School Should Be Allowed To Get Rid Of Whatever Books It Wants

Miami-Dade schools have decided to remove from their libraries books that portray an overly-optimistic view of life in communist Cuba. Of course, the ACLU can't let this stand:

The lawsuit alleges the books' removal violates students' rights to a free press and that the volumes were removed without due process.

I've never heard a more stupid argument in my life, except perhaps the one put forth by opponents of the Solomon Amendment. Even I, a layman, know that free press isn't an issue here; this isn't a student publication being banned. And due process? People have due process rights, not books. When people try to claim that the ACLU merely supports the First Amendment and not a primarily-leftist ideology, point them to this case.

Oh, and point them to all those Second Amendment cases the ACLU has (not) supported.

But back to the case at hand.

Last week, the board voted 6-3 to remove "Vamos a Cuba" and its English-language version, "A Visit to Cuba" from 33 schools, stating the books were inappropriate for young readers because of inaccuracies and omissions about life in the communist nation...

The controversy began in April when a parent who said he had been a political prisoner in Cuba complained about the books' depiction of life under communist rule.

Here's what the ACLU has to say:

"The Miami-Dade School Board's decision to defy U.S. law prohibiting censorship and ignore the recommendation of their own superintendent and two committees is a slap in the face to our tradition of free speech and the school board's own standards of due process," said JoNel Newman, an attorney working with the ACLU.

Huh? They can't truly mean that, can they? Does anyone truly believe that?

Here's how I see it. The school board is elected by the community to oversee the school district. The board sets policy, and the superintendent and every other employee of the district implement that policy (as long as it's legal, of course). Elected as they are by the community, the school board applies the standards of the community to the schools. In this case, the board determined that the book wasn't accurate and wasn't appropriate for the community. For those who value local control of education, in this case it worked exactly as it was supposed to.

The ACLU is showing its true leftist colors here. They're trying to hide behind the red, white, and blue, but all I see is their communist red.

Now some will want to accuse me of supporting book-banning, lumping me right up there with Hitler himself. Not to be overly droll here, but lighten up, Francis. I'm not saying that any time a community wants to ban a book in schools (as was done with some Harry Potter books, for example) that it's a smart thing to do. I'm merely saying that it's a legal thing to do, and the ACLU should butt out.