This week, I want to draw your attention to several very interesting stories appearing in Colorado Politics, just in case you missed them. First, I want you to go read the story that reports on a recent speech by Colorado U.S. Rep. Jason Crow (Editor: ah, hence the “cute” title). Crow gave a great speech recently in which he outlined what needs doing in the U.S. Congress and specifically lays out four key points on what our representatives should do to wrest control of things like, I dunno, making war back from a deluded president. Full disclosure: Jason is an old friend who worked by my own quixotic congressional campaign back in 2008 before he decided to run himself and win. I’m a fan, even if I think winning your first time out is a bit showy.

But I’m not going to talk about Crow and his thoughts this week. Instead, I want to draw your attention to one of my favorite weekly features on Colorado Politics, the Out West Roundup (OWR). This week, we got an important update on a proposed coal sale in Wyoming. As previously reported in an earlier edition, the government proposed a massive sale of coal mining rights in a large section of central Wyoming. A Navajo tribe-owned business was the only bidder and offered up less than a penny a ton to lease up to 167 million tons of coal on federal lands. Again, they were the only bidders, and their offer was, well, tiny.

I’m happy to see in this week’s OWR we learn the government rejected the penny-a-ton bid. I admit, I’m a tad surprised, given the current administration’s attitude toward mining and drilling and such. Recently, you may have seen the news the Trump administration has decided not only to open the pristine Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, but they also authorized a road be blazed through the reserve to support the extensive drilling.

But in Wyoming, the news is, as noted, different. It is interesting in an era when the GOP folks chant “drill baby drill” as often as they can, even the Trump people thought a penny a ton was too little. Coal presents an interesting challenge to Republicans, in that they have consistently claimed they, when in power, would take the shackles off the coal industry. President Donald Trump promised coal jobs would come back once he made coal “king” again.

How’s that going?

Well, the jobs are not, in fact, coming back, and the mine owners and the GOPers don’t really want to tell you why these job losses are very likely permanent. Simply put, technology is replacing miners by the thousands. In 1980, the U.S. coal industry employed roughly 242,000 miners. In 2022, that number was down to around 43,000, a roughly 82% decrease in jobs. And yet, during that same timeframe, overall coal production went up. That is because big, efficient machines that work 24/7 have been developed to produce vastly more coal than a human can.

All this is taking place during a time when the American public is increasingly concerned about the climate and other environmental effects of fossil fuels, and they support a gradual shift either entirely or mostly to renewable energy sources.

So I guess it isn’t too much of a surprise only one bid came through for that attempted mass sale of coal extraction rights in Wyoming, and that is both a good thing, and a harbinger of things to come (oh, and if you are like me, you might have wondered where the heck the word “harbinger” comes from. So, I looked it up: it comes from Old German or Old French, and originally meant “to provide shelter or lodging.” The more you know, eh?).

Another OWR story I found quite interesting and reassuring was the report out of Oklahoma the state’s new public schools superintendent has rescinded the order of his predecessor requiring the Bible be placed in every classroom and ordered schools to incorporate the Bible in lesson plans for the students. Now I’m guessing some of my dear readers agree with me this was a good decision, while others think the Bible should be in public schools and taught as the “correct” religion to the kiddos.

Well, here’s the thing: The Constitution, in the First Amendment, state “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Clearly, the establishment of religion is not allowed by governmental entities. The government cannot tell you which religion is the “correct” one, nor can any such entity prevent you from worshiping as you please. But schools don’t get to push one way or the other. Rather, though religion can be taught as part of, say, a literature curriculum (as it is undeniable the Bible has played an important role, for good and bad, in world history), it is not acceptable for a U.S. governmental organization to decide which religions are OK.

If you are reading these words through clenched teeth and think that this is somehow an attack on Christianity, I say nonsense. Imagine, for a moment, instead of the Bible, the Oklahoma school czar declared the Quran be placed in every classroom, and Islam be taught to every student? Or, really going out on a limb here, the Satanic bible (is there such a thing? I’m not sure) be taught to all? Are you OK with Satan and his “values” being required teaching in public schools?

If you are OK with the last two examples, well, I commend you for your intellectual consistency, but if not, then you see the point of the Founding Fathers. As Thomas Jefferson said, “It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

Oklahoma, one of the reddest of the red states, made the right call. And if you are still thinking the Bible should be forced onto every student, just remember how you felt about the other two examples above.

It never ceases to amaze me how often people’s view of God’s will corresponds very neatly with their own world view. But liberty doesn’t work that way.

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.