Years ago, before anyone reading this was old enough to be relentlessly partisan, people of different persuasions actually spoke to each other, and they spoke in terms the other side could understand — and possibly even endorse.
As Grandpa surely used to say, "Them days are gone."
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what ended decorum.
Possibly 1960s permissiveness or 1970s radicalism.
But it’s easy to see exactly which big player has been most effective at destroying public decency. That player? The so-called teacher’s unions.
And let’s get something straight, they don't represent the values or desires of good teachers.
The union has been out in full force, for decades, destroying good teachers and the education of children.
But for now, let’s focus on Chino, California, where the unions are unhinged because the Chino Valley Unified School District board has been trying to institute policies it believes are in the best interests of children.
These policies require parents to be involved in mental health decisions for their children.
And they require the district to notify parents if a child requests gender identity changes, has a significant physical injury at school, expresses suicidal thoughts, is bullied verbally or physically, or is competing on teams or using facilities that do not align with the child’s biological gender.
The board is trying to make these changes at the behest of taxpayers whose children attend Chino Valley schools, yet, board members are faced with extremely hostile opposition by union activists who don’t even live within the community.
That hostility manifests in behavior that is, put politely, filled with intimidation, bullying and even threats of violence.
At a recent meeting, one pink-haired activist — not a taxpayer or parent — paraded through the board room flipping "the bird" at board members and scowling at them while waving her rainbow flag.
This is what so-called teacher’s unions have inspired.
Nasty, brutish, unprofessional, berserk abusers of all that is good for our children, and again, they do not represent teachers.
Instead, they are leaders in woke politics and deceptive propaganda.
Whatever appeals to the woke crowd — full-bore racism, class warfare, unconventional sexual practices, sexual abuse of kids, collective actions that harm the greater community — the union is the leader, so that’s why they show up in large hysterical mobs and pick on dedicated board members who seek to protect children.
The union wants children to learn lurid sex, and to hook kids up with older individuals who want to have sex with children.
It wants to give youngsters powerful medicines that destroy their natural maturation.
The union pushes sex changes and abortion for youngsters.
And it wants to do all this while requiring that parents not be told.
The union wants children to believe their parents are not good people, are racists, sexists and inimical to the child’s interests.
They teach kids that America was founded in racism, sexism, and slavery.
In all this the union has powerful help from people it employs in state legislatures.
Those lawmakers carry bills for and push the agenda of unions who, in the main, helped the politicians get elected.
Chino Valley board members passed that parental rights notification policy, to the delight of the community.
But immediately, California’s union-funded AG Rob Bonta filed suit against the district.
The union-controlled California Department of Education piled on, too.
Bullying taxpayers and their kids is what these politicians do best.
Anybody who doesn’t agree with all this, the union says, is guilty of pushing a religious and political agenda.
A lot of people rightly believe the union and the legislators they employ are the ones pushing a political agenda — imposing it with maniacal religious fervor.
Unions say math is "racist!"
No serious people agree.
Indeed, math and reading are two, of many, non-political subjects where schoolkids are performing atrociously, thanks to unions and their politicians.
The union’s raucous behavior was on full display nationally in Wisconsin in 2011, too.
The union enjoyed generous pay-and-benefit packages (negotiated with people they helped elect), but some other political leaders realized the practice was unsustainable and passed Act 10, a budget repair bill that tightened up the state’s collective-bargaining practices.
For days, the unions rioted, threatened violence, and closed down schools.
They occupied the capitol building resulting in $7.5 million in damages.
They employed every act of intimidation and bullying they could.
Thankfully, the law passed anyway.
But look — the end of decorum was cemented in the heads of union leaders. Better to demonize, threaten, sue, and berate opponents than to work together. And so it is, in nearly every case since then.
We all suffer as union leaders and their lap-dog legislators shove their wicked agenda down our throats.
Our children are just props in this battle.
That’s why it’s time to make government unions illegal again.
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.
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