For many years, the Left has worked to infiltrate schools and indoctrinate our children with critical race theory.
This should concern us. After all, critical race theory is an ideology that seeks to socially engineer our society based on race. The theory believes that all inequalities flow from race.
It’s time to reclaim lost ground in the culture war. We need to structure public school curricula against this theory. That starts by electing school board members nationally who reject these anti-American beliefs.
To do my part, I’ve created the 1776 Project PAC, the nation’s first super PAC entirely dedicated to electing school board members who oppose the teaching of critical race theory and the New York Times’s 1619 Project in our public schools.
The need for action is real. Over the past few decades, conservatives have tended to limit their education policy arguments to those involving school choice and expanding charter schools. Don’t get me wrong — those are worthwhile pursuits. Still, with most students attending public schools and following the curriculum that local school boards set, we must look beyond our comfort zone.
My 1776 Project PAC will campaign on behalf of school board candidates that want to promote a patriotic vision of U.S. history and civics. We will oppose those members who are dividing our country with critical race theory. The challenge is also real. Consider how our opponents are skilfully advancing their agenda.
Prominent critical race theorists often cloak their ideology with the phrase “anti-racism,” a popular strategy of far-left-wing activist Ibram X. Kendi. “The heartbeat of racism is denial. And too often, the more powerful the racism, the more powerful the denial,” Kendi says. In other words, Kendi (and those who agree with him) frame the issue as either being pro-critical-race-theory (or anti-racist) or pro-racism. Children instructed under critical race theory are taught one key thing: All ideas central to America’s founding are a farce.
The theory describes the ideas in the Declaration of Independence, that all people are created equal and “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,” as white supremacy. It rejects concepts such as classical liberalism, individualism, capitalism, legal reasoning, and equality. Instead, it endeavors to replace them with a socially engineered system similar to Marxism — but based on race instead of class. The theory also rejects legislative reform such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, offering an alternative revolutionary approach to gain power. Neither is critical race theory a value-neutral theory.
Students are taught with the explicit intention that they adopt the belief system itself and become warriors for the revolution. We cannot accept this. Consider, for example, if students were being taught about fascism, recognizing its objective evils, and learning from history. We would welcome that education. But what if students were instead being taught about fascism with the intention that they themselves become fascists? No good parent would want this for their children. A parents’ revolt would surely follow.
Although some states may be enacting measures to ban the spread of critical race theory, it remains a systemic reality of the education system. This is where the 1776 Project PAC is essential. We will raise money for people to run as school board candidates. We will support those who want to cultivate young minds in a proper curriculum. And yes, those who teach children that open-minded patriotism is a virtue, just like our Founding Fathers believed.
In the preamble of the Constitution, the framers wrote that they established our government, in part, to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” Building a better education system by rejecting critical race theory is central to securing the blessings of liberty for our posterity, our children.
Ryan Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) is the author of They’re Not Listening: How the Elites Created the National Populist Revolution.
