"This bill basically says, 'You're here. Adopt American values,' "

The kicker is the first sentence of the linked article: "Arizona public schools would be barred from any teachings considered counter to democracy or Western civilization. . ."

Isn't the legislating of political and economic orthodoxy, itself, counter to democracy?

Also, students in state colleges and universities would be prohibited from forming groups based in whole or in part on their racial or ethnic identities.

Freedom of assembly, anyone?

The response of the one Democrat in the article is, as one might expect, vapid: as if the issue at stake is one of popular culture.

How might Western civilization be defined in this case? It includes Martin Luther King . . . and Hitler. It includes capitalism (not a synonym for democracy) . . . and communism. It includes Joe Hill . . . and Joe McCarthy. It includes jazz . . . and the School of the Americas. Slavery . . . Guantanamo . . . Cesar Chavez . . . Steinbeck . . . Ayn Rand . . . torture . . . the arms race . . . penicillin . . . I wonder if we might ask Representative Pearce to clarify.