Jump to content

The (Extremist) Left is Losing its War On Parents


DKW 86

Recommended Posts

Real Title: The left is losing its war on parents

Point: There are two differing Lefts in America. There are indeed "Woke Crazies" out there and they are saying and promoting crazy views like DTP,  Cashless Bail, Engaged Parenting is 'Domestic Terrorism," Mask Mandates long after they are no longer necessary, Mask Mandates and Remote Learning long after school aged kids should be back at school. My own version of Progessivism does not include any of that. I want M4A, Some help with college or trade school enlarged, Legalized Weed, Possibly UBI, The Middle Class engaged and leading both Parties. This Opinion Piece is showing us that it is the Sane Democrats, the Left like Me, that are revolting from Insane Wokeness. Two epiphanal moments have happened recently: Youngkin won an election in True Blue VA, primarily from "Bluer than Blue" Northern VA, and in "So Blue its almost Black" San Francisco three Insanely Woke BOE members were resoundingly recalled and defeated BY SANE DEMOCRATS. The partisan Divide is now breaking Inside the Democrat Party, my party, along my lines. 

 

The parents’ revolution has notched another win.

This week, three members of San Francisco’s Board of Education — Gabriela López, Alison Collins and Faauuga Moliga — suffered overwhelming defeat in a recall election brought by angry parents who felt they were more concerned with lefty politics than with children’s welfare. The parents’ case was strengthened by the fact that they were, well, right.

Siva Raj, one of the recall organizers, said, “The city of San Francisco has risen up and said this is not acceptable, TO PUT OUR KIDS LAST.” 

As COVID raged, the school board paid more attention to renaming schools — it wanted to rename Abraham Lincoln HS because its namesake didn’t show “that black lives ever mattered” to him — than educating kids. Again and again, the board placed woke politics before its actual job. (Collins had even accused Asians of using “white supremacist thinking” to get ahead.) WTF?

When parents objected, they were ignored, called racists or worse. And not just in San Francisco. In Loudoun County, Va., teachers and administrators ran a secret group aimed at taking action against parents who opposed their system’s commitment to critical race theory. One of them, school-board member Beth Barts, resigned her position after her role came out. Others face recalls organized by angry parents.

 
 
ADVERTISEMENT

What some have called the “parents’ revolt” is spreading across the country, with parents in numerous other jurisdictions organizing around school-board elections and education policy. (Many more, of course, are quietly voting with their feet, taking their kids to private school or homeschooling rather than submitting to the diktats of woke and incompetent educational authorities.)

Parents protesting against critical race theory being taught in schools at a Loudoun County School Board meeting on June 22, 2021.
Parents protesting against critical race theory being taught in schools at a Loudoun County School Board meeting on June 22, 2021.
REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo

They face opposition. It wasn’t just Loudoun County education officials who went after critical parents. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona encouraged the National School Boards Association to ask Attorney General Merrick Garland to declare those parents domestic terrorists. The NSBA sent that letter, and Garland quickly obliged. An FBI whistleblower then reported that the FBI was employing counterterrorism tactics against parent groups nationwide.

After a firestorm of criticism, the NSBA retracted its letter, Garland issued a mealymouthed apology — and the FBI may even have stopped investigating people for peaceful complaints about government policies, though I wouldn’t bet on that.

We can learn a couple things from all this.

The first is the brittle, arrogant and defensive response of our ruling class to any kind of political opposition nowadays. What kind of mind turns parents complaining at a school-board meeting into some sort of “domestic terrorism” threat? (The same kind that turns peacefully protesting truckers into “insurrectionists,” I suppose.)

In what previous age of American history would secret targeting and federal investigations of people engaging in a bedrock institution of participatory democracy have been seen as appropriate? Who calls people racist for wanting their kids to learn?

In this age, alas, those things happen, and the people doing them — the people who are supposed to be our society’s leaders, the best and the brightest, the level-headed non-extremists of the establishment — are frankly more than a little bit crazy.

No sane person would respond this way, and yet respond this way they do, over and over again. (And every time they do, they label their opponents racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic, etc., wielding those adjectives like magic curse words, even though they’re pretty much always bogus.)

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin was elected in part because of his support for parents against school boards.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin was elected in part because of his support for parents against school boards.
AP Photo/Steve Helber

But here’s the other lesson: It doesn’t work. In Virginia, Republican Glenn Youngkin was elected governor largely on the strength of the parents’ revolt. Virginia parents had had enough of the nonsense imposed upon their kids under Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam.

People who care about their kids — which is almost everyone — don’t trust government officials who don’t trust them, especially when much of what those officials are doing seems objectively insane. And calling them racists, bigots, etc. doesn’t scare them away — IT ANGERS THEM.

Likewise in San Francisco, one of the farthest-left jurisdictions in the nation. This was a revolt of liberal Democrats against “woke” Democrats, and the liberals had had enough. As The Wall Street Journal noted, “Successful recalls are rare, and it takes real effort to lose by 3-to-1 or 4-to-1.” Citing Board of Supervisors President Shamann Walton’s characterization of the recall movement as “closet Republicans,” it observed, “that must be some closet.”

The truth is, people want sensible government by sensible people who listen to their constituents. That’s not rocket science, but it seems to be a stretch for today’s Democrats. May the defeats continue until they learn.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds is a professor of law at the University of Tennessee and founder of the InstaPundit.com blog.

Edited by DKW 86
  • Thanks 1
  • Facepalm 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites





LA Times

Column: From liberal San Francisco, school board recall is a three-alarm warning for Democrats

San Francisco is quite familiar with earthquakes, and what happened Tuesday — the ouster of three extreme lefties from the Board of Education — was not one of those.

Earthquakes are sudden and unexpected. The result of Tuesday’s recall was neither.

The removal of board President Gabriela López and members Faauuga Moliga and Alison Collins was destined the moment the city’s liberal establishment, led by Mayor London Breed, joined the effort along with several discontented millionaires, who threw in loads of cash.

- ADVERTISEMENT -What happened Tuesday was more a foreshock, a warning — as if Democrats needed any more of those — that November’s midterm elections could be very bad indeed, as parents unsettled by two years of pandemic-related upheaval vent their frustrations at the polls.

The circumstances of the recall were both unique and broadly reflective.

In a place that prides itself on social justice and forward thinking, members of the school board outdid themselves by moving to strip the names of, among others, Presidents Washington and Lincoln and Sen. Dianne Feinstein from 44 public schools.

The intent was to remediate the country's history of injustices: George Washington owned slaves, Abraham Lincoln oversaw the slaughter of Native Americans, and Feinstein, as mayor in 1984, replaced a Confederate flag that had been vandalized at City Hall with a new one. The result was outrage.

In another instance of misplaced priorities, board members spent hours debating whether a father who was white and gay brought sufficient diversity to a parental advisory committee. His appointment was ultimately nixed, but there was no recovering the time that was wasted.

Perhaps most antagonizing, the board moved to end merit-based admissions to Lowell High School, one of the city's most sacred institutions, where Asian American students are the majority. (The move catalyzed the district's Asian American community, long an important force in San Francisco politics.)

Old comments surfaced from Collins, in which she stated Asian Americans used "white supremacist" thinking to get ahead and were racist toward Black students. She apologized, then sued the school district and five fellow board members, seeking $87 million in damages, for removing her title as vice president. A judge summarily rejected the case.

All of which was too much for this famously tolerant city as students struggled with distance learning and public schools remained closed even as schools in neighboring communities reopened.

Inclusion, sensitivity and righting history's wrongs are all well and good. But there was a strong sense that "we are not getting the basics right," as Siva Raj, a father of two who helped launch the recall effort, put it.

He and others would have tried to remove all seven members of the board, but only the three who were targeted were eligible for recall. The others have not served long enough.

It is foolish — and one of the bad habits of political prognosticators — to overinterpret the results of any one election. To be clear, San Francisco hasn't changed. A city that gave Joe Biden 85% support won’t be voting Republican in the lifetime of any adult within sight of Coit Tower.

But the results are noteworthy precisely because the recall took place in liberal San Francisco. It's not a case of pro-Trumpers seeking to ban books, or of conservatives stirring up unfounded concerns over critical race theory being introduced into grade schools. Parents of all political stripes have emerged as one of the most potent forces in campaigns and elections today, and woe to anyone seen as standing in the way of their kids' education.

Liesl Hickey, a veteran GOP strategist, is calling 2022 the year of the angry K-12 parent.

"They are mad," Hickey told the Cook Political Report's Amy Walter, "and they want to hold someone accountable."

That's what bodes poorly for President Biden and his fellow Democrats.

Midterm elections are almost always a referendum on the party in power, and the voters most likely to turn out are those who are angry and wish to make known their discontent.

Public schools may be back to regular business by the fall. Inflation may be tamed, and store shelves and car showrooms may be brimming with the inventory they now lack.

But it's a good bet that parents won't be forgiving or forgetting what's taken place over the last two plague years, and in that way San Francisco's recall election may be the early rumblings of a much larger shake-up to come.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

  • Facepalm 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Democrats have lurched left (particularly on social issues) and Republicans have managed to lurch even farther to the right, leaving an opening from center left to center right (generally speaking) - most people are not truly "center" on everything, they are simply a mix of right and left depending on the issue.  The GOP has gone so far right that the Democrats literally could have their way for a decade or more simply by being "not insane," but are squandering the opportunity.  And this little school board skirmish in SF is a perfect example of that.  Like the article says - that area will go 85% or more for Democrats in House, Senate or Presidential election still.  These parents didn't suddenly become MAGA.  But people push too far on the wrong things and folks get ticked, especially when it affects their kids.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The extremes on both sides have been migrating further out for years. Hopefully this will eventually bring the sane folks from both sides more towards the center. Maybe then we'll get some decent candidates and can make a difference. Right now though, it seems those folks in the relative center are content just watching in awe as the crazy from both sides dominate the media platforms. At some point they'll have to at least try and mobilize. 

  • Like 1
  • Facepalm 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, TitanTiger said:

Democrats have lurched left (particularly on social issues) and Republicans have managed to lurch even farther to the right, leaving an opening from center left to center right (generally speaking) - most people are not truly "center" on everything, they are simply a mix of right and left depending on the issue.  The GOP has gone so far right that the Democrats literally could have their way for a decade or more simply by being "not insane," but are squandering the opportunity.  And this little school board skirmish in SF is a perfect example of that.  Like the article says - that area will go 85% or more for Democrats in House, Senate or Presidential election still.  These parents didn't suddenly become MAGA.  But people push too far on the wrong things and folks get ticked, especially when it affects their kids.

Ditto

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This wokeness is causing non- political people to be staunch Republican. It’s causing reasonable democrats to no longer be democrats by definition of “reasonable”. The defending democrats are insane, evil or too proud to admit they are fallible. They just can’t let go of the addiction of this false virtue that’s programmed in them. 

  • Like 4
  • Facepalm 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/18/2022 at 9:34 AM, TitanTiger said:

Democrats have lurched left (particularly on social issues) and Republicans have managed to lurch even farther to the right, leaving an opening from center left to center right (generally speaking) - most people are not truly "center" on everything, they are simply a mix of right and left depending on the issue.  The GOP has gone so far right that the Democrats literally could have their way for a decade or more simply by being "not insane," but are squandering the opportunity.  And this little school board skirmish in SF is a perfect example of that.  Like the article says - that area will go 85% or more for Democrats in House, Senate or Presidential election still.  These parents didn't suddenly become MAGA.  But people push too far on the wrong things and folks get ticked, especially when it affects their kids.

I am genuinely confused when people say that Republicans have moved to the right.  I found Ronald Reagan's campaign platform from 1980 online, over 40 years ago, and it pretty much looks to me like the Republican platform now.

Can you expand on your characterization of the Republican party moving to the right?  How so?

  • Like 2
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

58 minutes ago, Shoney'sPonyBoy said:

I am genuinely confused when people say that Republicans have moved to the right.  I found Ronald Reagan's campaign platform from 1980 online, over 40 years ago, and it pretty much looks to me like the Republican platform now.

Can you expand on your characterization of the Republican party moving to the right?  How so?

They have no justification for that statement.  They just say that because the know the left has gone off the rails and they are trying to justify their asinine choices

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/18/2022 at 7:44 AM, DKW 86 said:
LA Times

Column: From liberal San Francisco, school board recall is a three-alarm warning for Democrats

San Francisco is quite familiar with earthquakes, and what happened Tuesday — the ouster of three extreme lefties from the Board of Education — was not one of those.

Earthquakes are sudden and unexpected. The result of Tuesday’s recall was neither.

The removal of board President Gabriela López and members Faauuga Moliga and Alison Collins was destined the moment the city’s liberal establishment, led by Mayor London Breed, joined the effort along with several discontented millionaires, who threw in loads of cash.

- ADVERTISEMENT -What happened Tuesday was more a foreshock, a warning — as if Democrats needed any more of those — that November’s midterm elections could be very bad indeed, as parents unsettled by two years of pandemic-related upheaval vent their frustrations at the polls.

The circumstances of the recall were both unique and broadly reflective.

In a place that prides itself on social justice and forward thinking, members of the school board outdid themselves by moving to strip the names of, among others, Presidents Washington and Lincoln and Sen. Dianne Feinstein from 44 public schools.

The intent was to remediate the country's history of injustices: George Washington owned slaves, Abraham Lincoln oversaw the slaughter of Native Americans, and Feinstein, as mayor in 1984, replaced a Confederate flag that had been vandalized at City Hall with a new one. The result was outrage.

In another instance of misplaced priorities, board members spent hours debating whether a father who was white and gay brought sufficient diversity to a parental advisory committee. His appointment was ultimately nixed, but there was no recovering the time that was wasted.

Perhaps most antagonizing, the board moved to end merit-based admissions to Lowell High School, one of the city's most sacred institutions, where Asian American students are the majority. (The move catalyzed the district's Asian American community, long an important force in San Francisco politics.)

Old comments surfaced from Collins, in which she stated Asian Americans used "white supremacist" thinking to get ahead and were racist toward Black students. She apologized, then sued the school district and five fellow board members, seeking $87 million in damages, for removing her title as vice president. A judge summarily rejected the case.

All of which was too much for this famously tolerant city as students struggled with distance learning and public schools remained closed even as schools in neighboring communities reopened.

Inclusion, sensitivity and righting history's wrongs are all well and good. But there was a strong sense that "we are not getting the basics right," as Siva Raj, a father of two who helped launch the recall effort, put it.

He and others would have tried to remove all seven members of the board, but only the three who were targeted were eligible for recall. The others have not served long enough.

It is foolish — and one of the bad habits of political prognosticators — to overinterpret the results of any one election. To be clear, San Francisco hasn't changed. A city that gave Joe Biden 85% support won’t be voting Republican in the lifetime of any adult within sight of Coit Tower.

But the results are noteworthy precisely because the recall took place in liberal San Francisco. It's not a case of pro-Trumpers seeking to ban books, or of conservatives stirring up unfounded concerns over critical race theory being introduced into grade schools. Parents of all political stripes have emerged as one of the most potent forces in campaigns and elections today, and woe to anyone seen as standing in the way of their kids' education.

Liesl Hickey, a veteran GOP strategist, is calling 2022 the year of the angry K-12 parent.

"They are mad," Hickey told the Cook Political Report's Amy Walter, "and they want to hold someone accountable."

That's what bodes poorly for President Biden and his fellow Democrats.

Midterm elections are almost always a referendum on the party in power, and the voters most likely to turn out are those who are angry and wish to make known their discontent.

Public schools may be back to regular business by the fall. Inflation may be tamed, and store shelves and car showrooms may be brimming with the inventory they now lack.

But it's a good bet that parents won't be forgiving or forgetting what's taken place over the last two plague years, and in that way San Francisco's recall election may be the early rumblings of a much larger shake-up to come.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Let’s be honest about this situation.  The left has snuggled up to communist ideology.  One of the uglier aspects of communism is children don’t belong to parents, they belong to the state.  Thankfully, some of those parents “woke up” and saw they are not ready for full blown Marxism 

  • Like 2
  • Haha 1
  • Dislike 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Shoney'sPonyBoy said:

I am genuinely confused when people say that Republicans have moved to the right.  I found Ronald Reagan's campaign platform from 1980 online, over 40 years ago, and it pretty much looks to me like the Republican platform now.

Can you expand on your characterization of the Republican party moving to the right?  How so?

What Republican platform?

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, homersapien said:

What Republican platform?

 

If there's no platform, how can it have "lurched so far right," that blah, blah, blah?

If we're not talking about policies, what are we talking about?

Edited by Shoney'sPonyBoy
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

51 minutes ago, Shoney'sPonyBoy said:

If there's no platform, how can it have "lurched so far right," that blah, blah, blah?

If we're not talking about policies, what are we talking about?

Their activities and statements. :-\

Otherwise, can you provide me their current platform which lists actual policies?  (Grievances are not policies.)

 

Edited by homersapien
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, homersapien said:

By their activities. :-\

Otherwise, can you provide me their current platform which lists actual policies?

 

What "activities?"

I didn't make a claim one way or the other about whether they had a platform.  You did.

  • Facepalm 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Shoney'sPonyBoy said:

If there's no platform, how can it have "lurched so far right," that blah, blah, blah?

If we're not talking about policies, what are we talking about?

Spoiler alert - he doesn’t know🤣🤣🤣

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Shoney'sPonyBoy said:

What "activities?"

I didn't make a claim one way or the other about whether they had a platform.  You did.

First and foremost, supporting a would be authoritarian for President as well as far right political groups such as neo-nazis.

Secondly, all of the reactionary positions - white grievances - to realities such as racism in our country.

Thirdly, a myriad of issues to favor the wealthy and moneyed special interests, such as opposition to medical care as a human right.

And perhaps most of all, trying to suppress voting by minorities.

Here's some good articles discussing this:

https://rollcall.com/2020/12/16/four-decades-and-counting-the-gop-shift-to-the-right-is-bigger-than-the-democrats-shift-left/

Four decades and counting — the GOP’s shift to the right is bigger than the Democrats’ shift left

Republican critics of the progressive “squad” are quick to ignore their own lunatic right

 

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-republican-party-has-changed-dramatically-since-george-h-w-bush-ran-it/

The Republican Party Has Changed Dramatically Since George H.W. Bush Ran It

 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/03/15/what-is-happening-to-the-republicans

What Is Happening to the Republicans?

In becoming the party of Trump, the G.O.P. confronts the kind of existential crisis that has destroyed American parties in the past.
 
 
 

Political Scientist: Republicans Most Conservative They've Been In 100 Years

 

Edited by homersapien
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...