By Selwyn Duke

Nothing could be less controversial than having schoolchildren learn a passage from the Declaration of Independence, right? Guess again. Because a recently proposed Louisiana bill requiring just that was shelved last week after a lawmaker implied it was racist and characterized it as a “lie.”

Breitbart reports on the story, writing that state Representative Barbara Norton (D; shown) "led the charge against HB 1035, a measure that would require local school boards of education to have students in grades four to six recite a specified section of the Declaration of Independence after the current daily period of silent prayer or meditation and the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.” The bill was introduced by State Rep. Valarie Hodges (R), and the passage the children would have recited follows:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. 

Apparently, though, Rep. Norton is no fan of lofty ideals. Here’s what she had to say (video below) while agitating against the bill:

Read the rest here.