West Bend Too "Moral" for the First Amendment

Blog reader Mary sent me some disturbing follow-up information on the West Bend, Wisconsin, censorship issue I blogged about last month. (Thanks again, all, for the great discussion that followed in the comments!)

Tuesday night, the West Bend City Council crippled the West Bend library board by rejecting the mayor's suggested reappointment of four library board members. (All other mayoral appointments were approved en masse.) Reasons cited for the rejections? Lack of "common sense," concern for the city's "morality," and—particularly striking to me—difference of opinion.

Excuse me, but I thought the point of a public library was to represent a wide variety of opinions—at least as wide a variety as the community it serves! Apparently not. Turns out if you want to censor materials you disagree with—i.e., if you think the First Amendment doesn't apply to your community—you just need to get rid of all dissenting opinions. Or, failing that, get rid of all dissenting opinions on the library board.

The board members rejected include a retired academic librarian and 24-year board member; an attorney; a retired school teacher and book shop worker; and a high school English teacher. In other words, these are highly educated people who know books, know libraries, know teenagers, know the LAW. They were carrying out library policy in accordance with the Library Bill of Rights. Yet the city council decided they don't know what "serves the interest of their community."

Disgusting.

I hope the citizens of West Bend prove that though the city council may have eliminated four dissenting opinions from the current library board, the "interest of the community" hasn't magically conformed to Jim and Ginny Maziarkas' narrow worldview.