“Conservative” has taken on a new meaning in the world of Kansas politics.

The classic definition of a political conservative is one who advocates less government intrusion into our lives. That’s a Barry Goldwater-style conservative. But, although Kansas Atty. Gen. Phill Kline has proudly campaigned as a conservative, his definition of that term is very different, as illustrated last week by his decision to censor music CDs bound for Kansas public libraries as part of a national consumer protection settlement.

Rather than practicing governmental restraint, Kline used his official position to dictate to Kansans what music they should have access to in their public libraries. He claimed his decision to pull more than 16,000 CDs by 25 artists out of a shipment headed to Kansas libraries wasn’t censorship but rather “an exercise in discretion.”

However, many Kansans see the move as a knee-jerk, poorly researched action that usurped their right to exercise their own “discretion” about what music they find acceptable. Moreover, people who probably are far more familiar with the music than any of Kline’s staff members note that many of the confiscated CDs were nowhere close to posing a moral danger to Kansans.

A spokesman for Kline’s office admitted that the office’s process of culling the CDs was “very unscientific” and was based on the consumer protection and antitrust division’s previous knowledge of the songs or a spot-check of Internet databases that publish music lyrics.

“We don’t have the manpower to look at every album and every song lyric,” spokesman Whitney Watson said, “but we feel we removed most of the albums that did not mesh with the values of a majority of Kansans.”

The state attorney general is empowered to offer opinions and enforce the laws of the state, not to define and enforce his or her version of “the values of a majority of Kansans.” Kline’s action is particularly ironic given that he was elected two years ago by the slimmest of margins and holds no claim to a voter mandate that might support his presumption to serve as the state’s moral policeman.

Watson said the goal of the office was to eliminate CDs that promote gun violence, violence against women or drug use. While many Kansans might agree that those are valid targets, the AG’s approach was heavy-handed and parental.

Local libraries, whose mission is to serve as a repository of a broad range of opinions and views, are quite capable of passing judgment on what materials are appropriate for their patrons. Kline’s preemption of their right to exercise that discretion is, at least, insulting. At worst, it is a troubling governmental reach into a basic American freedom. Kline may not want to call it censorship, but many Kansans would call it exactly that.