H.B. 279 debacle illustrates legislative arrogance

Everybody talks as if the executive branch reigns over all else in Kentucky, but today's fiasco proves nothing can be further from the truth.

H.B. 279 is a bill in Kentucky that masquerades as a religious freedom measure - although it seems to neglect the very essence of religious liberty. For most folks, religious freedom is about the right of free people to exercise their beliefs without interference - not imposing their ideas on everyone else. For instance, real religious freedom would protect people from fascist diktats such as Real ID or public school uniforms.

But H.B. 279 overreaches. It seems to provide a gaping avenue for people to ignore antidiscrimination laws and hide behind religion to justify it. That's not religious freedom. In Kentucky, we have a saying: The right to flail your fist ends where someone else's nose begins. When we say this, we mean it. Mean it like a dictionary, we do.

I would have supported H.B. 279 if lawmakers had modified it so nobody could dodge antidiscrimination laws. But they wouldn't listen to reason.

The legislature approved H.B. 279 - but Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear vetoed it, probably because of the aforementioned flaw. Today, however, lawmakers overrode Beshear's veto.

What does this tell us about the arrogance of those who subscribe to the warped notion that the legislative branch should have greater power than government's other branches? The situation in Kentucky is particularly dangerous, because it only takes a simple majority of each chamber to override a governor's veto. Fact is, the branches were originally conceived to be coequal - in Kentucky and at the federal level. There are times when lawmakers are supposed to pipe down and let governors do their job. The idea of coequal branches is supposed to safeguard the people's rights from mob rule by a privileged few.

Apparently, some other states have already passed laws like H.B. 279. The good news is that people who try hiding behind these laws to defend discrimination haven't had much traction. So today's override may prove to be a pyrrhic victory for those who fail to grasp religious liberty.