Not to be outdone by his fellow culture warriors, Ashcroft takes on librarians

Given the ever-more extreme race to the right by Missouri’s Republican leaders lately, it was perhaps only a matter of time before one of them suggested the government should start dictating what books public libraries can and cannot carry. That’s the essence of a proposed new rule by Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft. The stated purpose, of course, is to protect vulnerable children from that most threatening of societal scourges: librarians. Like Republican Senate nominee Eric Schmitt’s cynical attacks on Missouri school curriculum, this is a solution in search of a problem. Unless the problem ...