Remember how I’ve been commenting on a large number of politicians on the GOP side going off the rails in Oklahoma over the past few weeks? Here’s some coverage from the other side. Kentucky state senator Karen Berg (D-KY) suggested that sex dolls modeled after minors should be widely available to “MAPs”, an acronym that has been used to lessen the severity of the more commonly and contextually appropriate term pedophile. To be clear, there is no excuse for such relations between adults and children and those convicted of such crimes should face justice, but it’s especially concerning whenever a state lawmaker is actually proposing what the other political party has been hyperbolizing for the past few years on the fringes. For the betterment of the Kentucky Senate, it would be better if Berg resigned because of the damage to the public trust trying to advocate for acquiescence to pedophilic tendencies and referring to pedophiles in a less severe euphemism instead of the more appropriate term. However, we’ll have to see if she does resign. For now, why does this conversation matter and what greater impact does it have on Kentucky’s elections moving forward?
Two major events rattled Kentucky this week. This speech ahead of legislation that would ban such dolls in the Republican state legislature and the announcement that Sen. Mitch McConnell in the U.S. Senate would be stepping down as the Republican leader. Before dismissing the two events as intrinsically separate events, the Kentucky GOP is likely to be bracing for a metaphorical dogfight over whom his successor will be in 2026 if he (very likely) retires. If the Kentucky GOP is focused on social issues like this as it was during the death penalty discussions before the 2023 elections, social conservatism will be at the forefront of the 2026 Senate election owing to that’s where the Republican base’s priorities are. Given that Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) could be considering a presidential run in 2028 when the field will be wide open, the chance that the Kentucky GOP has to tactically rein in their ideological zeal on these types of issues for mass electability could be minimal if not non-existent.
Going back to Berg, her testimony at a state senate hearing was frightening in that she openly admitted to looking up what one of these dolls is and referring to people who would use such things as “MAPs”, spelled out in length as “minor-attracted people”. This wording has no fundamental difference than pedophile other than some defenders of the people who would commit heinous acts toward children attempting to downplay the seriousness of the charges. The reason why this language matters is that being afraid to call openly illegal and dangerous behavior toward society’s most vulnerable members is the first step toward throwing those same vulnerable people toward their future abusers. The people who would buy these dolls would be more incentivized to commit terrible actions, not less, and to imply this would mitigate behavior is similar to suggesting that just giving a drug addict their fix would prevent them from committing crime in the future. At what point does the capitulation of the morally righteous society stop if feelings cannot be hurt to protect innocent people from predatory behavior being indulged?
Overall, this was not a gaffe that should’ve happened during a state senate hearing nor a confession that should have been made in public that Berg openly searched for such sex dolls to see what they were. Nevertheless, the already struggling Kentucky Democratic Party might have to find a different person to run for this seat or front a primary challenger in the future to avoid having another loss in the state legislative chamber. While I don’t buy into the outrage over everything being conspiratorial or sensationalist for the reason of most people being sane-minded individuals, a politician who has roots in being a professor in radiology should theoretically be able to figure out that you don’t look this material up. For Governor Andy Beshear, this is an unnecessary setback that he did not want to have to contend with but now has to.
Sources: Kentucky Democrat Proposes Child Sex Dolls for Pedophiles (msn.com)
Mitch McConnell, Congressional stalwart, to step down from GOP leadership | Watch (msn.com)
The Conservatarian Millennial 