Has some questions for Rep. Carl Gatto

This is a question for the honorable representative from the 13th legislative district in Palmer, Carl Gatto.

What are you doing? You have two bachelor’s degrees and a teaching certificate from University of California San Jose. You have a master’s from Northern Arizona University, a school that I, too, have attended, so it must be a good one, and several firefighting certificates from our own University of Alaska Anchorage. You’ve been a teacher and a lecturer. In other words, you’re no stranger to the classroom.

So where were you during your seventh-grade civics class? (I’m sorry, I guess that’s two questions.)

I vaguely remember that in the seventh grade we explored things like the three branches of government, the concept of a representative republic, and something else. What was it again? It was the one thing that tied it all together — oh yeah, the U.S. Constitution.

I also recall something about the Constitution being described as the supreme law of the land. Now, I may not be a maker of laws, but a phrase like “supreme law of the land” seems plain enough to me. I take it to mean the Constitution can’t be trumped. I guess it takes an educated, experienced legislator like you to see the nuances in a word like supreme. There must be a lot of wiggle room there; if there weren’t, you would not find it necessary to propose legislation to protect our supreme law from those of a loathsome foreign variety like Sharia Law. Then again, if foreign laws don’t circumvent our constitution, why are you proposing a law that keeps foreign laws from circumventing our Constitution? I just don’t have the expertise to get this one.

While you’re at it, you might consider legislation to protect gravity from things that could fall up. After all, the law of gravity is at least as supreme as our Constitution, maybe even more so. Come on Carl, expand your vision for the sake of the Republic.

I know there has been a lot of talk about Sharia Law supplanting our legal system. There seems to be a growing fear that our Constitution is under attack from an alien religious code. I never pay much attention to this sort of alarmism because I know it’s baseless. It’s the job of our Constitution to outline the powers of government. That means it is the last word in what the government can do. It also means no foreign system can displace its authority. No other law, Sharia or otherwise, can overrule its jurisdiction. There really isn’t any gray area here.

Mr. Gatto, you’re an educated man and a lawmaker. You’ve been an engineer and a teacher. I’m assuming that you are not stupid. So again, I pose the original question: what are you doing? It seems to me that you have found a solution in search of a problem. You did cause me to browse through the Constitution again, and I’ll be darned if I can find anything in it that says this document will be the template for all laws and actions of the government except in situations when it’s not. Basically, we don’t allow kings to set up court on the steps of the Capitol. So a law preventing people from doing that is a little like a law that prevents Presbyterians from performing human sacrifice. It’s not really necessary.

I suppose that these few words boil down to this one simple, straightforward question. Honorable Mr. Gatto, are you fear-mongering, or did you just not pay attention in the seventh grade?

On the one hand, you might be exploiting the fears of some of your constituents. Taking advantage of the xenophobic angst that permeates our politics to use for your own political ends is pandering of the worst kind. On the other hand, you may not have been paying attention in that seventh-grade civics class. Then you went on to earn three degrees and enjoy a career that has culminated in your becoming a legislator.

So which is it Mr. Gatto? Are you a fear monger or are you, let’s say, ill informed? It has to be one or the other. Speaking for myself, I don’t believe a man with your background is that ill informed, but it’s a question only you can answer.

Chuck Legge lives in Sutton and is a longtime Mat-Su Valley artist who submits editorial cartoons to the Frontiersman’s Opinion page.