Voters rejected school board candidates using ‘manufactured’ culture wars to win elections

Right-wing activists using local school board races to push for greater control of public education didn’t make a dent in Tuesday’s election results.

One year away from the 2024 presidential election, voters largely rejected candidates backed by groups like Moms for Liberty that have aligned with GOP campaigns to undermine public education and restrict access to books, classroom materials and honest discussions of race, racism, LGBT+ people and gender and sexuality.

  • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
    170·
    1 year ago

    the ‘parental rights’ agenda

    We have really got to stop letting these dishonest fuckwads claim the nominative high-ground.

    • Dojan@lemmy.world
      731·
      1 year ago

      It doesn’t hold up the moment you scrutinise the name.

      Parents rights to what? The answer is basically “ownership” of their children. Fully control their children.

      Children aren’t possessions, they’re people.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
        41·
        1 year ago

        Yeah I support youth liberation. They obviously need guidance and all that, but guidance is not what these people are doing. They want their children to have no say in their lives and no information about the world

      • Serinus@lemmy.world
        28·
        1 year ago

        From the state’s perspective, ownership of children makes some sense. It benefits the state to have a wide range in how children are raised, and they certainly don’t want to be in the middle of it. Child Protective Services barely functions for the most extreme cases.

        But this extreme withholding of information is a bit different.

        I don’t disagree with you; I just don’t like the argument.

        • hansl@lemmy.world
          11·
          1 year ago

          It’s not ownership. From the state perspective you don’t own your children. You can’t sell them, you can’t throw them in the garbage if they’re defective. It’s just insane. At best they’re dependents.

          Shit from many “state perspectives” you don’t even own your fetus; you have less rights than it when it comes to health. Some states would rather see you die than the fetus. So much for state rights.

          Also, and that’s an argument on your philosophy; even if it’s convenient on some aspect for a state to have a parent own their child, it’s not a winning strategy. States would spend more money and time that way than presuming children are people under the care of someone.

      • Telorand@reddthat.com
        181·
        1 year ago

        Not that I put much stock in the latest poll that shows Biden trailing Trump in key states a whole year out, but it’s an indicator that people are so fucking dumb, they can’t remember how awful things were four years ago without being constantly reminded.

      • ElleChaise@kbin.social
        11·
        1 year ago

        What? You didn’t vote yes on the Free Patriots Saving Children from Terror and Kicking Out Gay Commies act? What are ya? I mean, yeah, the fine print lets priests finger kids at school and gives rocket launchers to police departments, but so what? You don’t wanna look like a lib; do ya?

    • MTLion3@lemm.ee
      15·
      1 year ago

      Amen. They make their platform sound so moral until you look at their doctrine for more than a minute

    • PigsInClover@lemmy.world
      101·
      1 year ago

      This is why anything with “for liberty” or “right to” in the name immediately makes me suspicious.

      I wish more people realized this. “Right to Farm” was just passed in Texas by voters by a wide margin - long term it just removes accountability from agricultural giants and even emboldens them to push out small farmers.

      It was advertised as being for small farmers 🤦

    • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
      7·
      1 year ago

      Like so many conservative groups, their stated goals are really the opposite of what their actions show their real goals to be. MoL claims to support parental rights. But if they really support parental rights then they should be supporting my right to let my child have access to any book I choose in the library. I want them to have access to books about different races, and cultures, and lifestyles. This group wants to remove all books from school libraries that they feel are inappropriate. In other words, they are trying to take away my parental rights to decide for my child and instead only allow my child to access books that support a conservative agenda.

  • HubertManne@kbin.social
    13·
    1 year ago

    last year we had a few sus folks running for local spots. They knew they were in enemy territory so they could mostly be identified by how evasive they were in any discussions.

    • RooPappy@kbin.social
      25·
      1 year ago

      There have been a few notable school districts in my state that got duped by these people over the last 10 years or so, and the pattern is pretty much the same:

      • They get elected by not telling people what they actually beleive
      • They immediately start doing crazy stupid shit
      • They illegally shut down public meetings and comments
      • They illegally hire an independent lawyer at taxpayer expense to defend themselves
      • There is a recall election, and they are removed from office.

      It’s a huge waste of time and money, and in the end everyone hates these fucks even more than they did to start with, and people are even more interested in voting in local elections. I’m not sure it’s a winning long-term strategy for the fascists. You could argue it works to get more progressives and moderates to the voting booth in the long run.