Your garden variety conservative is not terribly so when it comes to civil liberties. They like to get into your bedroom, your womb, and your body in general. But sometimes a rebel comes along and actually wants to do right for his constituents. As you may know, “religious freedom” bills are passing across the country in GOP-controlled legislatures. Indiana’s Mike Pence just signed one. These laws function like a sort of “gay code” wherein it is OK as a business owner to refuse services to people(the dreaded homosexual) based on religious convictions.
My home state just snuffed one of these bills. And a Republican did it:
…proponents of Georgia’s bill have tried to argue that it has nothing to do with discrimination. Rep. Mike Jacobs, an LGBT-friendly Republican, decided to test this theory by introducing an amendment that would not allow claims of religious liberty to be used to circumvent state and local nondiscrimination protections. Supporters of the bill, like Rep. Barry Fleming (R), countered that the amendment “will gut the bill.” Nevertheless, the House Judiciary Committee approved the amendment with a 9-8 vote, three Republicans joining the Democrats in supporting it. Fleming moved to table the amended bill, a motion that passed with 16 votes, making it unlikely the bill will proceed before the legislative session ends. With an exception for nondiscrimination protections, the “religious liberty” bill is dead. Before the vote, the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Josh McKoon (R), joined the hearing to similarly argue against making an exception for nondiscrimination protections. He claimed that the bill’s religious liberty protections would no longer be “uniform” across the state, adding, “That amendment would completely undercut the purpose of the bill.” Rep. Roger Bruce (D) pressed McKoon: “That tells me that the purpose of the bill is to discriminate.”
That’s how you represent the people. That’s what “conservative” should mean.