Guest Column–Brian Parsons: The Least of These

January 31, 2023

The Least of These

By: Brian Parsons

“Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.”
— Rabindranath Tagore

The Mountain West is largely known as wilderness country.  People come from around the world to experience the unblemished wilderness like Yellowstone or Glacier National Park.  It’s also known as grizzly country.  It’s an annual occurrence to find that some unlucky individuals have met their demise at the hands of wildlife.  Most frequently, these encounters involve a mama bear, moose, or bison that crossed paths with an unlucky human.  Typically this human inadvertently gets too close to mama’s offspring, and she does what all mamas do and will defend her young to her death.  It is innate to animals that much can be tolerated, but the line in the sand is the offspring.

Children are consistently lauded throughout the Bible for their value, innocence, and unwavering faith.  In the book of Proverbs, King Solomon refers to children as the crown of the aged. In the Psalms, King David refers to children as rewards from Heaven.  In the New Testament, Christ says that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to the children and that those who wish to enter Heaven must have the unwavering faith of a child.  Also, in the New Testament, Christ says that you’d be better off tying a millstone around your neck and being thrown into the sea than to cause these innocents to stumble.  From a God frequently distilled down to love, this is a dire warning to those who would pervert the innocence and unwavering faith of a child.

As someone whose foray into politics began with the Ron Paul Revolution and a commitment to the non-aggression principle, I have long held that the sovereignty of the individual demands that people be permitted to sin unto themselves, and they alone bear the consequence of their actions.  Despite my own personal religious convictions, this has always seemed the most equitable solution to governance and human interaction.  It is this sort of commitment to the sovereignty of the individual that permitted the advancement of LGBT rights and privileges in a largely religious society. This societal agreement hinged on the premise of consenting adults and the agnostic position that government should take in the equal application of the law.

It is no secret that recent topics of discussion in popular American culture converge around children.  From leftist indoctrination in the schools around revisionist social justice campaigns like The 1619 Project, to Critical Race Theory or Social Emotional Learning curricula, to gender ideology and transgenderism, to Drag Queen Storytime, there is a blatant focus on targeting the youth with perverse and activist ideology.  I have covered this prior, but proponents of these ideas understand Abraham Lincoln when he stated that the philosophy of the classroom in one generation would be the philosophy of government in the next. What these propagandists fight for now is not equal rights for today’s generation but godless and uniform thinking for the next.

When protesting these activist and wholly inappropriate indoctrination campaigns, it is a common response to be gaslit that what you are saying is simply untrue.  They say that gender ideology isn’t promoted in social-emotional learning programs, Critical Race Theory isn’t taught in the schools, or Draq Queen Story Time is innocuous.  They are lying on all accounts.  Even here in deep red Idaho, parents are coming to the realization that rural Idaho has not escaped these campaigns. Recent protests of pornographic material in the children’s books at Marshall Public Library, where Drag Queen Story Time is held, confirm this.

Proponents of campaigns like Draq Queen Storytime suggest that their drag queens are different; think Mrs. Doubtfire and not RuPaul.  Critics make no distinction. It is the normalization of adult performance art for the youth.  At a recent “family-friendly” Drag Bingo night in Princeton, Texas, the bearded drag MC host offered the following toast: “Cheers to you. Cheers to me. Cheers to the ones who lick us where we pee.” Following a floor performance where money was thrown at the dancer, children can be seen running to scrounge up the money on the floor. This sort of interaction is not unique and is prompting an intense backlash against drag performance itself.

Here in Idaho, lawmakers are moving to ban public drag performances.  This prompted a social media response from a local gay bar, Club Charley’s, imploring that it’s time to protect drag shows in Idaho.  No, it’s not time to protect drag shows in Idaho.  It’s time to protect children in Idaho.  Nobody cared about drag shows in adult bars when drag shows were in adult bars. The LGBT community in Idaho missed a prime opportunity to bolster their support here by choosing to insist on normalizing their entertainment over protecting the innocence of the youth.  Woe to you.

Proponents of activist campaigns targeted at the youth made a dire miscalculation in a parent’s resolve to protect their offspring.  A certain level of public trust was extended, and that trust was irrevocably breached.  It is because of this that campaigns for bans on public drag performances and even school choice power ahead at full steam.  Activists have only themselves to blame.

Brian Parsons is a paleoconservative opinion columnist in Idaho, a proud husband and father, and saved by Grace. You can follow him at WithdrawConsent.org or find his opinion columns at the American Thinker, in the Idaho State Journal or in other regional publications.