Friday, July 25, 2014

Phil Bryant Forgets Law He Pushed

During Phil Bryant's 2014 State of the State Address, he urged lawmakers to add the phrase "In God We Trust." That bill, through many changes, turned into one of the most controversial pieces of legislation to pass this year. It even led to the bill being called the "Freedom to Discriminate Bill."

Still, Bryant made a big push for the change to the seal. Now that the bill is in effect, Bryant must have forgotten for what he fought. In his letter to President Obama last week, Bryant's official letterhead does not bear the new state seal. According to the law Bryant signed, "the margin over the eagle shall have the inscription "THE GREAT SEAL OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI." The margin under the eagle shall have the inscription "IN GOD WE TRUST."



It is entirely possible Bryant will say "We had all this leftover stationery lying around and didn't want it to go to waste." I never took Bryant to be an environmentalist, but I'm truly glad to now know this.

On another level, it is a relief that Bryant did not associate God with his misguided letter. In the Book of Matthew, Jesus said that we should "Let the little children come to me, and stop keeping them away, because the kingdom from heaven belongs to people like these."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you would have taken time to actually read the bill, this is assuming that you can actually be an "investigator" and actually know how to research, you would find that the bill required all agencies to deplete their current stockpile before replacing it with the new seal.

Anonymous said...

What about the irony of Bryant's big push about to add "In God We Trust" to the seal of the State of Mississippi, and the quotation from the Book of Matthew, Jesus saying that we should "Let the little children come to me, and stop keeping them away, because the kingdom from heaven belongs to people like these", and his July 18 letter to President Obama regarding the current immigrant children at the border? You addressed that the subject bill required all agencies to deplete their current stockpile before replacing it with the new seal, but you did not address the Governor's strong desire to see “In God We Trust on the seal” and his position on the immigrant children at in light of the Bible verse from the Book of Matthew.

Anonymous said...

Let me get this straight - the governor of this state has to use old stationery to send an official letter to the President of the United States?