THE BEST OF TIMES AND

THE WORST OF TIMES

By

Mike Kendall

Charles Dickens’ 19^th Century novel about London, Paris, reform, revolution, and justice, A Tale of Two Cities, speaks to our state’s 21^st Century politics, reform, and justice as if it were written yesterday.  “It was the best of times and it was the worst of times,” the novel begins.  Why?  Because the cause of liberty, fraternity, and equality was breaking out all over Europe and still tyranny, fear, and loathing were rife trying to impose the good cause by the evil Madame Guillotine. 

Today is our best of times and the worst of times.  Today the Senate Republican leadership lopped off the head of S.B. 344.  They said it was because there aren’t enough votes among 40 out of 50 Republican Senators to have any hope of passing this all-Republican-sponsored reform bill, voted out of committee with seven Republican votes.  They said a week ago it was the best of times because S.B.  344 would advance civil rights for lesbians, gays, and bisexuals.  It would advance religious freedom and matters of conscience for all people of good will.  And it would advance the reputation and esteem of Indiana nationally, showing ‘Hoosiers don’t have a prejudiced bone in their bodies.’  But today is our worst of times because the Republicans lack the ability to govern, the courage to lead, and 26 votes for reform, justice, and political comity.

The bill was amended in, and reported out of, a Republican-controlled committee last Wednesday night by a majority of  Senators and a minority of supporters who spoke and testified that S.B. 344 had serious problems but needed to advance to the floor of the Senate to allow a full, public debate by Senators representing all citizens of Indiana, the full airing of the still-conflicting views of the LGBT and religious community, an opportunity for developing a consensus, and second reading amendments from floor of the Senate.  No one who testified out of about 28 speakers, nor the bill’s sponsors, thought the existing bill was great.  22 people testified against the bill.  Six testified for it, critiqued it, and said let’s keep it moving and work more on it in Senate and eventually the House to improve it by further debate.  The Republican Chair of the hearing (Speaker Pro Tem Long), the bill’s sponsor, and the witness for Eli Lilly all supported this rationale, recognizing that only one person from the LGBT community testified in favor of the bill, one Republican Senator and four Democratic Senators voted against it, and 22 citizens and organizations representing the LGBT and religious communities testified against the bill. 

How, when, and why did the Republican Senate leadership, especially the Speaker Pro Tempore, come to the realization today it was the ‘worst of times’ in Indiana, because the bill was imperfect, unpopular, and in need of further change? Why did he guillotine his Republican vehicle this week because it was not likely to get 26 votes Wednesday, but supported putting the bill up for full Senate deliberation, debate, and amendment knowing full-well it was a bill in search of salvation the week before?  Instead, today, Tuesday, February 2^nd, 2016, he halted the democratic process of debate and consideration he himself put forward as the reason to swallow hard, keep the bill in play, and allow the people to decide how to improve it. 

The power of the people in Indiana moved our state through LGBT marriage rights, past a collision with RFRA I, hitched a ride on RFRA II, and to the open debate seeking resolution and comity on freedom of sexual orientation and identity with religious freedom.  The power of one Republican Senator, posing as a leader of  the one-party Republican rule in the Senate and a champion of personal and religious freedom and reform, thwarted the will of the people, rotted from within the underpinning of our elected, representative legislature, and ran from the duty his job demands. 

Dickens’ besotted hero and Barrister in A Tale of Two Cities cast aside his worldly cynicism for the life of an unrequited love by risking and ultimately losing his human life, but not his dignity and soul, saying before the guillotine, “It is a far, far better thing I do today than I have ever done before.”  The Speaker Pro Tempore of our Indiana Senate can still redeem his political soul without losing his human life by a far easier act requiring far less courage.  The Speaker Pro Tempore must    reconsider his abandonment of all he’s said for more than a year and promptly recant today’s cowardly betrayal of the power of the people.  The Republican leadership must move their imperfect bill, knowingly voted out of their committee, to a free debate in an imperfect legislature that is 80 percent Republican, in the hopes of improving sexual and religious rights as they promised in an imperfect world.

Don’t kick civil rights, religious freedom, sexual freedom, and reform to the curb, Mr. Speaker.  If you don’t recant, then it’s just going to be “the worst of times.”