Sharon Higgins, Oakland parent activist, suggests some reading for Molly Ball, who wrote about Michelle Rhee “taking over the Democratic Party.”
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Ball must not be aware of the conversation between Bill Moyers and Bernie Sanders of a few days ago about what’s happened to the Democratic Party. Sanders explains: “So what you are looking at is a nation with a grotesquely unequal distribution of wealth and income, tremendous economic power on Wall Street, and now added to all of that is you have the big money interests, the billionaires and corporations now buying elections. This scares me very much. And I fear very much that if we don’t turn this around, Bill, we’re heading toward an oligarchic form of society.” What Sanders did not touch on is how the billionaires and multimillionaires of both parties not only buy elections but use their foundations to control U.S. public education policy. More and more everyday people are disgusted with the takeover of this country by the super-rich and realize that the Democratic Party, which traditionally served their interests, has apparently been replaced by a Big-Money Democratic Party that has interests more closely aligned with those of the Big-Money Republican Party. The narrow gap in ideology between these two Big-Money fraternal twins explains why Michelle Rhee, spokesmodel for corporate ed reform, calls herself a Democrat but happily, and very naturally, swings both ways. Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, and this former Republican staffer view what’s happened in a similar way. Ball should at least read down to paragraph seven. |
Diane Ravitch's blog 
She ought to look this really incisive talk by Brian Jones, elementary teacher and activist. He analyzes the true nature of the “reform” movement. http://nbheritage.blogspot.com/2012/02/still-separate-still-unequal-racism.html?m=1
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I firmly believe that Bernie Sanders, and the socialist wing of the Democratic party, must be the ones who take over the party. The Democratic party isn’t functioning for the average person–it is tainted with corporate money–it’s the 1930s all over again.
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The Perimeter Primate (h/t Schools Matter:http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2012/09/the-atlantics-love-fest-for-rhee.html#comment-form)
“Any article about Michelle Rhee published by the Atlantic Media Company should disclose Rhee’s extremely close ties to AMC’s CEO and owner, and his wife (David and Katherine Bradley).
The Bradleys hosted Rhee at their Massachusetts Heights home three times between January 2008 and March 2009, and it is extremely likely that there were additional times after that.
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/36893/fund-and-games
It was also Katherine Bradley who, in 2010, ponied up the $100,000 fee for Anita Dunn’s PR to help improve the image of the intensely disliked Michelle Rhee.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/us/07rhee.html“
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[Taking off my non-partisan, non-profit hat for a moment] I’d caution those who care about public education against embracing the “there’s no real difference” line of argument. Yes, the Democratic party has shifted right as the GOP moves ever rightward – and that’s something that won’t be changed by cursing “a pox on both your houses.” And some Dems have fallen for the edu “reform” trap, partly, I think, because of the tremendous framing job to sell “reform.”
But look more closely: in Michigan, we’ve just had our state party conventions. On the GOP side, an incumbent conservative Republican member of the State Board of Ed lost the nomination to candidates backed by tea party groups. Speakers introducing those candidates denounced Common Core standards as a power grab by the Federal government. They sneered at “Obamacation” and called for an end to the “liberal and socialist indoctrination of our youth.”
Convention rhetoric? Maybe. But these speakers are sitting legislators, and their behavior in session is consistent with the tone of their remarks. Right now, they’re calling the shots in our legislature. And their goal is to remove the people (government) from “public” education.
I think it’s dangerous to be pushing the “there’s no difference” line right now. There is a difference, and where the difference is fuzzy, people need to get involved to clarify values and policy directions. There’s no question which campaign I’ll be working for this fall.
(That said, there are many Republicans who are profoundly uneasy with the direction their party has taken on education, and they should be encouraged to hold to their principles.)
Michelle Rhee can call herself whatever she wants – it’s a free country (for now). But her actions speak louder, and much of her organization’s work at the state level has been hand in glove with extremists on the other side of the aisle. Rather than worrying about party labels, we should be laying bare the other side’s true values and priorities – and spelling out our alternative. If we take back the debate, the parties will follow.
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