For 15 years, Bobby Franklin represented a district in Cobb County in the GA State Legislature. He died at home today at the age of 56. I was tempted to type "He was recalled by God" but I suspect that would be in bad taste, since Ihe had a wife and children who loved him as much as I found him both sad and reprehensible.
Who was Bobby Franklin, you ask?
Georgia politics known for producing conservative Christian pols who introduce (and all too often pass) bills that make this state a laughingstock. They range from Lester Maddox who expressed his opposition to desegregation with an ax handle to our previous governor, Sonny Perdue, whose solution to a terrible drought and a long-standing battle over water rights was to hold a prayer service (but only for Catholics, Protests and Jews; clergy of other faiths were ostentatiously not invited to participate). Even among those gentlemen and ladies, Bobby stood out as being over-the-top and unrepentant for his wild-eyed views.
Bobby held an unusual view of women. As I diaried here, his first bill this session was intended to criminalize abortion and force women who have suffered miscarriages to prove that they didn't have an abortion. He wanted police to interview not only their doctors and the woman but their families and friends to make damned sure that miscarriage was the real thing. Can you imagine being int he hospital after losing a child you wanted and having a police officer interrogate you as to whether you caused that miscarriage? He also ignored minor inconveniences like Roe v Wade which makes abortion legal in this country--but then, Bobby always believed his interpretation of God's law trumped anything as minor as federal law or a SCOTUS decision. He's also famous for having introduced a bill that would require rape, stalking and domestic violence victims to be describes as "accusers" rather than "victims" in the state's criminal statutes and courts. They would only become "victims" after the man is convicted. Victims of muggings, homicides, assault and battery, affected.
Not content to introduce reams of misogynistic legislation, he also wanted all taxes to be paid in gold or silver. But he didn't stop there. This session, he introduced 24 bills right at the start, only one of which had a co-sponsor. These bills included the aforementioned legislation, but he also wanted to abolish the state Department of Human Services, create a joint committee of repeals (on which lawyers were banned from serving), and ban mandatory vaccinations.
A devout fundamentalist Presbyterian, he believed that [http://archive.theamericanview.com/... Islamic terrorism is not the greatest threat facing America. God is." Because we're not good enough Christians, God isn't happy with America, according to Bobby. He belonged to Presbyterian church so right-wing that it has its own entry in Wikipedia.
While we may see him as somewhat to the right of Fred Phelps and perhaps even crazier than Michele Bachmann, those who shared his views saw him as a staunch defender of All That Is Right and Godly:
This man was a giant -- in faith, in intellect, in fidelity, in so much more. We came to be friends as we worked on the Constitutional Tender Act together -- and I learned that if a majority of State legislators would only vote the Constitutional and Biblical way he voted, our State -- and probably our country -- could be turned away from the coming destruction.
I know that Bobby is in the presence of Jesus now, and rejoicing forevermore. He exemplified Philippians 1:21: "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Have a glorious Home-going, Bobby. I will miss you -- I'm sitting here crying as I type this -- but I will share your joy in full one day.
http://constitutionaltender.blogspot.com/...
There were a lot of reasons I wanted him out of the legislature, not the least being that the collective I.Q. there would rise by a good ten points, but I wanted the people in Cobb County to achieve this by voting for someone else, not by his death. I don't rejoice in his passing. But I must admit I am relieved that he won't be clogging up the next legislative session with bills so insane that even his fellow crazy conservatives won't vote for them--and that is saying a lot, since most politicians in Georgia are crazy conservatives.
To his family and friends, I extend my sympathies. To the voters of Cobb County, please get your heads out of your asses and elect someone who isn't a candidate for the Saint Joseph's Home for the Terminally Bewildered.