As a native Texan I have seen a lot of politics in the last 50+ years, some good (Ann Richards), some bad ("W" enough said). However, with each passing year I grow more and more dismayed.
In all states there is a lunatic fringe, some from the left and some from the right, but only in Texas do we seem to elect our lunatic fringe to public office (again, I give you "W" or Tom Delay as proof). However Cynthia Dunbar, an elected member of the State Board of Education takes the cake.
Ms. Dunbar is a graduate of Pat Robertson's Regent School of Law (which also gave us Monica Goodling). In addition to being a graduate of Regent she was also the founding editor of the Regent Law Review. She was elected to a 4 year term on the State Board of Education in 2006. In an opinion piece published on the Christian Worldview Network on November 2, Ms Dunbar accuses Obama of plotting with terrorists to attack the United States and declare martial law. More details are below.
In a Houston Chronicle article, the AP is reporting that Cynthia Dunbar, an elected member of the Texas State Board of Education
"isn't backing down from her claim that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is plotting with terrorists to attack the U.S."
"I don't have anything in there that would be retractable," said Dunbar, R-Richmond. "Those are my personal opinions and I don't think the language is questionable."
You can read her entire opinion piece on the Christian Worldview Network.
In a nutshell she first goes back to the far right wing assertion that Obama does not meet the qualifications for the presidency based on his citizenship.
"First, I cannot understand how we can potentially elect a man who most likely has violated the Constitution in his very attempt to serve as Commander and Chief. “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President;” U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section I."
She then goes further off the deep end, if that is possible, by suggesting that the reason that Joe Biden guaranteed that Obama will be tested in the first 6 months is that Obama is actually plotting to help terrorists attack the United States in order to declare martial law.
"So we can imagine the blatant disregard for our Constitution, but what other threats does an Obama administration pose? We have been clearly warned by his running mate, Joe Biden, that America will suffer some form of attack within the first 6 months of Obama’s administration. However, unlike Joe, I do not believe this “attack” will be a test of Obama’s mettle. Rather, I perceive it will be a planned effort by those with whom Obama truly sympathizes to take down the America that is threat to tyranny. What nobody seems to be discussing is the fact that if such an attack takes place, what about Martial Law? What happens to expand executive power when a state of civil disorder is declared?"
The opinions and claims of Cynthia Dunbar are reprehensible for ordinary citizens and are the stuff that conspiracy theorists lie in bed at night and dream up. However, Ms. Dunbar is not an ordinary citizen. She is one of 15 elected members of the Texas State Board of Education. This woman is responsible for ruling on curriculum and textbook issues that determine how the children of Texas are educated.
Hopefully the citizens of her district (the Fort Bend area which includes the northern suburbs of Austin to the western suburbs of Houston) will realize how far out on the limb she is and cut that limb off in 2010.