Teachers Union Chief Says Florida’s Parental Rights Bill Is ‘How Wars Start’ – And She’s Right, Sort Of

randi weingarten war
Molly Theobald, for the aflcio2008, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers stated on a podcast this week that Florida’s new Parental Rights in Education Law is “The way in which wars start.”

While that seems quite dramatic, especially from a combat veteran’s perspective, I’d like to examine her claim more closely.

A Civil War, or a Revolution?

Weingarten and other groups, including the Democratic Party, would like us to believe we are one more school board meeting away from a civil war. On the contrary, what we are witnessing is more akin to a revolutionary war. Let me explain.

A civil war is one between citizens of the same country, vying for control of the existing government apparatus – which I suppose in a loose definition fits in this ridiculous hyperbole scenario. On the other hand, revolutionary war is an attempt to forcibly overthrow a government or social order in favor of a new system.

Are American parents and Republican politicians trying to forcibly overthrow the government or social order in favor of a new system? As someone who has been to war with, you know… real weapons and actual people who wanted to kill me based solely on the fact that I was an American, I can answer… of course not.

But let’s continue to play this War Game out a bit.

Would You Like To Play A Game?

Allow me to drop a few little history knowledge bombs. Probably helpful given the current state of our education system.

During our own revolutionary war, there were two main groups of colonists; Loyalists and Patriots. Loyalists were loyal to the crown, and Patriots bucked the system and were of the group that politely told King George to kick rocks.

So, suppose you wanted to brush up on some SAT prep (because Lord knows the schools aren’t doing it). In that case, the Democratic Party is the modern-day version of the Loyalists, as parents’ rights groups like Moms For Liberty are to the modern-day Patriots.

Moms for Liberty started with just two moms who had heard of each other through various media events; Tina Descovich and the aptly-named Tiffany Justice. What began as just a handful of P.O.’d moms fighting back against tyrannical school boards has since blossomed into over 80,000 moms who operate 170 chapters in 34 different states.

Their goal is to have 3,000 chapters nationwide and are easily recognized at school board meetings by their t-shirts that state “We do not co-parent with the government.”

The National Education Association likes to describe groups like these as “A tiny but extremely vocal minority…”

Not so tiny anymore it would seem. The NEA goes on to say they are “…determined to turn our classrooms into battlegrounds for their vicious culture wars.”

There’s that pesky war word again, next to the left’s favorite qualifier, culture. Is it groups of concerned and angry parents that have started culture wars within the education arena? Weingarten would probably affirm it to be true. She argues that parents and politicians claim that teachers and school staff seek to indoctrinate kids to push ‘propaganda’ and ‘misinformation.’

She claims:

“We’re not indoctrinating, we’re not grooming…what we’re doing is making sure we educate kids. We keep them safe. We keep them welcome.”

Let’s break those claims up and take a closer look. First, “We educate kids.” According to Think Impact for 2022, 79% of U.S. adults are literate. That leaves 21% illiterate and an even more alarming 54% of adults whose literacy is below a 6th-grade level. Bravo, Weingarten, that’s quite the feather in your cap.

I’ll allow the reader a second to google the performance rates of students in our country’s biggest school systems. It ain’t pretty.

Second, “We keep them safe.” A grand jury is investigating the alleged cover-up of a rape committed in a school bathroom in Loudoun County, Virginia. Who is being accused of covering up this heinous life-altering event for this young lady? Loudoun County School Board members. I mean, I can’t imagine why any parent would doubt the intentions of their school boards. 

Third, “We keep them welcome.” Virginia leads the way in these areas as Fairfax County schools had children play a bingo game. They had to mark off blocks of ‘privilege’ that they identified with.

One of those blocks available was if they were children of military families—what a hat trick performance.

A New Kind of ‘Politician’

Getting back to our revolutionary war theme, let’s talk about the birth of new politicians. Our Revolutionary War gave us the political minds of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton. Special interest groups and wayward school boards are starting to create another new political phenomenon; the Parent Politician.

Brandon Michon, who is running for the Republican nomination in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, replied to Weingarten’s claim this week on Fox News with the following statement:

“They invaded classrooms. They have signed permission slips for their snacks. They have to sign permission slips to go on field trips but no one is asking me permission to talk about my son’s penis.”

Watch his incredible performance at a school board meeting:

They invaded classrooms. It seems reasonably clear who started this alleged war, and it wasn’t parents.

Akin to Mark Antony in Shakespeare’s Julius Ceaser, you, Randi, and your ilk were the ones who cried, “Havoc! and let slip the dogs of war.”

Your ‘havoc’ influenced the CDC to keep school closed and the Department of Justice to investigate parents as domestic terrorists. Your ‘dogs of war’ were gender ideology, critical race theory, and equity programs.

You made your bed; stop grasping at straws and claiming we are trying to incite a war and just lay in it already.

USAF Retired, Bronze Star recipient, outspoken veteran advocate. Hot mess mom to two monsters and wife to equal parts... More about Kathleen J. Anderson

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