Voters in Virginia and San Francisco, of all places, have recently sent loud wake-up calls to the “woke” looney left of the Democratic Party. San Francisco’s very liberal voters last month recalled three members of the local school board for paying more attention to political correctness than to the education of their children. And last November, Virginia elected a Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, who believes parents should be involved in what their children are taught in public schools. Some called it “a parents’ revolt.”
As the conservative Wall Street Journal opined in an editorial, “San Francisco experienced a moderate earthquake as liberal Democrats revolted against woke, corrective progressivism and overwhelmingly recalled three school board members” for seeking to rename 44 public schools, some of which were named after our nation’s founding fathers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. They concentrated on renaming schools instead of bringing schoolchildren back into classrooms.
To no one’s surprise, the three recalled school board members blamed “white supremacist thinking” for their defeat while schools remained closed with children sitting at home in front of computer screens, a poor substitute for being in classrooms with teachers and other kids.
“Local school board elections aren’t usually national harbingers, but we wonder whether San Francisco’s revolt might be an exception,” the Journal commented. “Parents helped Glenn Youngkin win the Virginia statehouse in November and nearly elected a Republican governor in New Jersey. Two years of COVID shutdowns and what we’ve learned about political indoctrination in schools has parents mobilizing to send a message.”
Youngkin campaigned against school boards that kept kids locked down at home and agreed with parents who want a say in what schools are teaching their children, with particular attention to Critical Race Theory, which pits one race against another. CRT advocates echo Black Lives Matter militants, who believe that black people are good, white people are bad, and brown people and Asians don’t matter much at all. Thousands of Asian and Hispanic voters in San Francisco answered that racist theory loudly and clearly.
Wall Street Journal columnist Daniel Henninger elaborated on the San Francisco School Board recall by writing that “a midterm political fix won’t repair the damage progressives have done to the U.S. Defund the police and progressive prosecutors (who won’t prosecute criminals) aren’t Republican-concocted ‘messaging’ issues.’” They’re real issues that most voters care about.
President Biden’s “progressive” political agenda was on display during his State of the Union address to Congress last Tuesday, although he did say that kids and teachers should be back in classrooms. Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who put on a weird show during Biden’s speech, argues that Democrats are “protecting our democracy.” However, most independent and non-partisan voters know better, which is why I think Republicans will control both houses of Congress after November’s midterm elections.
Meanwhile, here in Carson, we must remain vigilant as a new school superintendent, John Goldhardt, comes to town from Manchester, New Hampshire, to replace retiring Superintendent Richard Stokes, who pledged that CRT would not be taught in our local schools. I’d like Goldhardt to make the same pledge, and I’d also like to know more about why he left Manchester in such a hurry; he blamed “haters.” School trustees chose Goldhardt on a 4-3 vote over current School District CFO Andrew Fueling because of Goldhardt’s “experience.” Let’s welcome him and hope for the best.
At the same time, let’s support candidates who think parents should have a say about what our kids and grandkids are taught in Carson’s public schools and around the Silver State.
Guy W. Farmer is Nevada Appeal’s senior political columnist.
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