This is the context - an Idaho law that penalizes any library that allows minors access to “inappropriate” content, and lets each child’s parent define what “inappropriate” means. So libraries could be penalized if, for example, a homeschooled Christian child reads a book on biology that mentions evolution or a YA novel with a gay character, and their parents object to it. Or if a liberal parent objects to their child reading the Bible or Quran.

Given the wide scope and uncertain limits of this law, some Idaho libraries are banning minors entirely. As was, I suspect, the goal.

Laws like this are becoming widespread in red states and will likely become federal law with Project 2025.

The United States is becoming a nation where parents’ right to keep their kids stupid and bigoted is more important than children’s right to learn. And if that isn’t a sign of collapse I don’t know what is.