THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The rise of the Tea Party has seen an increase in extreme legislation across the US, ranging in from a bill in Montana saying global warming is good for the state to a suggestion in Missouri to end restrictions on child labour.Earlier this month Utah's state legislature approved a bill that would recognise gold and silver as legal tender as alternatives to more foldable forms of currency. It needs only the governor's signature to become law.
Similar moves are under consideration in a dozen other states, where legislators are outraged by soaring deficits and the federal government's promiscuous dollar-printing.
The Utah bill is among an abundance of proposals made by Tea Party-backed Republicans who were elected to state assemblies last year.
Others include a bill in South Dakota to make every adult carry a gun, a bid in Arizona to nullify federal laws.
In Montana, House Bill 278 would authorise arming citizens' militias against invaders, even though the state borders Canada.
Wyoming and Tennessee are among 14 states that have either passed or are contemplating legislation to ban sharia law, though objectors say that Islamic justice has yet to be presented as an alternative to US law.
Many proposals in the states will never become law, and state legislators have a tradition of eccentricity which is regarded with a measure pride by politicians of all stripes as truly representative of the nation.
But taken collectively, the new plans reveal an anxiety among grassroots conservatives about the direction of the country under President Barack Obama, a fierce devotion to single issues – such as opposing Islam – and at times a yearning for a rose-tinted past. » | Alex Spillius, Washington | Friday, March 18, 2011
