Kansas State Senator Mike Thompson Dreams Of Book Bans

A catchy post title and legislative flex ignores an obvious fact . . .

Good parents are far better suited than legislators to govern the reading material of youngsters. And so many book bans merely serve as legislative efforts to establish political authority over the populace; big government sending a message regarding moral pronouncements with and without the consent of the electorate. 

To be fair . . . In theory we agree with a lot of the arguments about keeping smut away from youngsters, our argument is that, like it or not, the job ultimately falls to parents in any free society worthy of the name.

Reality check . . . 

Amid so much enthusiastic support from social media goons & bullies. Most ideas for censorship crafted by elected officials are reactionary, backward and overlook more pressing demands from voters that are harder to manage . . . Like healthcare and tax relief.

Nevertheless . . . Check the former Kansas City weatherman winning his struggle against underpaid librarians . . .

Kansas state Sen. Mike Thompson wants this addressed at the state level, as Missouri has done with Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s new rule requiring libraries to enact policies and take actions to keep age-inappropriate materials away from children — at the risk of having their funding cut if they don’t.

“I think that’s a really good idea,” Thompson says. “Often we’ll look at other states and what they’re doing that is succeeding and use that as a guide. And I think that’s a very good way to look at it. In fact, we may have to just take a peek at that bill, what Missouri’s done. And if we need to authorize the Secretary of State to be able to do something like that, then so be it. I think it’s a good idea. Some people might call that a book ban. But that’s not a book ban. It’s just common sense. It’s age-inappropriate.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

'Murder porn' book in Kansas City-area library's youth summer reading program alarms mother, 'mortifies' 13-year-old

Jennifer Williams' two young daughters have looked forward to the Johnson County Library summer reading program every year. But not anymore - not after her 13-year-old checked out a book with a gr...