Opinion: Ten Commandments could cost county

Why pay for entertainment when we can simply watch the goings-on and pronouncements of our politicians and public figures?  Think of the money that could be saved.  The news of this political season has sometimes bordered on the wacky.

Actually, we can begin close to home, right here in beautiful Donley County.  Displaying the Decalogue in public places, court houses, etc., has repeatedly been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States.  Even so, Donley County has decided to display the Ten Commandments in front of the Donley County Courthouse Annex.

Our county commissioners approved the placement of this monument on the Courthouse Square.  I understand that a few folks convinced the commissioners that this action is a good thing to do and is constitutional, perhaps based upon a misunderstanding of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision regarding the monument located on the Texas State Capital grounds, and the actions of surrounding Texas Panhandle communities.

In the past, counties in Georgia, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Kentucky have challenged the constitutionality of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.  To date, all the challenges have been ruled unconstitutional.  Two of the poorest counties in southern Kentucky were forced remove their Decalogue monuments, and were then compelled to pay the American Civil Liberties Union $400,000 in legal fees.  This is what is often called an unintended consequence.

A group of citizens got a burr under their saddle and are of the persuasion that they can successfully challenge the Supreme Court’s position.  Supposedly, this group of people has pledged to defend Donley County in the event of a lawsuit challenging the monument.  If so, is their commitment in writing.  Will this group also pay the legal fees that may result from this action?  If not, it could get really expensive.

Personally, I think the Donley County Commissioners’ decision puts Donley County at risk.  I’m not sure Donley County will be able to meet the standards the Supreme Court has placed upon public officials who choose to challenge the law and display the Decalogue on public property.  The nation’s highest court has put officials on notice that their motives must be clearly secular for such displays to pass constitutional muster.  What happens if the Supreme Court rules against Donley County?

Past decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court are somewhat conflicting and exhibit doctrinal instability regarding the religious display cases.  The Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuit Courts have issued conflicting rulings that will ultimately need to be clarified.  I’m not sure it’s prudent for Donley County to join the fray and risk an enormous legal expense, in addition to losing a private investment of $20,000 for the monument.

There is still time to stop this project if the silent majority will speak up.

Thankfully, our county commissioners are not the only public officials living on the edge.  For example, consider Republican Lubbock County Judge Tom Head.  Not wanting Missouri Republican Todd Akin to grab all the recent political headlines, Judge Head proclaimed that civil unrest or even civil war, possibly including a menacing United Nations invasion force, trekking across the Great South Plains towards Lubbock,  could result if President Obama is re-elected.

Head, a Texas Tech graduate with a degree in psychology, stated, “(Obama is) is going to try to hand over the sovereignty of the United States to the U.N., and what is going to happen when that happens?”  Head then added, “I’m thinking the worst.  Civil unrest, civil disobedience, civil war maybe.  And we we’re not just talking a few riots here and demonstrations, we’re talking Lexington, Concord, take up arms and get rid of the guy.”  The Judge then went on to predict that if that happens, Obama will “send in U.N. troops.

“I don’t want ‘em in Lubbock County.  OK.  So I’m going to stand in front of their armored personnel carrier and say ‘you’re not coming I here.’”  He wants “trained, equipped, seasoned veteran officers to back me.”

I’m pleased to report that Judge Head was not born in Lubbock County or anywhere near the Texas Panhandle.  He was actually born in Highland Park, a wealthy suburb of Dallas.  Let Dallas claim the credit for Head’s unusual world view.  My family and I moved to Lubbock when we left Clarendon in 1959.  I attended elementary school, junior high, high school, and some college in Lubbock, and don’t want folks to get the wrong idea about people from the Hub of the Great South Plains.

Back in Missouri, Republican senatorial candidate Todd Akin claimed that the bodies of women who are “legitimately” raped are somehow magically able to fight off pregnancy.  Of course, Mitt and the rest of the Republican hordes immediately distanced themselves from Akins’s pronouncement, as they should have.

Finally, conservative Republican Congressman Kevin Yoder of Kansas, added another headache for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan when it was recently revealed that he, while amply fortified with liquor, went skinny dipping in the Sea of Galilee, on a recent Congressional junket to Israel.

Yep, our politicians and public officials are, indeed, a cheap source of entertainment, which is disappointing.  Personally, I’d rather spend the money.