Gerth: Kentucky politicians bully the weak and powerless to benefit themselves

Eight years ago, Kentucky legislators passed a new law designed to stop bullying in schools.

The law defined bullying as “any unwanted verbal, physical, or social behavior … that involves a real or perceived power imbalance and is repeated or has the potential to be repeated.”

Now they need to pass a law that would stop bullying in the state legislature.

I know. You’re asking, “If the Kentucky General Assembly isn’t beating up on the poor, the ostracized, the weakest among us, what exactly are legislators going to do?”

And it’s a legitimate question. But hear me out.

Perhaps they could … hmmmm … actually try to help people.

I know. I know.

That’s not what they do.

But they could.

They could pass bills that attempt to lift the poor out of poverty, protect those who are perceived to be “different” and help those who belong to groups that are more likely to be undereducated and underemployed to catch up.

They could be compassionate.

Instead, in recent years, they have just been mean.

In the past few years, they have targeted transgender kids, first banning them from youth sports and then last year trying to strip them of every bit of dignity by allowing teachers to call them by their dead names.

And then there’s this year, where they’ve taken aim at workers by pushing House Bill 500 that would strip them of pay when driving to job sites and would further limit how much workers can recover if their bosses engage in wage theft.

They wanted to strip them of their lunch breaks, too, until they got blowback.

(State Rep. Phillip Pratt, a Georgetown Republican who sponsored this legislation, owns a landscaping business and could benefit financially from the legislation if it passes.)

With House Bill 467, they’ve taken aim at pregnant women who are carrying unviable fetuses with a bill that would shame them if they want to end those pregnancies before carrying what’s essentially a dead baby for nine months.

Republicans in the House are taking aim at the poor with a bill that would require people seeking SNAP benefits − commonly called “food stamps” – to prove they have incredibly low assets before receiving the benefits.

Under House Bill 367, able-bodied people would have to show they have less than $2,750 in assets to qualify. This is particularly harmful for people whose only impediment to working is the fact that they don't have a car and need to save up a few bucks to buy one.

Senior citizens and people with disabilities would have to show they have less than $4,250. The progressive Kentucky Center for Economic Policy has said the bill could force as many as 25,000 households off SNAP.

The bill is sponsored by Wade Williams, a Hopkins County Republican who says in his biography on the legislature’s website that he’s a Christian.

To do this when you're talking about giving yourself pay raises so you earn upwards of $100,000 for part-time jobs − something Senate Bill 350 does − is particularly reprehensible.

And they are taking aim at the homeless with House Bill 5, which among other things criminalizes camping while doing little to make sure there is housing available.

With House Bill 255, the House is also trying to help businesses – at the risk of harming teenagers – by repealing laws that limit 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds to working no more than six hours on a school day and 30 hours in a week.

This, too, is sponsored by Pratt. Do you think he might benefit from having teens working long hours cutting grass all spring and fall when they should be studying?

They’ve passed one bill that says it’s alright for landlords to refuse to rent you a house or an apartment if they don’t like the fact that you’re paying using federal Section 8 housing vouchers, and they’ve overridden city councils in Louisville and Lexington that thought stopping that kind of discrimination was a good thing.

With House Bill 18, they are essentially telling people who are struggling, “Go live in your car."

And then there are the bills that take aim at diversity programs at schools across the state and threaten to shut them down. That's what they're doing with Senate Bill 6 and House Bill 9.

Those who are affected most by this wouldn't have been allowed in any of our state schools − other than Kentucky State University − 75 years ago, and many of them are the first in their families to attend college.

Why wouldn't we want programs specifically designed to help them succeed.

This broadside to diversity, equity and inclusion was the natural extension of the attacks on critical race theory a couple of years ago. It’s as if they think ignoring the long-term damage governmental and social policies did to people of color for decades will help white people succeed in life.

(Hint: if you’re part of the dominant class – either socially or politically – you ought not need that much help to succeed. You likely have support structures in place already.)

If you’re pushing these ideas, you look like nothing more than a mean-spirited bully, and the fact that you keep doing this nonsense over and over makes you look small and weak.

So just stop it.

Too bad no one can report you to the principal.

Joseph Gerth can be reached at 502-582-4702 or by email at jgerth@courierjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: From trans kids to food stamp recipients, Kentucky bullies powerless