriano did his MAGA patriot duty and posted this on his Senatorial FB Page:
It's taken from the Newburgh Address, a speech given by Washington in 1783 to the officers in the Continental Army, counseling patients in the face of not being paid.
The address also contains this part:
And let me conjure you, in the name of our common country, as you value your own sacred honor, as you respect the rights of humanity, and as you regard the military and national character of America, to express your utmost horror and detestation of the man, who wishes, under any specious pretences, to overturn the liberties of our country; and who wickedly attempts to open the flood-gates of civil discord, and deluge our rising empire in blood.
You can see why MAGA Doug, who participated in Trump's attempted coup on January 6, might not want to go with that quotation of George Washington.
In any event, Doug is amplifying Washington's defense of free speech.
Good for Doug.
But I wonder where Doug is when this is going on in Pennsylvania:
More than 60 books have been challenged or are under review in the Central Bucks School District, according to district employees, spurring fears of censorship and questions about how the district will handle the volume of complaints.
Advocates for Inclusive Education, a group that has accused the district of wanting to chill classroom speech and bowing to conservative parents, posted a list of 60 books it said have been challenged now that the district has outlined rules governing its policy prohibiting “sexualized content.”
The list matched one provided to The Inquirer by a district employee. A second employee told The Inquirer they were aware of 59 challenges as of Tuesday.
Or this:
More than 400 books are either challenged or banned at 11 different school districts in Pennsylvania as controversy over sociopolitical ideologies finds a new battleground in literary censorship.
The statistics come from the literary advocacy group PEN America, which says in its Banned Books Week 2022 report that texts are being restricted in an “unprecedented fashion," often through a coordinated effort by special interest groups.
A majority of the targeted books focus on sexual identity, race, and racism. In Pennsylvania, one school district, Central York, is responsible for 441 of the 459 bans (see full list of banned books in the Keystone State below). Pennsylvania has more banned books than every other state except for Florida or Texas.
Or this:
Pennsylvania is poised to become another battleground in the growing fight over teaching race and racism in public schools.
Two Republican state lawmakers have introduced legislation that would constrain how schools teach the concept of race — and the conflict over critical race theory, or CRT, will likely become a key part of the upcoming Pennsylvania governor’s race.
Constrain how something is taught? Doug, of course, is on the record with:
In apparent response to that wave of parent sentiment, Mastriano is proposing a slate of broad changes that would dramatically increase oversight of teachers. He wants “thorough review of district ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ plans” and the implementation of a “universal ‘Parental Rights’ statute in law.”
He also called for an “immediate ban on Critical Race Theory and Gender Theory studies.”
How is that not an assault on free speech?
Finally, there's this:
In the ongoing battle over school book bans in Pennsylvania and nationwide, one group is speaking with an outsized voice.
Founded in early 2021 in Florida, Moms for Liberty (M4L) has expanded since then and now has over 200 county chapters nationwide in 35 states. The organization currently claims over 200,000 members.
Originally focused on opposing mask mandates in schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, Moms for Liberty quickly expanded its agenda to oppose LGBT-positive policies in schools, LGBT-themed materials in school libraries, what they believe is critical race theory in curricula, and many other diversity-positive issues related to schools and students.
The organization has seen success in Pennsylvania, with chapters in at least 27 counties across the commonwealth.
And:
Among the districts in Pennsylvania that have banned books or are facing continuing efforts to initiate bans are Central York School District, Downingtown Area School District, East Stroudsburg Area School District, Eastern Lancaster County School District, Elizabethtown Area School District, Fairview School District, Franklin Regional School District, Kutztown Area School District, North Penn School District, Pennridge School District, and Wissahickon School District.If Doug Mastriano were truly defending free speech, he'd be speaking out against the banning of books.
But he's not.
He's a free speech hypocrite.
