During the pandemic and its forced school lockdowns and compulsory remote learning platforms, most parent for the first time got a good view of precisely what goes on in their child’s classroom as they listened in on Zoom calls and became more involved in the education of their child. Some parents were actually surprised at the liberal progressive curriculums being spoon feed to their kids, but they should not have been. The warning signs that the educational field is full of radical left-wing activists were all around us, we just weren’t paying attention.
Teachers unions historically have financially supported the democrat party. For data on how much these unions have contributed in the last election cycle, we will look at the work of OpenSecrets.org which is a non-partisan, independent, nonprofit organization. According to Open Secrets mission statement the organization has been founded to, “… track the flow of money in American politics and provide the data and analysis to strengthen democracy.” During the 2020 election cycle a total of $66 million dollars were donated by teachers unions and of that, 98% of the funds went indirectly to democrat candidates while a mere 2% went to republican candidates. The two largest teacher unions, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) contributed 47.5 million and 18.4 million respectively.
Left leaning PACS (Political Action Committees) received from teachers unions a total of 5.8 million. The balance of the contributions is reported as “soft money.” Soft money is not regulated by campaign finance laws since it is given to a party committee and not necessarily for an individual candidate or race. The party can then spend the funds as needed in races they deem competitive. Below are screenshots from Open Secrets and you can view this interactive page for yourself here.
Open Secrets also reports, “Teachers unions have steadily amped up their political involvement: From 2004 to 2016, their donations grew from $4.3 million to more than $32 million – an all-time high. Even more than most labor unions, they have little use for Republicans, giving Democrats at least 94 percent of the funds they contributed to candidates and parties since as far back as 1990, where our data begins.” In the summer of 2020, the AFT voted to endorse Joe Biden’s presidential candidacy. Teacher unions typically comprise 10% of the total delegates at the democrat national convention. With these left leaning tendencies, is it any wonder that educators openly push liberal progressive ideas?
Many teachers use the classroom as their opportunity to promote their own belief systems from Marxist ideology to the LGBTQ lifestyle. Superintendents use the district and principals use the school community in the same way. If a student or staff member holds a different moral view, they are usually silenced into submission. Some teachers have even been suspended or fired for holding opposing views based on their political affiliation or faith. Two parents were recently arrested for attending a school board meeting in Loudon County Virginia to express their concerns about critical race theory and transgender bathroom issues. Let’s just face it – the entire educational system is just another arm of the democrat party. Just as a reminder, the democrat party’s platform includes and supports abortion on demand, gender theory, critical race theory, socialized medicine, climate initiatives, and the abolition of various constitutional rights.
Young children in elementary school should not be indoctrinated with any political or social bias. They are too young and too impressionable to be able to formulate a genuine opinion. Schools and teachers who engage in political and social discussions with young kids are promoting their own propaganda and are ostensibly brainwashing our youth. Young children should be taught authentic American history (not the 1619 fictional version), civics, and how government works – that’s it. Once students reach an age of maturity in junior high or high school, teachers should encourage a variety of ideas to be discussed and both sides of an argument to be presented. Students should then be taught how to critically think and be allowed come to their own conclusions based on logic, reasoning and input from their families. Sadly, this is not what happens at most schools.
Thankfully parents have begun to push back. But more needs to be done. Find out about the policies of your local school board and start attending the meetings. Hold your elected school board members and tax payer funded school districts accountable. For too long we have all just stayed on the sidelines trusting that our educational elite had the best interests of our children. They have not. It’s time to remind these radicals that we pay their salaries and they work for us.