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Bibles and Partisan Mandates · Commentary - TJ Meadows

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  Speaker 1: Some proposals at the Capitol make news because they reveal
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  Speaker 1: how lawmakers think and what they prioritize. Two bills fall
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  Speaker 1: into that category. The first is Senate Bill three eighty eight.
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  Speaker 1: It would require every public school to make a copy
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  Speaker 1: of the Achen Bible available in certain social studies classrooms. Historically,
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  Speaker 1: the Ake and Bible Matters printed in seventeen eighty two.
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  Speaker 1: It was the first complete English language Bible produced in
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  Speaker 1: America when the Revolutionary War had cut off imports from Britain.
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  Speaker 1: Even the Congress of the Confederation formally endorsed it. That
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  Speaker 1: history is absolutely worth teaching, but teaching that history doesn't
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  Speaker 1: require mandating one specific modern reprint of one specific translation
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  Speaker 1: in every classroom. The Achan Bible is a King James Bible.
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  Speaker 1: Singling out one version raises a basic fairness question why
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  Speaker 1: that one and not others? And historical context alone doesn't
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  Speaker 1: pass muster. Two senators, one Republican and one Democrat, tried
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  Speaker 1: to amend the bill to allow a Catholic Bible. That
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  Speaker 1: effort failed, and that's where a history lesson starts to
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  Speaker 1: drift into government preference. A more neutral approach would allow
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  Speaker 1: any religious text from any tradition or simply leave the
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  Speaker 1: decision to schools and teachers. Neutrality protects both the majority
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  Speaker 1: and the minority today and in the future. The second bill,
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  Speaker 1: House Bill forty eighty, would require all municipal elections to
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  Speaker 1: be partisan. Many West Virginia cities intentionally used nonpartisan ballots
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  Speaker 1: now because local races are usually about potholes, police protection,
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  Speaker 1: and trash pickup, not national party brands. Forcing party labels
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  Speaker 1: onto every city race risks importing national political fights into
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  Speaker 1: decisions that are supposed to stay local. It also chips
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  Speaker 1: away at local control, replacing community choice with a statewide mandate,
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  Speaker 1: and for independent voters, it feels like another closed door.
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  Speaker 1: West Virginia Republicans have already chosen to close their primary
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  Speaker 1: elections to independence. Agree or disagree, that was their decision
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  Speaker 1: to make. But when the state legislature, dominated by Republicans,
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  Speaker 1: then requires partisan labels in every city race, independents are
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  Speaker 1: effectively told their refusal to join a party will limit
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  Speaker 1: their voice in more and more elections. Many voters deliberately
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  Speaker 1: choose to be unaffiliated. They're not apathetic, they're independent. Turning
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  Speaker 1: every local contest into a partisan one pressures those voters
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  Speaker 1: to pick a side or risk being politically sidelined in
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  Speaker 1: their own communities. Neither bill may ultimately become law, but
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  Speaker 1: both point toward uniformity where flexibility and neutrality have long
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  Speaker 1: served West Virginia well, and that bigger trend is something
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  Speaker 1: every voter, especially those without a party label, should be
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  Speaker 1: watching closely.