The parallel universe has its own odd, uneven view

Staunchly conservative, mostly Republican, lawmakers — in Tennessee and elsewhere — routinely reside in a parallel universe far detached from the rest of us.

We all breathe the same air, endure the same four seasons and grow old at the same pace. But that’s about it.

Tolerance, fairness, freedom and justice — indeed reality itself — have completely different meanings in the myopic world that most conservative legislators, their enablers and benefactors inhabit.

For example, in this parallel universe, the idea that affordable health care should be available for everyone does not exist. Hence you have an overwhelming majority of Republicans in the Tennessee General Assembly basically telling 280,000 uninsured working Tennesseans to drop dead.

Also in this alternate world, it’s perfectly fine for Republican state Sen. Todd Gardenhire of Chattanooga to curse a constituent, using a term I cannot repeat in a family newspaper. But it rhymes with “gas pole.”

Gardenhire in February voted against Gov. Bill Haslam’s Insure Tennessee compromise plan to provide health insurance for the working poor under the Affordable Care Act. In a video posted on YouTube last week, someone asked Gardenhire if he’s willing to give up his insurance. His response: “Why don’t you give it up, a------.”

Gardenhire said he had private insurance. But The Associated Press discovered he had signed up for state health insurance, as did many other lawmakers who opposed Insure Tennessee. In their universe, hypocrisy and indifference are admirable traits.

In this other world, the right to carry guns trumps everything, including the sovereignty of local governments to decide whether guns should be allowed in parks and playgrounds.

This gun-carrying fervor is so strong some Tennessee lawmakers are even willing to allow weapons inside the State Capitol — something others in their party hadn’t bargained on when they voted to strip away local control of guntoting rules in parks.

And as we all know, this parallel universe contains those who see nothing wrong with discriminating against others on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation or culture.

There also are people in this other world who loathe Barack Obama and consider him an illegitimate president from a Third World. There are people who believe it is their modern-day manifest destiny to be in control of everything, and that wealth should rule politics. And even some who believe it’s acceptable for police to use deadly force against minorities under any circumstances.

But occasionally the inhabitants of both universes find common ground. The truth is, there is good and bad in both worlds.

I just wish that I could detect a little more compassion, tolerance and compromise over there.