By Phil Kabler, Charleston Gazette-Mail
“Moving us forward into the 18th century doesn’t seem to be a good thing to me.” — Delegate Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha.
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Pushkin was referring to a bill to legalize the sale of raw milk (HB 4911) — legislation advancing in the Legislature some eight years after a bunch of delegates poisoned themselves by drinking raw milk in celebration of passage of legislation permitting personal consumption of the same. But Pushkin’s quote is an excellent encapsulation of the 2024 regular session thus far.
It’s as if, to the legislative supermajority, Louie Pasteur never existed. (Ironically, Pasteur also contributed to the development of many vaccines, vaccines that some legislators would like to see be made optional.)
They would like to take us back to a time when modern science and medicine were in their infancies, and many were skeptical and distrustful of advances being made in those fields.
They certainly want to take us back to a time when books, art and other creative works could be banned if a vocal minority found something in them that offended them.
Many would like to return to a time before public schools were widespread, when parents taught their children the ABCs, scripture lessons and little else.
They’d like to return to a time before alternative energy sources were prevalent, when we relied on coal for our electricity, when regulators looked the other way when coal operators flaunted environmental and safety regulations. (Oh, that’s right, we’ve never left that time, which is why our electricity prices have been soaring.)
Yes, the legislative supermajority is attempting to move the state back, if not to the 18th century, at least to pre-1960s and ’70s, before passage of the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the rise of feminism and LGBTQ rights, and the establishment of women’s reproductive rights via Roe v. Wade.