ChrisWeigant.com

GOP Sees Education As Major Culture War Issue For 2022

[ Posted Tuesday, January 25th, 2022 – 18:02 UTC ]

Republicans, fresh off an upset victory in the Virginia governor's race, are planning to make education a major political issue in the midterm elections. Democrats are going to need to come up with some way of fighting back if they're going to have any chance in November. But so far, Democrats seem to be on the defensive, without a coherent strategy of what the party stands for or how they're going to present it to the public.

It seems obvious that the COVID-19 pandemic is the heart of the issue, at least right now. That could change, but that's what brought the issue into the realm of politics in the first place. When the nation locked down, schoolchildren began learning remotely on a scale never before seen. Practically, this meant that parents got a much closer look at what and how their children were being taught. Add to this the fake rage the Republicans have already been feeding over "Critical Race Theory" and you can see why the GOP thinks it is such a potent issue for them right now. It certainly seemed to work wonders in Virginia, after all.

The biggest fights right now are happening over in-person learning, masks, and vaccines. At the start of the pandemic, it made sense to everyone to just cancel whole semesters or whole school years. This put an enormous strain on parents. Nobody really wants to see a return to such long periods of children not being in school anymore. So pretty much across the political spectrum, politicians have been pushing schools to stay open no matter what the current state of the pandemic is. It probably would have made a lot more sense to close schools down for a few weeks this month as the Omicron wave swamped America, but that hasn't happened except in a relatively few places. A few weeks isn't the same as a whole semester, but this point kind of got lost in the fray -- when people heard "remote learning" they assumed it would mean "for the rest of the school year, once again," which didn't need to be the case at all.

What is happening in the schools right now is disastrous, at least in the short term. The school year has essentially ground to a halt for millions of students. School districts resolutely stay open (so as to not anger parents and politicians), but so many teachers and support staff have tested positive that absences have brought the system to a sort of internal collapse. Students go to school, find out that half their teachers are quarantining and that there simply are no substitute teachers left to cover the absences, so they are herded into gymnasiums or lunchrooms or assembly halls where they sit for hours with no instruction at all. And because there's only one room large enough for them, multiple classes sit together -- increasing the likelihood of the pandemic spreading even further among them.

The only people pointing out the ridiculousness of what the schools are doing to proudly claim they are still achieving in-person learning is the teachers themselves, but they don't have much support these days. Many of the politicians and school boards the teachers are currently fighting against are Democrats. Democrats see remote learning as a big political liability for them, so they're now solidly on the side of in-person learning, no matter what.

To be sure, this is a temporary situation. Eventually the Omicron peak will pass and the spread of sickness will abate. In a few weeks, things might return to roughly where they were before anyone had learned to pronounce the word "omicron" in the first place. That will solve the warehousing of students in gyms and lunchrooms, because enough teachers will be back to allow the schools to actually function again.

But the battles over masks and vaccines aren't likely to end any time soon. If the pandemic does truly turn into an epidemic -- a disease like the yearly flu that we all just live normally with -- then the question of masks may become moot. But states are going to have to decide whether to add COVID-19 to the list of mandatory vaccinations for all children before the next school year begins (which will happen right in the middle of the midterm campaign season). Even some blue states are pretty wary about taking this step right now, given the rise of the anti-vaccine movement. It would make perfect sense to add COVID to the list, since there are already multiple diseases that children have to be vaccinated against to attend school in every state in the Union. But the other vaccines haven't given rise to an angry political movement (of any notable size, I should say -- there have always been "anti-vaxxers," even before COVID). So it's quite likely that red states and the more timid blue states won't mandate the vaccine, which will be a triumph for the anti-science crowd. And unlike masks or remote learning, even if the pandemic has largely been put in the rearview mirror by the summer, mandatory vaccinations for students will likely still be a political issue in the fall in at least some places.

All of those political battles, though, are tangential to the actual education schoolchildren are receiving, which is going to be a much tougher fight. What most today don't realize is that the backlash we are seeing now was the result of the education industry reforming itself -- a process that has taken decades.

Over 10 years ago, I read a book written by James W. Loewen titled Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. It was an eye-opening read because the author showed how multiple historical examples weren't just being ignored by history textbooks, but were actually being taught wrongly. The true history completely contradicted what most schoolchildren learned, to put this another way. Each chapter showcased a different example, comparing how the subject was taught to the historical reality of the situation. Two that still stand out in my mind were the first Thanksgiving and the life of Helen Keller (which I wrote about with examples from Loewen's book back in 2009). On issue after issue, Loewen pointed out how the reality was far different than the way it was portrayed in schoolbooks, and he offered advice for how the texts should really treat such subjects.

It's a fascinating book, and Loewen and other textbook reformers actually made significant progress in getting the textbook companies to take a very hard look at the way they presented American history to children at different ages. Revised editions of textbooks then appeared with dramatically different treatment of these issues. Groups that had been left out of the storyline started to be included. Subjects that had been glossed over or ignored were given more prominence. Today's schoolchildren are taught a much wider perspective than you or I ever got in class.

But what that also means is that children are now being taught things differently than how their own parents learned them. Flaws in the American experiment are no longer conveniently omitted or swept under the carpet. Children learn something a lot closer to the truth. But change is scary, especially when it seems to parents (who learned a much-more-sanitized version of the country's history) that the new textbooks are somehow overcritical of the entire concept of America.

Nowhere is this more acute than on racial subjects. Instead of children's entire education about the history of Black Americans consisting of brief mentions of Crispus Attucks, Dred Scott, and Martin Luther King Junior, they are now given a lot more historical figures to learn about. But this also runs counter to how their parents learned about race in America. The old storyline kids were taught about American history is that we started with a lofty ideal that we really didn't quite live up to, and then over time people struggled and overcame obstacles and improvements were made until today -- when all the problems have been solved as we now live in a "more perfect Union." No steps backwards were ever taken, the good guys always won in the end, and the progress was continual and indeed almost inevitable. The pioneers of all this change are to be revered now, but further progress is simply not necessary because America is such a perfect place now.

Perhaps I'm overstating that, but not by much. And when you learn history like that, it's a shock when you are presented with actual history which contradicts such a facile interpretation. And it's beyond shocking to find out that children today are being taught that some of these struggles are not yet over and that America still has a ways to go to reach any sort of post-racial ideal society.

Republicans have latched onto a label to express their disapproval of all of this. Critical Race Theory is not actually being taught in any high school, junior high, or elementary school in America. It's just not. It's a subject for graduate-level study in colleges. But they've misappropriated the term and have successfully redefined it to mean: "anything schoolchildren are taught that might make White students or their parents uncomfortable in any way." And that is not an exaggeration, sadly. From the text of a law the Florida senate is now considering: "[a student] should not be made to feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race." This is more than a little Orwellian, when you get right down to it, since it would force teachers to filter all of history so that nobody feels any discomfort by any of it -- which seems an impossible task, really. Somebody's going to be offended at just about everything in American history, after all.

Republicans are counting on that fact. They see education and schools and textbooks (and, increasingly, what books are allowed on the school library shelves) as prime culture war subjects to be exploited. House Republicans are reportedly trying to put together some sort of party platform to run on this year (with Newt Gingrich's help) and a big part of it already is what they're calling a "Parents' Bill Of Rights." Democrats, so far, have been caught flatfooted by all of this.

If Democrats don't start planning for this ideological onslaught, they're going to be caught flatfooted in the midterms, too. Republicans are on the attack, and Democrats are not exactly manning the barricades yet. They haven't coalesced around a good defense of their positions, and they're even now in agreement with Republicans that all schools should always stay open no matter how bad the pandemic is raging.

All I can say is that they better get their act together soon. Republicans aren't making any secret about what they intend to do. They're going to paint Democrats as being against "parents' rights" and against common sense. They're going to paint Democrats as being elitists who are completely out of touch with parents everywhere. They're going to accuse Democrats of indoctrinating children with all sorts of frightening concepts -- all of which are "un-American" or "anti-American." Democrats cannot afford to ignore these growing fights. But from what I've seen so far, for the most part they're treating them much like the old schoolbooks used to treat uncomfortable subjects -- by not talking about them at all.

-- Chris Weigant

 

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

 

47 Comments on “GOP Sees Education As Major Culture War Issue For 2022”

  1. [1] 
    nypoet22 wrote:

    Thank you for addressing this issue, Chris. Neoliberal hypocrisy on education has been a glaring wart on the Democratic platform for over twenty years. I guess it just took a pandemic to make conservatives realize it's a hypocrisy they can exploit.

  2. [2] 
    Elizabeth Miller wrote:

    I am starting to think that there are no good solutions for America and Americans.

  3. [3] 
    Elizabeth Miller wrote:

    And, that, my friends, makes me very sad.

  4. [4] 
    nypoet22 wrote:

    Well, for education there's a very rational solution, which of course has zero political force behind it. Have a science-based plan for schools to transition between remote and in person learning, so each principal has the flexibility to go back and forth, as needed. It's as if Democrats watched trump deny the facts of the pandemic, then decided once they got in power to do the Exact. Same. Thing.

  5. [5] 
    Elizabeth Miller wrote:

    Yeah, it's the 'zero political force' that I was talking about and the fact that a huge percentage of voters are part of the problem.

    I don't see a way out, given that context.

  6. [6] 
    nypoet22 wrote:

    mass strikes and boycotts, maybe. the root of the problem is economic, that's one thing don has never been wrong about.

  7. [7] 
    MtnCaddy wrote:

    Again CW, the party out of power ALWAYS wins VA and usually wins NJ. BIDEN is the first newly elected President since Saint Ronnie to only lose one of those two Governorships.

    Having said that, the Repugs are once again demonstrating that APPEALING TO EMOTION is how to win elections. The Dems seemingly think that a faculty lounge discussion of how to fix poverty etc. just don't resonate with the voters. One would think that the Dems would have figured this out by now, and IMO their collective failure to do so is why I remain convinced that the Dem's seeming ineptitude is a calculated ploy to pretend they're not as equally aligned with Big Money as are the Repugs.

    It's a pity that Don Harris isn't still alive.

  8. [8] 
    BashiBazouk wrote:

    A side benefit to Michale that ol' Don is drowned out?

    I haven't stopped in my scroll down through the deluge to read his posts. Anyone else?

  9. [9] 
    nypoet22 wrote:

    read one, read 'em all. too demanding, not enough pie.

  10. [10] 
    BashiBazouk wrote:

    In all school boards that try to ban books, demand the Bible be banned as well. It pretty much is a compendium of just about every reason given to ban these other books, and not always in moral lessons.

  11. [11] 
    Elizabeth Miller wrote:

    Joshua[6],

    True.

  12. [12] 
    Elizabeth Miller wrote:

    JOshua[9],

    Indeed.

  13. [13] 
    Elizabeth Miller wrote:

    JOshua[9],

    read one, read 'em all. too demanding, not enough pie.

    Indeed.

  14. [14] 
    MtnCaddy wrote:

    Naw, EM, it's premature to think that all is lost for the Dems/Murica. Here's why:

    *Churchill was right about us Yanks, "You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing after they have tried everything else.”

    *Reality may take its sweet time but in the end reality ALWAYS wins out. The TDS folk (why do they think a know-nothing New York douchebag is the answer to Murica's problems?)

  15. [15] 
    andygaus wrote:

    Maybe the start of a counter-message could be, "School is supposed to open a kid's eyes. The Republicans are trying to pass laws that will close a kid's eyes and keep them closed."

  16. [16] 
    Michale wrote:

    WOW...

    Looks like a commentary I might actually read..

    But, to old business first.. :D

    Michale
    This is what I don't get about your support for the Democrat Party..

    They hate cops... For me, that's a deal breaker.. I could not support a Party that hated on cops as a party platform..

    Russ
    Says the guy blaaa blaaaa blaaaa

    So, you actually have NO EXPLAINATION for why you support a Party *WHOSE ACTUAL POLICY PLATFORM* is DEFUND, DEMONIZE, DEMORALIZE THE POLICE...

    So, I guess we just chalk it up to rank hypocrisy.. A defining characteristic of a Democrat.. :eyeroll:

    Michale
    I dunno.. Maybe it's because I was actually a cop who patrolled the streets...

    Russ
    Yeah, in the same delusional world where Trump won the election!

    Yes.. Trump won the election in 2016.. So, yes, I patrolled the streets as a cop..

    BOTH facts are reality.. Thank you for acknowledging that reality...

    My Public Safety (LEO/FSO/MILITARY/SECURITY) bona fides are well established over a decade ago by none other than the late CW himself...

    The ONLY reason you call them into question is because you have absolutely NO FACTS to explain why you hypocritically support a Party that has a HATE COPS platform...

    Yer flailing, Russ.. I get that.. 'S ok...

    "The cause was sufficient"
    -Surak Of Vulcan

  17. [17] 
    Michale wrote:

    Liz,

    I am unsure as to what your point is..

    Shocking. Positively shocking.

    I would be ever so grateful if you could clarify it for me.. :D

  18. [18] 
    Michale wrote:

    Education is a KILLER platform for the GOP because the Democrat Party has absolutely ZERO way to fight the GOP on it...

    At least Democrats don't have a way to fight it that DOESN'T make the Democrats look like anti-America, anti-children racists...

  19. [19] 
    Michale wrote:

    JL,

    Well, for education there's a very rational solution, which of course has zero political force behind it. Have a science-based plan for schools to transition between remote and in person learning, so each principal has the flexibility to go back and forth, as needed.

    The problem for Democrats is they have established that there is REAL science.. And then there is Democrat "science"..

    So, in the minds of the Democrats they are using a 'science based' program..

    It's just based on Democrat "science" and not real actual reality science...

    It's as if Democrats watched trump deny the facts of the pandemic, then decided once they got in power to do the Exact. Same. Thing.

    Lemme help ya out here.. :D

    Hypocrisy.. It's not a bug in Democrat programming. It's a feature.

  20. [20] 
    Michale wrote:

    Liz,

    I am starting to think that there are no good solutions for America and Americans.

    Sure there is.. We saw ALL the good solutions during the President Trump years...

    It's only when Democrats took over that all the bad solutions started..

    I mean, just imagine how much GOOD President Trump could have accomplished and how AWESOME this country would be today if Democrats had not spent all those years bringing up BS after BS after BS and actually worked WITH President Trump for the good of the country..

    We would be living in a utopian society today if Democrats were AMERICANS first and Democrats second..

    If Democrats actually cared MORE for their country than they cared for their ideology...

    Mmmmmm Paradise...

  21. [21] 
    Michale wrote:

    @cad

    Naw, EM, it's premature to think that all is lost for the Dems/Murica. Here's why:

    That's what I like about you cad... Your complete ability to ignore reality and live in that dream world of your own making.. :D

    You and I are going to have a LOT of fun come 9 Nov 22... :D

    "When this is over.. You and me are going to go round and round."
    -Tom Cruise, TAPS

    :D

  22. [22] 
    Michale wrote:

    @andygaus,

    Maybe the start of a counter-message could be, "School is supposed to open a kid's eyes. The Republicans are trying to pass laws that will close a kid's eyes and keep them closed."

    The problem with that counter-message is that, like ALL other Democrat messages....

    It has no factual basis in reality..

    The reality is, in education, the Republicans want to give to children the right to decide the WHY...

    Democrats want to force the WHY on children.. And Democrats WHY is based solely on their racist ideology..

    Let's face reality here, dood..

    The Democrat Party was founded on racism... And the racism is well established in today's Democrat Party as well..

  23. [23] 
    Michale wrote:

    DH,

    Funny how commenters seem to disagree with me when I am commenting but seem to agree with me when they think I might not be be commenting. :D

    One of the quirks of Weigantia™ :D

    Or, more likely, just one more indication of Democrat hypocrisy...

    Hypocrisy.. It's not a bug in Democrat programming. It's a feature.

  24. [24] 
    Michale wrote:

    Looks like a commentary I might actually read..

    Nope.. Couldn't bring myself to do it..

  25. [25] 
    Michale wrote:

    https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2022/01/918/516/Political-Cartoon.jpg?ve=1&tl=1

    This is exactly why Democrats are losing so bad...

    This is exactly why I simply cannot understand Russ' support for the Democrat Party..

    For me, a cop who has actually been there and done that, that would be a deal breaker for me..

    It SHOULD be a deal breaker for ANYONE who claims to support cops...

    If it's NOT a deal breaker, then it's clear that people don't really actually support cops..

    Yea, yea, yea... Ignorant yahoos will point to 6 Jan... An isolated incident where Democrats were able to find a few cops to be on their side.. There are ALWAYS those political based cops who will betray the uniform and put politics before their brother/sister cops..

    But if one actually talked to the vast majority of USCP cops, they would learn that the vast majority of USCP cops blame the DEMOCRATS for 6 Jan..

    It was the DEMOCRATS who would not provide the USCP cops the proper backup..

    It was the DEMOCRATS who throw cops under the bus on a continuous basis...

    6 Jan was one single isolated incident of which Democrats share more blame than the GOP..

    DEFUND, DEMONIZE, DEMORALIZE THE POLICE is a Democrat Party Platform..

    Equating the two is a sign of a weak mind with no valid argument..

    How do we know this?? Because these same people who make the comparison support TWENTY TWO YEARS of BLM and AntiFa riots where TENS OF THOUSANDS of cops were injured..

    Where was ya'all's support for cops then??? Ya'all only support LEOs when it's politically advantageous to do so.. If it's not to ya'all's political advantage?? LEOs are thrown under the bus...

    Anyone who supports the Democrat Party and claim they support cops is lying.. Pure and simple..

    It's like claiming one supports god and Mark Pellegrino.. It's not possible..

    You either support cops or you support the Democrat Party...

    And everyone here obviously supports the Democrat Party..

  26. [26] 
    Michale wrote:

    @cad

    Again CW, the party out of power ALWAYS wins VA and usually wins NJ.

    Not factually accurate.. There are cite-able instances where the Party in power was Democrat and a Democrat won Virginia..

    BIDEN is the first newly elected President since Saint Ronnie

    That's Saint Reagan to you..

    to only lose one of those two Governorships.

    Again, not factually accurate..

    Jeeeze, cad.. Do you ever do ANY research???

  27. [27] 
    Michale wrote:

    @Bashi,

    A side benefit to Michale

    Awwwww you say the sweetest things, Bash... :D

  28. [28] 
    Michale wrote:

    Democrats need to face reality..

    Education is a losing platform for the Democrat Party...

    The GOP has captured the moral, ethical and legal high ground... And it's unassailable..

    For Democrats continuing to assault the hill will simply show the country how impotent they are..

    So, by all means, Democrats..

    Continue... :D

  29. [29] 
    Michale wrote:

    Since Affirmative Action and CRT are closely related....

    Both require racism to function...

    This would be considered on topic..

    Affirmative Action Could Soon Be Overturned As Supreme Court Takes Up Harvard And UNC Cases

    The U.S. Supreme Court will hear cases challenging Harvard University and the University of North Carolina (UNC)’s affirmative action policies that take race into account for admissions, the court announced Monday, which could potentially overturn the decades-old practice of affirmative action and threaten gains in diversity at colleges and universities nationwide.
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/01/24/affirmative-action-could-soon-be-overturned-as-supreme-court-takes-up-harvard-and-unc-cases/?sh=215752364ce0

    Like Roe V Wade, Affirmative Action is on the chopping block..

    Both of their days are numbered..

    A necessary step on the path to a truly equal merit based society..

  30. [30] 
    Michale wrote:

    The Supreme Court has repeatedly held up affirmative action in the past, but there are fears it will now be overturned given the court’s 6-3 conservative majority. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have already ruled against affirmative action in the past, as has Chief Justice John Roberts, who once wrote, “It is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race.”

    Once again, the short-sightedness of the Democrat Party rears it's ugly head..

    Reid's actions truly has created a transformational SCOTUS and put this country well along on the path to a truly equal society...

  31. [31] 
    Michale wrote:

    The Trump Administration had strongly backed the case against Harvard, filing a brief in support of SFFA in 2018 when the case was at a lower court and filing separate affirmative action complaints against Yale University that the Biden Administration later dropped. William Cosovoy, the lead attorney for SFFA, has represented former President Donald Trump in private lawsuits concerning the release of his tax returns. The Biden administration, however, told the Supreme Court in December it should not take up the Harvard case, arguing the lower court rulings that upheld the school’s policy were decided correctly and the case is an “unsuitable vehicle” for the court to overturn its previous affirmative action rulings.

    BBBWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    The Biden administration, however, told the Supreme Court in December it should not take up the Harvard case,

    BBBWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

    And what was the SCOTUS' response?? :D

    A BIG mighty FRAK YOU, accompanied by the bird and the SCOTUS takes the case.. :D

    Way to go Joe Biden... Way to continue to show yer impotence...

    It's no wonder Putin knows he can waltz into Ukraine..

    China is going to invade Taiwan next...

  32. [32] 
    Michale wrote:

    GRrrrrrrr... I guess that National & Review bug in Weigantia™ still has not been fixed...

    JL,

    Since we're now firmly entrenched in Education, we can revisit our discussion on The 1619 Project...

    The 1619 False-History Project

    Imagine a Native American history curriculum that focused entirely on four massacres of Natives by whites — beginning with the first encounter between Spanish conquistadores and the Inca emperor Atahualpa and culminating with Wounded Knee — and never touched on American Indian life before 1491, the many Native military victories, or the roughly 5.2 million Natives alive in the U.S. today. Would anyone see this as truly representative, or useful to students of any race, or worth teaching in the schools?
    https://tinyurl.com/3kwxh44a

    Exactly this...

    1619 is as much a factual representation of history as the bible... :eyeroll:

  33. [33] 
    Michale wrote:

    The 1619 Project, from the New York Times, must face the same questions. The project focuses on casting the era of historical slavery as an alternative founding for the United States, with its authors arguing that slavery was responsible for nearly everything that “truly made America exceptional.” Slavery, they write, was the primary reason for the Revolu­tionary War and was responsible for much or most of early American wealth, building “vast fortunes for white people North and South” and making “New York City the financial capital of the world.” {emphasis mine} Multiple 1619 essays, by Nikole Hannah-Jones and others, attribute to historical slavery and racism everything from the competitive capitalism of the U.S. to contemporary patterns of traffic. Slavery, in this narrative, is both the American original sin and the source of all our baraka — everything that makes this a unique and desirable country.

    This is exactly why 1619 is garbage as an actual non-fictional history book..

    It outright LIES about the history of the US with a HUGE racist ideological rant..

  34. [34] 
    C. R. Stucki wrote:

    Re "Threaten gains in diversity at colleges and universities nation-wide." (Michale)

    What "diversity"??? In the age of PC, the only "diversity" at colleges and universities is the one that hardly counts (cosmetic)! There is zero diversity of thought or opinion on campuses today!

  35. [35] 
    Michale wrote:

    The 1619 essays almost universally ignore or minimize four critical pieces of context that any unbiased school curriculum would include. These are the truly global prevalence of slavery and similar barbaric practices until quite recently; the detrimental economic impact of the Peculiar Institution on the South and on the American national economy; the nuanced but deeply patriotic perspectives on the United States expressed by the black and white leaders of the victorious anti-slavery movement that existed alongside slavery; and the reality that much of American history in fact had nothing to do with this particular issue. Not teaching about slavery or Jim Crow segregation in schools would be a deeply immoral act of omission, but it is almost equally bizarre to define these decades-past regional sins as the main through-line of American history.

    yup... aye-yup.. yup...

    A frequent go-to for the racist Left is to claim that the Right doesn't want to teach US history..

    This is not factually accurate..

    EVERYONE wants to teach US history.. It SHOULD be taught..

    But only the FACTS should be taught.. The facts, completely devoid of ANY ideological slant, let alone a ideological RACIST slant...

    As I have stated before.. Schools should (age appropriately) teach children the WHO, the WHAT, the WHEN and the WHERE only...

    Let the children make the determination of WHY on their own.. And let the children decide what the WHY means to them and their place in today's society..

    THAT is education...

    Democrats want to force a specific ideology down the children's throats.. A specific AND racist ideology..

    THAT is indoctrination...

    And THAT is why Education will always be a losing platform for the Democrat Party..

    They have made their indoctrinating ideological racist bed and there is NO WAY they can remake the bed to be sleep-able for the American people...

  36. [36] 
    Michale wrote:

    Each of these themes merits more discussion. The first is the simplest to lay out: Bluntly, while often treated as some kind of unique American foundational curse, chattel slavery — and such similar abuses as the brutal mistreatment of battle captives — was almost universal on earth until the past few centuries, as Dan McLaughlin explains in detail elsewhere in this issue. The practice was commonplace across ancient societies, including Greece and Rome, with Aristotle defending “natural slavery,” and social scientists describing it as the step of human development after people had stopped simply killing and eating their defeated foes.

    This raises a good point.. Long after the US began on the road to equality for the races, slavery was still alive and well all over the world..

    It's funny how the Left Wing totally ignores this fact..

    Even today, there are slavery-esque aspects in China.. Yet many on the Left cozy up to China for financial and economic gain..

    Where is the condemnation from the Left over this??

    Which simply points to one inescapable conclusion..

    It's ALL about Party ideology.. False claims of racism is simply a means to an end..

    We'll call it the Jussie Smollet effect...

  37. [37] 
    Michale wrote:

    Well, this is it.. If this is to be my final post..

    It's been fun.. :D

    Michale

  38. [38] 
    Elizabeth Miller wrote:

    Don,

    I really think you'd be surprised by how much many of us actually agree with the core theme of your comments.

    I can remember when the ONLY thing I disagreed with was the name of your cause. Remember? I didn't like 'Voucher Vendetta' at all, thought it didn't have much meaning - for me, at least. 'One Demand' is even too wide open to interpretation, funnily enough.

    Now, don't get me wrong ... the name is only an extraneous issue which can easily be overcome. The real problem that I see with your efforts here, as always, has everything to do strategy and method.

  39. [39] 
    Elizabeth Miller wrote:

    Michale,

    Why would this be your final post?

    Did I, ah, miss something? :D

    Well, if it is, there is always the CW Sunday Night Music Festival and Dance Party. The fun will start up again after the Pro Bowl.

    So, be here for that... or, ya know, be square!

  40. [40] 
    Elizabeth Miller wrote:

    Michale,

    I would be ever so grateful if you could clarify it for me.. :D

    Sadly, I really believe you do need clarification.

    But, I would enjoy your musical selections, anyways, so ...

  41. [41] 
    Elizabeth Miller wrote:

    Michale,

    Well, this is it.. If this is to be my final post..It's been fun.. :D

    Well, look on the bright side, my friend (that's my new motto for 2022, you know) ...

    ...you know damn well that you won't be forgotten. If you know what I mean and I'm pretty sure you do. I won't mention any names, we all know who they are. Heh.

    Of course, if you need clarification, you know where to find me!

  42. [42] 
    Elizabeth Miller wrote:

    Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-it!

    Let's try that one again, for clarification. Ahem.

    Michale wrote,

    Well, this is it.. If this is to be my final post..It's been fun.. :D

    Well, look on the bright side, my friend (that's my new motto for 2022, you know) ...

    ...you know damn well that you won't be forgotten. If you know what I mean and I'm pretty sure you do. I won't mention any names, we all know who they are. Heh.

    Of course, if you need clarification, you know where to find me!

  43. [43] 
    Elizabeth Miller wrote:

    Hey, Chris!

    Sometimes the columns just write themselves, eh? Well, the headline, anyways.

    Looking forward to it!!!

  44. [44] 
    BashiBazouk wrote:

    Liz,

    Michale mentioned something about an operation "next month" when he first returned...

  45. [45] 
    Elizabeth Miller wrote:

    Oh, my!

    Well, I hope that goes well.

    He knows I wish him all the very best ...

  46. [46] 
    MtnCaddy wrote:

    Here, for your dining and dancing pleasure, is Betty Bowers, "America's Best Christian" to lend her perspective.

  47. [47] 
    ListenWhenYouHear wrote:

    So, you actually have NO EXPLAINATION for why you support a Party *WHOSE ACTUAL POLICY PLATFORM* is DEFUND, DEMONIZE, DEMORALIZE THE POLICE...

    Seeing how that is not the Democrats’ “actual policy platform”, there is nothing to explain. (Hint: When you repeatedly use all caps and bold to say something over and over in your posts — it’s bullshat!)

    It was the DEMOCRATS who would not provide the USCP cops the proper backup..

    Seeing how Pelosi only serves on the executive board for the USCP and has no actual say in the day to day operations, not sure why someone would be gullible enough to believe this. Also, the Senate Majority Leader has the same role and authority that the Speaker has… so why didn’t McConnell provide the “proper backup”?

    And the real deal breaker for anyone who supports democracy should be your party’s abandonment of all of its political values and philosophies in favor of their complete devotion and worship of one person. Trump was so blown away with North Korea's leader that he had the GOP’s platform changed to be like theirs… complete fealty to “Exalted Grand Leader!” I guess Republicans will soon start demanding schools teach the story of Trump’s immaculate birth… borne of a solid gold magical unicorn that can fly.

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