Conservative states throughout the country continue to stifle individual liberties through government intervention. Tennessee Republicans are attempting to limit citizens’ first amendment rights to freedom of speech and press by restricting what they term “obscene” books from schools across the state. On Wednesday, country music artist John Rich showed up at a public hearing in support of the book ban because he feels that teachers and librarians pose a greater risk to America’s children than “actual pedophiles,” who rape and molest children.
Rich rose to fame as a member of the duo Big & Rich, whose 2004 hit “Save Horse (Ride a Cowboy)” encouraged people to binge drink and “give a damn about nothing.” The popular song urged listeners to get drunk and neglect their responsibilities while urging women to give cowboys their legs instead of riding horses. Nowadays, Rich has gained attention for his criticism of novels and claims that public school instructors are the greatest risk to America’s youngsters – although it is their only responsibility to educate the next generation who will one day inherit this nation.
“What’s the difference between a teacher, educator or librarian putting one of these books like you have on the desk of a student, or a guy in a white van pulling up at the edge of school when school lets out and saying, ‘Come on around kids, let me read you this book and show you these pictures?’” during the public hearing in Nashville, Rich called on state lawmakers. “What’s the difference in those two scenarios? There is a difference, by the way: They can run away from the guy in the white van.”
He turned his anger to Twitter, continuing his campaign against teachers and books, former President Trump’s favorite social media platform, before being banned from the site for spreading false information and causing violence across the nation.
In his tweet, Rich claimed to be “the firewall between tyranny and freedom” and said that when he stood up at the podium to deliver his testimony at the legislative hearing, he was “going toe to toe with adversaries.”
Rich wanted to show his backing for House Bill 1944, which would give the state the authority to prohibit any book it deemed harmful to youngsters by “making obscene materials or materials harmful to minors.” Unfortunately, the bill does not define what constitutes an “obscene” book, giving far too much discretion to the government in a state that purports to value personal freedom and autonomy.
The book ban was sponsored by state Rep. Scott Cepicky, a Republican. In January, he introduced the restriction to show his support for the McMinn County Board of Education’s decision to prohibit a Holocaust book. The state department banned “Maus”, which received a Pulitzer Prize and depicts mice in an unclothed condition, from the eighth-grade curriculum because it contains “objectionable language” and depicts mice in a state of undress.
