when you see people trying to censor books. books are the kinds of things which refresh our minds and allow us to be citizens in a democratic country because after all, democracy is all about being surprised, learning and seeing the point of view of other people and building coalitions and having a civil society. so, of course, you re right. all of the historical examples lead in the wrong way. when i listened to the list that you just gave, what struck me most was the idea of be on 16ity. when the nazis talked about art this they wanted to ban they called it degenerate and said it was offensive to women. so this was a common theme here. if there s something you don t like politically, you pull back the idea that it s obscene and we don t like in the common sphere and that s a common element that stands out. eddie, i worry very much about the political implications of what tim is saying, but i want to talk about something that hit closer to home and it s
youngkin s win. he talked to right-wing think tanks and found the issues that polled well with his right-wing base. i ll share something with someone the worst kept secret our governor ron desantis really wants to be elected president in 2024 but some other self-obsessed political mercenary who wants to be president in 2024 as well and this he s donald trump so he s faced with this difficult task of outflanking donald trump to the right, stirring up right-wing fervor and being crowned the next king of the republican party and in order to do that, he served up this buffet of bills that are designed to let the state government police every area of our lives to censor books, to muzzle teachers, to put the prying eyes of his administration in doctors offices where people are making decisions whether to start a family. they re all designed to give him more control and to help him win favor with the right-wing base and unfortunately it s the most
mural for their lobby, they tapped some federal funds for setting up that new headquarters. that s what paid for more than half the mural and a lot else besides at the new state department of labor hq. since the federal government only paid for that mural because it was supposed to be part of the new state department of labor hq, the governor ripped it down. it means that maine has got to pay the federal government back. because the state is no longer using that money for what they said they would use it for. so when governor lepage gets back from jamaica, one of the unopened pieces of mail on his desk will be this letter telling him to put it back up or send the federal government its $38,000 back. the funny thing about trying to censor books or music or a labor mural, the government finds them anyway, by virtue of your attempt to make them go away. a couple days ago someone had the brilliant idea of projecting the mural he wants to hide directly on the maine state capitol building. l