OKLAHOMA CITY — Chris Bliss is a comedian, but to him the Bill of Rights is no laughing matter.

Bliss, 63, who lives in Austin, grew up in Washington D.C., the son of a lawyer. Bliss told his father early on that neither the D.C. lifestyle nor the legal profession suited him. Instead he chose humor for a living.

“I think he’s just laughing at me from the afterlife right now that his son who is rejecting the law and is rejecting the City of Monuments is building monuments to the Bill of Rights,” he said.

Some might say Bliss is obsessed. His life goal is to arrange for monuments that honor the first 10 amendments of the U.S. Constitution — the laws that protect individual freedoms — to be built outside every state capitol in the United States.

“The reason we chose state capitols is because every school kid at some point in their school career visits a state capitol on a field trip. And if we have monuments to the Bill of Rights at every state capitol, or should I say when we do … that will be millions of school children per year for the next 100 years being exposed to his fundamental document of our American way of life,” he said.

Bliss has already gotten an elaborate, $500,000 monument built in Phoenix, Arizona. It features 40 tons of limestone cut into 10 uniquely shaped, 7.5-to 8.5-feet tall monoliths situated along a 60-foot arch.

Now, he has set his sights on Oklahoma and Alabama as needing such monuments for their capitols.

The idea to build the monuments started as a joke in one of Bliss’ comedy routines. He suggested that rather than argue over displays of the Ten Commandments, states should erect Bill-of-Rights monuments to allow people to “comparison shop.”

These days, however, Bliss insists his movement is no laughing matter and isn’t meant to mock followers of the Ten Commandments.

“To me, it’s a total sincere effort. There’s no joke going on here,” he said. “I say these are totally different documents. To me I don’t really see any conflict between them at all.”

It’s strictly coincidental, he added, that the first four states he’s chosen for Bill of Rights displays have — or, in Oklahoma’s case, had — Ten Commandments monuments, too. In Arizona, the Bill of Rights display is just 100 feet from the Ten Commandments monument, he said.

Bliss said he picked Oklahoma and Alabama because he’s certain that interest is there, and initiatives next year will sail through both state legislatures with bipartisan support.

He also picked the two because he’s confident that he’ll be able to raise about $500,000 needed in private donations to build the monuments in both states. (In the meantime, he hopes to recruit a celebrity or two, perhaps a member of the NBA Thunder, to give the campaign momentum.)

In Oklahoma, state senators Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, and John Sparks, D-Norman, are already championing his effort.

Oklahoma’s last legislative attempt at monument building at the Capitol — the beleaguered, granite Ten Commandments — quickly became a lightning rod and drew legal challenges that it represented a state endorsement of religion. The state ultimately had it removed to private property nearby.

Bliss said the controversy over the monument, and the ensuing moratorium on new statues on the Oklahoma Capitol grounds, delayed his project in the state by two years.

Anderson said he’s confident that a monument to the Bill of Rights won’t meet the same fate.

“I certainly think this is a project that is completely unrelated,” he said. “It’s something we can all unite around.”

Sparks said he was involved in a similar movement about a decade ago in Norman to erect similar plaques in the city’s high schools.

“Not only is this important for school children that come to the Capitol to see, it’s also vitally important for lawmakers to have an opportunity to be exposed to the Bill of Rights on a regular basis,” he said. “All too often we have Constitutional opportunists, those who like to pick and choose parts of the Constitution they think are important and others that are not.”

Such monuments are not always an easy sell.

Bliss’ push for a similar monument in Texas stalled despite the Legislature’s approval to build it in front of that state’s Supreme Court. A $3 million price tag proved too steep, he said, so that project will be redesigned next year.

Despite the unexpected hurdle, Bliss is undeterred.

“It’s not necessarily a high-speed, sexy project,” he said, “but it’s a long-term, visionary national goal.”

Janelle Stecklein covers the Oklahoma Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach her at jstecklein@cnhi.com.