I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.
Terry McAuliffe (D-VA)
There are two reasons Virginia Republicans think Democrat Terry McAuliffe will regret his anti-parent words in last week’s gubernatorial debate. One, Republican Glenn Youngkin pointed out those words violate state law § 1-240.1 (A parent has a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care of the parent’s child). Two, suburban parents were already fired up about hard-left partisans in classrooms and on school boards ruining public education.
Democrats run Virginia now because white suburbanites with college degrees ran away from Donald Trump’s “extreme” GOP in 2017, when Democrats, like Governor Ralph Northam, swept the state in an anti-Trump wave election. Liberal pundits proclaimed Virginia comfortably blue, because Republicans hadn’t won a statewide election in ten years. And that’s why today’s close gubernatorial race has Democrats scratching their heads – when they should know there are two Virginias.
Virginia’s west and south, home to forgotten Americans, heard Trump. Its east and north, home to new economy voters, hated Trump. The latter group swings Virginia left – or so the pundits say. In fact, Hillary Clinton won only 49.7% of the state’s vote, but one year of Trump extremism convinced 53.9% of the state that Northam was a centrist (he’s not). Four years of Trump convinced 54.1% Joe Biden was a centrist (he’s not). Now, without Trump on the ballot, the governor’s race is a toss-up.
Democrats should know the GOP drought was less about liberal lean and more about their success in getting Republican candidates perceived as “extreme” by college-educated suburbanites. Now, with new economy Republican Glenn Youngkin (former CEO of the Carlyle Group) in the governor’s race, no poll has Democrat Terry McAuliffe above 48%, and the 538 Average has Youngkin within the margin of error (less than 3%). Yes, Virginia, Donald Trump is not on the ballot.
Not only has Youngkin put Trump in proper context, he has turned the “extreme” spotlight onto McAuliffe and “woke” school boards. Now, those elusive suburban parents are rallying against extreme curriculums and educators, especially in the suburbs of northern Virginia. Guess what? 56% of college-educated white women think America is on the wrong track, and 55% of college-educated white men do not approve of Biden’s presidency (source: YouGov).
Biden’s disapproval in Virginia is now 51%. UVA’s Larry Sabato says, “the Biden downdraft is hurting McAuliffe,” who no longer has Biden at his events. Sabato adds, “Virginia’s not California [and] it doesn’t take much of a shift” for a Democrat to lose. McAuliffe seems unaware how FAMILY and CULTURE are playing out in this election, but businessman Youngkin is all over it. It’s easy to see why parents would elect him.
Many parents oppose a Virginia Department of Education policy allowing anyone to use any restroom regardless of biological sex. In Loudoun County, parents mobilized against adding critical race theory to elementary school curriculums. Fairfax County parents confronted the school board for having books with “explicit illustrations of sexual encounters involving children” and “graphic descriptions of sex between men and children” in school libraries.
McAuliffe’s response: “I’m not going to let parents come into schools and take books out and make their own decisions. I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
Youngkin’s charge: “In fact, you vetoed the bill that would have informed parents that [the books] were there. You believe school systems should tell children what to do. I believe parents should be in charge of their kids’ education.”
He is, of course, referring to Fairfax County having Gender Queer and Lawn Boy in school libraries, as well as pornographic Monday’s Not Coming (“she s**ked my d**k) and sexually explicit #MurderTrending (“he had a big d**k”). He blames “school systems refusing to engage with parents [when] there was sexually explicit material in the library they had never seen.”
Whereas McAuliffe spoke like a top-down politician, Youngkin spoke like a good-parenting realist. Most, if not all, parents have experience with so-called “experts” being wrong about a son or daughter. This issue transcends political lean.
If Democrats can follow environmental science, they can follow evolutionary science that explains how parenting is hardwired into humans in every society. US history is replete with evidence, beginning with early pioneers home-schooling their children by the hearth. In 1835, Alexis de Tocqueville recorded farmers organizing public schools for their communities. Thus, Youngkin rightly hammered McAuliffe for siding with the state over the parent. Hey, Terry, leave our kids alone!
Virginia’s parents are just reacting as evolution has wired all humans: keep our kid’s interests front and center. Shame on McAuliffe. Parents sacrifice to ensure their children receive a worthwhile education. No parent pays taxes to buy kiddie-porn books for junior-high-school libraries. Angry parents turn out to vote. It sure appears McAuliffe made a colossal blunder. He might wake up November 3rd to learn Virginia’s not California.