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Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Environment / News / North Carolina / Politics / Social Justice What lawmakers could learn from Sheriff Andy Taylor

Posted by Lisa Sorg on Tue, Jul 3, 2012 at 4:01 PM

Tuesday, July 3: Andy Griffith died today and who the hell could blame him.

As Sheriff Andy Taylor, his character was compassionate and fair, ethical and decent, nonviolent and slow to anger.

If Sheriff Taylor had been a North Carolina legislator, he would not have sentenced people to death on the basis of their race. He would not have polluted his neighbors’ water. He would not have excised millions of tax dollars from Opie’s or anyone’s school. He would not have prohibited the gay and lesbian citizens of Mayberry, N.C., from marrying. In fact, he likely would have attended their weddings, and Aunt Bee would have brought her famous butterscotch pecan pie.

And if someone had done something wrong, terribly, terribly wrong—like forcibly sterilizing thousands of people considered by a privileged few to be too unfit, mentally deficient or poor to have children, and yes, there were probably such folks in Mayberry—he would have seen to it that the victims were properly compensated for the lifelong trauma exacted upon them.

In other words, he would have done right by the common person and stood up for the underdog—the opposite of how the majority of the North Carolina Legislature has conducted itself for the past 18 months.