How can I talk to my reasonable but more conservative friends? They see a lot of good ideas they agree with, so they think I'm overreacting. Since the poison pills are nestled in between more rational or at least common and traditional conservative ideas, it sends to them like I'm freaking out about fine print that's probably not a priority.
I am not even joking when I say that 3/4 of my dreams are stress dreams surrounding our current political climate. I'm beyond done with all these garbage people who want to own 90% of the country and the roughly 40% or so who somehow think that means they will not be owned because they are helping them get their wish. 🫠
Project 2025 would tear down the wall between religion and the state. I do not like these people. I believe that those who favor this policy are in effect welfare chiselers who want the government (the rest of us) to finance their organizations and their materialistic lifestyle. They would make us agnostics, atheists. And non-Christians second class citizens or worse. Question: why has this not been publicized more? Why aren’t Muslim, Jewish. Hindu, Buddhist, and other religious leaders not organizing and railing against the Republicans? Or are they?
If you do nothing else, share the details of Project 2025 and Agenda 47 (Trumps own version) with everyone you can! It’s easy to share with those that are like-minded, but share with family and friends who think differently! Let them know you want to share some facts for them to consider since you know they care about our future. If even 1 person listens to each of us, we are on track to maintaining our democracy!
So many of the issues are disturbing. It sounds like contraception is next. How do supporters of that explain how women will be able to support more children? Are they willing to provide more resources for women who are forced to have more children than they want or can afford? How does Vance only have three? Will supporters pay for vasectomies and tubal ligations for those who don’t want any children or don’t want any more children. Is their solution to just tell people to just not have sex? I took oral contraceptives for 25 plus years. I have one daughter. I am so concerned about the reproductive rights that she (and everyone else)has already lost here in Texas and more will be lost if they are successful.
Say that the Dept of Education was dismantled. Would there be an explosion of private schools? I assume there would be a number of Christian schools, but would there also be more faith-based schools from other traditions? Ooh, what about pagan schools? Are there private pagan schools? That could be fun.
I think there is an idea to be able to make their rich friends who could "own" a school richer by privatizing then sending state education money to these people. 😕
Practically, I just think it would mean each state dept of education would be on their own. It might mean less funding from the federal governments or it could just mean that red and blue states diverge in education as they have in other areas. I would guess that means bluer states don't change much and redder states get more vouchers, more school choice, etc. until their public schools are useless.
If they want to get rid of the Department of education, is the goal to get every child in private school? And if you can’t afford private school you just aren’t educated? I don’t understand their logic to stop supporting children.
I don't think they necessarily want to close all the public schools, they just don't want any federal money or assistance going to them. Leave it to the states, as they love to say.
I don't even think it's that, they want to be able to use "their child's money" (i.e., the money the district would have spent on the pupil) for whatever school they want. The problems with that are myriad, of course. One is that it's not their money, it's the public money for public good (everyone pays in and everyone benefits later from an educated and preductive citizenry/workforce). Two is practical: no kid actually uses the average amount per pupil; it's just an average. Special needs and disadvantaged kids cost a lot more. Couple that with public schools being allowed to turn away kids with any disability, learning or otherwise, and you would be left with public schools that have less money but only the expensive kids. Three: there's very little evidence that private schools do better, so all of that wouldn't even make a difference. Most of their supposed advantages come from being able to take in only the smart or rich kids (and rich parents spend more on outside tutoring to ensure their kids don't fall beyond).
I have some (relatively) conservative friends who send their kids to private school. One started because their public school wouldn't go back to in person later in the pandemic. Another felt like their kids got more individual attention from teachers (which is probably true but doesn't, statistically, make a difference). Both families do care about public schooling and the parents themselves went to public school. The conservatives I know who are most vocal about vouchers are the ones who home school because they're so worried about what public schools are teaching. They don't want their kids to hear anything that could contradict their conservative Christian beliefs, and since that means public schools are Evil, they don't care if they cease to exist.
My father, who supports many far right agendas, did actually argue with my sister about 15 years ago that the Department of Ed should be dismantled. His argument was that if people couldn't afford it "there would be scholarships." Which, makes zero sense and isn't practical. I don't think there is any logic and the reality is that they just don't care.
Public schools are Teaching Bad Things (against their very conservative Christian beliefs) and are therefore not really doing anything good anyway. Certainly they're not actually teaching kids math or reading. 🙄🙄
Where did the idea start that public schools are teaching bad things? I have a conservative friend who wants to home school for the same reason (don’t contradict our Christian catholic beliefs.) but my friends who are public school teachers just laugh and say there is no way they could do teaching liberal agendas when they don’t even have time to get through the required curriculum. I’m just baffled where this narrative event started.
I did most of my public school in the '90s and I think Emily is right—it started with evolution. Liberals were bad because of abortion. I was constantly told that "gay rights" and "the liberal agenda" would ruin family values. 🙄 So once same-sex marriage became acceptable, a certain segment gave up on public education.
Of course, if your beliefs don't hold up to investigation, then they're not great beliefs, in my opinion. A lot of kids go to "liberal" (public) universities and come back not toeing the conservative party line anymore, and because it's so hard for humans to question ideas around which they've built their identity, it's easier to blame the schools (universities first, then working backward) than to examine their own beliefs—or to examine the "coincidence" that people who leave and learn a lot about the world change their minds.
Evolution was the boogyman when I was a kid in a Reformed-Protestant parochial school in the 90's. Learning about sex or sexuality wasn't even on the radar, but evolution was the Big Lie and the slippery slope that would lead to every evil (assisted suicide, infanticide, etc). Ultimately I think they saw public schools as a "liberalizing" influence and the foundational fear (to this day) is that kids will be swayed away from conservative values.
I'm a practicing Christian, I'm still theologically conservative, and I went to public school and public university. I was exposed to a lot of liberal ideas and I feel like I was better prepared to examine and evaluate my faith because of it. But then I also seem apostate to the most conservative because I'm a Democrat
I believe it's, in part, being able to control the narrative that's being taught (slavery, gender, patriarchy, etc.) and shape the values of future generations. Corporations want good consumers and employees. Overall, conservatives are aging out, as a larger percentage of young adults aren't having families- so similar to how they played the long game with regard to abortion and election oversight/zoning by stacking the lower courts or secretary of states in their favor, it's likely what's being done here with education.
It feels like the short game is to flood social media and the internet with false information, so we don't know what sources to trust, while the long game is education. An educated/informed population is more challenging to manage, as they won't easily fall in line.
How can I talk to my reasonable but more conservative friends? They see a lot of good ideas they agree with, so they think I'm overreacting. Since the poison pills are nestled in between more rational or at least common and traditional conservative ideas, it sends to them like I'm freaking out about fine print that's probably not a priority.
I am not even joking when I say that 3/4 of my dreams are stress dreams surrounding our current political climate. I'm beyond done with all these garbage people who want to own 90% of the country and the roughly 40% or so who somehow think that means they will not be owned because they are helping them get their wish. 🫠
There is excellent documentation on Project 2025 in this Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/project2025istheocracy
Project 2025 would tear down the wall between religion and the state. I do not like these people. I believe that those who favor this policy are in effect welfare chiselers who want the government (the rest of us) to finance their organizations and their materialistic lifestyle. They would make us agnostics, atheists. And non-Christians second class citizens or worse. Question: why has this not been publicized more? Why aren’t Muslim, Jewish. Hindu, Buddhist, and other religious leaders not organizing and railing against the Republicans? Or are they?
If you do nothing else, share the details of Project 2025 and Agenda 47 (Trumps own version) with everyone you can! It’s easy to share with those that are like-minded, but share with family and friends who think differently! Let them know you want to share some facts for them to consider since you know they care about our future. If even 1 person listens to each of us, we are on track to maintaining our democracy!
What an eye opener!
So many of the issues are disturbing. It sounds like contraception is next. How do supporters of that explain how women will be able to support more children? Are they willing to provide more resources for women who are forced to have more children than they want or can afford? How does Vance only have three? Will supporters pay for vasectomies and tubal ligations for those who don’t want any children or don’t want any more children. Is their solution to just tell people to just not have sex? I took oral contraceptives for 25 plus years. I have one daughter. I am so concerned about the reproductive rights that she (and everyone else)has already lost here in Texas and more will be lost if they are successful.
Say that the Dept of Education was dismantled. Would there be an explosion of private schools? I assume there would be a number of Christian schools, but would there also be more faith-based schools from other traditions? Ooh, what about pagan schools? Are there private pagan schools? That could be fun.
I think there is an idea to be able to make their rich friends who could "own" a school richer by privatizing then sending state education money to these people. 😕
Practically, I just think it would mean each state dept of education would be on their own. It might mean less funding from the federal governments or it could just mean that red and blue states diverge in education as they have in other areas. I would guess that means bluer states don't change much and redder states get more vouchers, more school choice, etc. until their public schools are useless.
I think there would be a lot more charter schools. Similar to the public school set up in Louisiana, but for the entire nation
If they want to get rid of the Department of education, is the goal to get every child in private school? And if you can’t afford private school you just aren’t educated? I don’t understand their logic to stop supporting children.
I don't think they necessarily want to close all the public schools, they just don't want any federal money or assistance going to them. Leave it to the states, as they love to say.
I don't even think it's that, they want to be able to use "their child's money" (i.e., the money the district would have spent on the pupil) for whatever school they want. The problems with that are myriad, of course. One is that it's not their money, it's the public money for public good (everyone pays in and everyone benefits later from an educated and preductive citizenry/workforce). Two is practical: no kid actually uses the average amount per pupil; it's just an average. Special needs and disadvantaged kids cost a lot more. Couple that with public schools being allowed to turn away kids with any disability, learning or otherwise, and you would be left with public schools that have less money but only the expensive kids. Three: there's very little evidence that private schools do better, so all of that wouldn't even make a difference. Most of their supposed advantages come from being able to take in only the smart or rich kids (and rich parents spend more on outside tutoring to ensure their kids don't fall beyond).
I have some (relatively) conservative friends who send their kids to private school. One started because their public school wouldn't go back to in person later in the pandemic. Another felt like their kids got more individual attention from teachers (which is probably true but doesn't, statistically, make a difference). Both families do care about public schooling and the parents themselves went to public school. The conservatives I know who are most vocal about vouchers are the ones who home school because they're so worried about what public schools are teaching. They don't want their kids to hear anything that could contradict their conservative Christian beliefs, and since that means public schools are Evil, they don't care if they cease to exist.
My father, who supports many far right agendas, did actually argue with my sister about 15 years ago that the Department of Ed should be dismantled. His argument was that if people couldn't afford it "there would be scholarships." Which, makes zero sense and isn't practical. I don't think there is any logic and the reality is that they just don't care.
Public schools are Teaching Bad Things (against their very conservative Christian beliefs) and are therefore not really doing anything good anyway. Certainly they're not actually teaching kids math or reading. 🙄🙄
Where did the idea start that public schools are teaching bad things? I have a conservative friend who wants to home school for the same reason (don’t contradict our Christian catholic beliefs.) but my friends who are public school teachers just laugh and say there is no way they could do teaching liberal agendas when they don’t even have time to get through the required curriculum. I’m just baffled where this narrative event started.
I did most of my public school in the '90s and I think Emily is right—it started with evolution. Liberals were bad because of abortion. I was constantly told that "gay rights" and "the liberal agenda" would ruin family values. 🙄 So once same-sex marriage became acceptable, a certain segment gave up on public education.
Of course, if your beliefs don't hold up to investigation, then they're not great beliefs, in my opinion. A lot of kids go to "liberal" (public) universities and come back not toeing the conservative party line anymore, and because it's so hard for humans to question ideas around which they've built their identity, it's easier to blame the schools (universities first, then working backward) than to examine their own beliefs—or to examine the "coincidence" that people who leave and learn a lot about the world change their minds.
Evolution was the boogyman when I was a kid in a Reformed-Protestant parochial school in the 90's. Learning about sex or sexuality wasn't even on the radar, but evolution was the Big Lie and the slippery slope that would lead to every evil (assisted suicide, infanticide, etc). Ultimately I think they saw public schools as a "liberalizing" influence and the foundational fear (to this day) is that kids will be swayed away from conservative values.
I'm a practicing Christian, I'm still theologically conservative, and I went to public school and public university. I was exposed to a lot of liberal ideas and I feel like I was better prepared to examine and evaluate my faith because of it. But then I also seem apostate to the most conservative because I'm a Democrat
I believe it's, in part, being able to control the narrative that's being taught (slavery, gender, patriarchy, etc.) and shape the values of future generations. Corporations want good consumers and employees. Overall, conservatives are aging out, as a larger percentage of young adults aren't having families- so similar to how they played the long game with regard to abortion and election oversight/zoning by stacking the lower courts or secretary of states in their favor, it's likely what's being done here with education.
It feels like the short game is to flood social media and the internet with false information, so we don't know what sources to trust, while the long game is education. An educated/informed population is more challenging to manage, as they won't easily fall in line.
Emily's book ban post provides more context on this