By Philip Giraldi
It has now become clear to even the casual observer that the Democratic Party is hell bent on transforming the United States of America into a political ecosystem where the party’s dominance will be guaranteed. They are accomplishing that through the destruction of many of the social and community ties that have hitherto held a large country with strong regional identities together. One need only cite a fractured immigration policy that no longer seeks to maintain sovereignty but instead allows thousands of illegal Third World border crashers to enter the country and move about freely, even drawing welfare and other social benefits.
The recent episode in which thousands of Haitians gathered at Del Rio, Texas made the Biden administration look bad, so the president ordered the site cleared. The illegals were moved out by letting them enter the United States, all 17,400 of them, with more on the way. And the ultimate irony was that the men and women of the Border Patrol charged with the impossible task of defending U.S. sovereignty were pilloried by the Democrats for sometimes using force to protect the border. Joe Biden vowed punishment for the officers while the incredibly trashy Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) described what she was witnessing as “worse than slavery.”
And law and order has broken down, with rioters, looters and even killers not prosecuted at all or released with a slap on the wrist due to the color of their skin. And worse may be coming, with talk of reparations for blacks picking up momentum. More trillions on top of the trillions already thrown down the sinkhole for various ineffective affirmative action-linked schemes since the 1960s.
But perhaps the most enduring damage being inflicted on the long-suffering American people by its government is what is taking place directed against what was once an estimable public education system. The keywords being used by the Democrats in the wars, for that is what it really is, are “equity” and “diversity.” That means in practice pushing as many minorities into positions in the schools that they are not qualified to fill while at the same time lowering the educational standards and limiting access to advanced placement courses for all students so that everyone gets the same substandard education.
The attacks on American historical perceptions and traditional culture have included tearing down statues and renaming streets and towns. Here in my home county in Virginia, where my grandchildren go to school, Colum¬bus Day on the school calendar this week has been renamed Indigenous Peoples Day and the Loudoun County Public School Board (LCPSB) has apologized to black residents for segregation. The local NAACP chapter responded graciously that an apology “is not enough.”
Beyond that nonsense, the school board has spent $422,500 on a consultant to apply Critical Race Theory (CRT) to a new program of instruction that is now mandatory for all employees and serves as the framework for teaching the students. All kindergarteners, for example, are being taught “social justice” in a course designed by the despicable Southern Poverty Law Center and “diversity training” is being integrated in all other grade levels.
To be sure, Critical Race Theory has been fairly criticized as it pretends to be an antidote to systemic racism but is itself racist in nature as it opposes a race-neutral system that equally benefits everyone. It proposes that all of America’s governmental bodies and infrastructures are racist and supportive of “white supremacy” and must be deconstructed. It requires everything to be examined through a value system determined by identity politics and race and it views both whites and their institutions as hopelessly corrupted, if not evil. This is what will be taught to children.
The board has also revised its Personal Conduct Policy 7560 “Professional Conduct” for staff, which denies free speech rights when it comes to challenging certain policies involving the school system, arguing that the Bill of Rights itself is just a tool in support of white supremacy, which is what CRT teaches. The Personal Con¬duct draft only addresses the First Amendment briefly, noting that the right “may be outweighed” by Loudoun County Public School interest in “promoting internal . . . and external community harmony and peace” through “directives, including protected class equity, racial equity, and the goal to root out systemic racism.” Indeed, the document also requires school system employees to report on other employees who are critical of the policy.
Criticizing the new policy with friends, family, at home, while on the phone, while shopping or even walking through the park is a violation subject to punishment. The draft states explicitly that employee speech “will not be tolerated” if it could be perceived as “undermining the views, positions, goals, policies or public statements” of the school board.
The school board, which has organized supporters to harass critics, requires total commitment to the forthcoming “equity” policies and it threatens punishment to include firing if anyone within the system dares to express doubts. Many teachers are, in fact, opposed to the new curricula, but are afraid to speak out. The text specifically states that violation of board policy “includes on-campus and off-campus speech, social media posts, and any other electronic or telephonic communications.”
The school board also has an “Action Plan to Combat Systemic Ra¬cism” which will require mandatory “racial literacy” classes for staff with the objective of creating “equity literacy and racial consciousness” for employees. To support struggling black students there will be non-coercive alternatives to suspension or expulsion for misbehavior, a feature that is being copied in many school districts. It is all part of the larger “Comprehensive Equity Plan” that the revised personal conduct policy is intended to protect, which includes manipulating passing grades to achieve “equity”—that is, to reward or punish people based not on their conduct and accomplishments or hard work, but primarily on their race and ethnicity.
The LCPSB has also demonstrated that it is capable of seizing the high ground on other contentious issues. Prior to the start of the current academic year, it passed Policy 8040 which allows school children to choose their own gender, to include what they wear to school as defined by a new dress code, and what names and pronouns they choose to use. An amendment limiting attire to garments that did not expose one’s genitals was rejected. There was strong opposition from parents’ groups, which were ignored, and teacher Tanner Cross, who publicly objected to the new guidelines and refused to “affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa because it’s against my religion” was suspended. He was ordered reinstated by the state supreme court, but a suit on behalf of several teachers is still working its way through the courts. Interestingly, Commonwealth Attorney Buta Biberaj, who has been perceived as supportive of the school board against the parents, was elected last year with the assistance of an $861,000 contribution from George Soros.
Virginia has indeed been an epicenter of the parental pushback against those who would seek to turn learning basic skills into an education that is little more than social engineering to produce the type of Democratic Party clodhopper who will respond automatically and in politically correct fashion to whatever bile he is forced to ingest.
If there is any doubt about what is happening and what it means, one only has to cite the recent comment by Democratic Party candidate for Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe, who, opposing parents’ demands that sexually explicit books be removed from school libraries, said that he did not think that “parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” McAuliffe is a creature of the Clintons and was once the leading cog in their money-making machine. Need I say more? And America’s own Attorney General Merrick Garland only last week announced that he “has instructed the FBI to mobilize against parents who oppose Critical Race Theory in public schools.”
He is the same Merrick Garland who some weeks ago declared that his department would be intensifying its investigation and arrest of “violent white extremists.” And the government he is part of is well advanced in its purge of potential “domestic terrorists” in the military, the intelligence agencies and in the Department of Homeland Security. Put it all together and it sure doesn’t look much like Kansas anymore around here, does it? Beam me up Scotty!
Philip Giraldi is a former CIA counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer and a columnist and television commentator. He is also the executive director of the Council for the National Interest. Other articles by Giraldi can be found on the website of the Unz Review.
