Book-Burning Club

Some people I know very fairly well were talking about a book club. The first person recommended someone to join and the second person said, "She can't, she's a Republican."

Person One said, "No, really?"

Person Two said, "Yes, can you believe it? She's a republican."

Curious, I asked why this republican couldn't join the book club and was informed that there was too much talk about politics during the book club session so it was determined that no republicans could join - only democrats.

I kept my mouth shut because I'm polite and didn't want to deal with the inevitable liberal screaming if I disagreed.

But I couldn't disagree more!

Now I don't know the circumstances. The conservatives in the book club could have behaved badly. Perhaps an attempt to curtail political discussion failed because of the republicans involved. Did the democrats - or more likely Obama supporters - simply out-number the republicans, so they were the ones who had to leave?

But to exclude one group of people simply for their beliefs is so unAmerican and repugnant, I feel ashamed for the folks involved.

Why not simply ban all political discussion and if you break that rule, then you are kicked out of the book club? I can understand the banning of non-book-related discussions, but your worldview informs your politics and vice-versa.

To refuse entry to republicans - or anyone with a different political view - is to refuse to be exposed to a different worldview. This isn't a book club, it's an echo chamber.

Book clubs are a group-endeavor, a joint exploration of the literary world and how it pertains to life as lived. This book club has become illiterate by their own exclusionary acts, it is now the equivalent of a book-burning club.