By Rebecca Friedrichs and Roger Ruvolo
Savvy Americans well remember the immortal words of then-President Bill Clinton, squirming to avoid responsibility for an illicit Oval Office affair. Grand jury investigators asked the president if he “is having an affair” with a woman, and Clinton infamously replied, well, that all depends on “what the meaning of ‘is’ is.”
Successors of Clinton — Harris, Walz and teacher union leaders — are well applying such obfuscations to education. According to AFT president Randi Weingarten, “It’s such a great day for America that we’re going to have Kamala Harris and Tim Walz on the ticket … for American families.” And piling on with more propaganda, NEA president Becky Pringle said Harris, “has delivered once again for students and educators with this exceptional choice of the ‘education governor.’”
But has Harris delivered for kids, and is Walz the “education governor?” To a “grand jury” of voters, their answer might be, “All depends on what your definition of ‘education’ is.”
Under Walz’s tenure as governor of Minnesota, education spending skyrocketed while student achievement tumbled to all-time lows. Teachers were compelled by law to lie to parents, and a Marxist agenda infiltrated classrooms. Walz enforced strict COVID school closures denying students in-person instruction.
Union-supported, dangerous anti-discipline policies thrived under Walz, putting children and teachers in grave danger.
Walz’s other big achievements: sex-changes for kids and “sanctuary” state status for youth sex transitions.
He enacted universal free school breakfasts and lunches – regardless of income – so even the wealthy get free food.
Walz has rung up other “achievements” that look a lot like those in other states run by modern Bolsheviks: Crime is up; per-capita GDP has fallen relative to other states; energy costs have shot up and BLM protesters were allowed to burn Minneapolis before Walz called The National Guard. Harris supported a fund to bail rioters out of jail.
Under Walz, Minnesota has joined California, New York and Illinois as “net outmigration states” that citizens are fleeing.
With such incompetence, how did Walz rise to governor?
Now Minnesota schoolchildren and taxpayers are devastated.
And Californians are in the same boat as Minnesotans thanks to Harris. She’s avoided saying anything definitive about public education. That’s true about a number of issues – so much so, even the openly partisan New York Times said of Harris that the “content of her message remains a work in progress.”
But we were stuck with Harris as our Attorney General from 2011-2017, and on education, Harris (like Walz) does whatever the unions want, which is why union big-wigs are gushing over them. Those unions, the wealthiest lobbying groups in the state, have paid handsomely for Harris and a supermajority in the legislature. Together, they’ve been destroying California and our kids for decades.
One example among thousands, to the detriment of Californians, was Harris’s long habit of using her power as attorney general to flatly mis-name ballot propositions to sway the vote. In 2014, she mis-named a ballot measure, Proposition 47, as the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act,” confusing voters.
Thanks to Harris, many neighborhoods are now literal warzones, and law abiding citizens are terrified. This “safe act” reduced numerous felonies to misdemeanors, handcuffed police’s authority to make arrests in many circumstances, and limited the ability of judges to intervene in criminal matters. Thieves could steal up to $950 worth of goods from a store – every single day – without fear of any real punishment.
This is what Harris wrought by grossly mis-naming the measure. It’s Kamala’s “All depends on what the meaning of ‘Safe Neighborhoods and Schools’ is.”
Both Harris and Walz often sound arrogant and self-righteous, especially in defense of “woke” ideas, which, thanks to them, have now taken root in the nation’s government schools. They push Marxist ideologies that are antithetical to our free republic, all while claiming they’re defenders of democracy.
They’re actually the defenders of totalitarianism, but when you question their motives based on the facts, and ask them why they’re using our schools as training grounds for the tyrannical destruction of our republic, they’ll pull a Bill Clinton. While you witness the destruction and suffer the consequences of their policies, they’ll look you in the eye and claim they’re defending democracy and label you a racist for pushing back on their evil schemes.
Harris, Walz and their union allies are dangerous people destroying our kids and republic. It’s time our eyes are opened to their fraudulent definition of “democracy,” and time for us to reject their wicked agenda before our kids and country are damaged beyond repair.
Rebecca Friedrichs is the founder of For Kids and Country, the author of Standing Up to Goliath and a 28-year public school teacher who was lead plaintiff in Friedrichs v. CTA.
Roger Ruvolo is a longtime newspaper editor and a contributor to For Kids & Country.
