You can be a pandering politician, or you can be a bad speller, but try not to be both at once.
A state representative in Oklahoma, one Mike Ritze by name, has decided to do one of those things where a lawmaker attempts to provoke a major civil liberties suit in order to assert a tribal identity that plays well with his constituency. Like you do.
Unfortunately, his installation of a giant Ten Commandments monument in front of the state capitol was badly done, and not just because it’s a deliberate violation of the establishment clause in the First Amendment. After dropping ten grand on this monument, after paying to have it installed, right when he should have been doing his religious-hegemony victory lap, that’s when Ritze and company noticed that it wasn’t even spelled properly. Hint for those asserting their absolute devotion to doctrine: there are two As in Sabbath, and no U in servant.
We can argue about the intersection of civil and religious life. There is legitimate debate to be had about readings of the Bill of Rights. But, speaking as a professional editor, nobody can deny that it is really, really important to proofread things properly. That is empirical fact and not up for debate.
Ask yourself: what have you done for your local editor today?
Photo—Jim Beckel, the Oklahoman