Tom Ultican, retired teacher of physics and advanced mathematics, has written an incisive analysis of the libertarian attack on democracy and public education, funded by billionaires and advanced by rightwing think tanks. He “follows the money,” and it leads him to Charles Koch, the Bradley Foundation, the Scaife Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, ALEC, the Manhattan Institute— and other oligarchs and their tools.
He pulls no punches as he weaves together the contrived panics over “critical race theory” and anti-maskers. “Parents Defending Education” and “Moms for Liberty” are but a few of the astroturf groups who have been mobilized to terrorize school boards and other parents. Funded by Dark Money.
Ultican writes:
Nancy MacLean observed that Buchanan and Koch had concluded, “There was no glossing over it anymore; democracy was inimical to economic liberty.” (Democracy in Chains page 152)
The anti-democratic impulse of the oligarch must be contained. There is an underlying wisdom to democratic decision making. It is a wisdom that bends toward equity and humanism. Public education is the soil from which that wisdom can flower. For the past five decades, an autocratic businessman has been pushing our country in the direction of widespread suffering and discrimination.
Neither capitalism nor socialism is a perfect guide for society. Education, medicine, prisons and policing are not well suited to a strict capitalist approach. A strict socialist approach does not function well in manufacturing, farming and entertainment. Ideologues demanding one of these two economic methods to the exclusion of the other are a problem. The guide to balancing these competing ideologies is humanism. In other words ponder, “The policy best serving the majority of the people while maintaining a keen eye to insure that the minority is not abused.”
The best way to move society forward toward a more perfect union is to make democracy ever more inclusive. And the best way to improve democracy is to protect and fund public education.
An important read.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
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This is a great article that demonstrates the path to take control of public schools out of public hands as clear as day. MacLean put it all together. As far as education, she writes in detail about the actions that lead to Brown vs. Board of Education and how that sparked even more segregation in response through charter school proliferation. And, with the addition of vouchers, we are losing control of what is taught. This opened the door to the present push to take control of education out of the hands of the public and into the hands of special interests whose goals are to increase profits and decrease the ability of an educated populace who could question these actions.
increase and decrease: on the nose
Excellent writing Tom! Thanks! All should share the article in whatever social media platforms that one uses.
Tom’s remarks remind me of a joke that used to circulate among the people behind the Iron Curtain.
Question: What’s the difference between communism and capitalism? Answer: Capitalism is the exploitation of man by man. And Communism is the exact opposite.
GregB, my understanding of the exact opposite is that Communism isn’t the exploitation of man by man. And that is true.
It’s a joke, son! (apologies to Foghorn Leghorn)
Yes, daddy GB, but an incorrect one in more ways than one. 🙂
In theory, yes. To the East Germans I knew who were making those jokes in the 1970s and 80s, there was no difference. But the communism they lived under no connection at all with how republicans interpret the word communism today.
But I repeat, it was a joke. Especially in the context of the times it was told. Dark humor is still humor.
I also lived under the same “communism” as your East German friends did. That was no communism; we actually called it socialism, and of course we had the same kind of (very dangerous) jokes.
Americans over 67 live under Communism’s brother, socialism, and they seem to like and expect it.
Of course, we didn’t have socialism in Eastern Europe back then. They have what is much closer to socialism in the Scandinavian countries.
So, the ghost of Stalin appears to Putin in a dream.
Putin says, “Do you have any advice for me?”
Stalin says, “Kill all your enemies, and paint the Kremlin blue.”
“Why blue?” says Putin.
Haha, My very first reaction was also a disgusted “Why blue?”. Can we draw some kind of conclusion about my way of thinking?
LOL!!!
“Michael B. Horn
There’s been a lot of anecdotal stories about an increase of challenges of welcoming students back to schools.
dianetavenner
and I tackle the topic
LISTEN — Class Disrupted S3 E7: Why Is There More Physical Violence Than Usual in Schools This Year? ‘
Another echo chamber discussion. This is where the CEO of a charter school and a committed ed reformer “discuss” public schools on a site, The 74, that was founded to promote ed reform and is funded by the same people who fund all the other ed reform groups. A closed circle.
No actual public schools or public school supporters invited – excluded, as usual.
Ed reform is an echo chamber. They do things like blow billions of dollars on ridiculous teacher measurement schemes because it’s an echo chamber and there is no dissent or real debate.
Oh, here’s a lively ed reform debate:
ExcelinEd
· Nov 18
Thank you @romydrucker and WaltonFamilyFdn for supporting ExcelinEd and championing families to unlock potential for every child. #EIE21
Jeb Bush and the billionaire foundations and the employees of the billionaire foundations. Unsuprisingly perhaps, they all agree on public education! It should be replaced by the privatized systems they design.
This one was Walton and a Walton employee, but it doesn’t matter at all- they’re all identical. Switch in “Gates” or “Koch” or “Bloomberg” and it will be the same people saying exactly the same things. Many times it is LITERALLY the same people- they move around inside the echo chamber for their entire careers.
Why did the United States outsource public education policy to 5 billionaires and the billionaires employees, and are we stuck with this forever now?
“The collective enemy he was constructing included nearly everyone in education except academic economists”
But it does include, I suppose, Thomas Piketty and Paul Krugman
“Hayek, in particular, put forward a radical concept of capitalism and the role that markets should play in society, and his thinking had an enduring effect on Charles Koch.”
Governments, ofc, establish semimonopolies on the use of violence. Hayek argued that just about the only legitimate purpose of government was the enforcement (by violence) of contracts. But even he wrote, in The Road to Serfdom, that governments had a legitimate right to stop certain industries from poisoning people. I guess that Mr. Koch missed that part.
Great article, Mr. Ultican! The Republicans win because they are well organized and funded.
The limits of debate in this country are established before the debate even begins, and everyone else is marginalized—Oooo, he’s a Communist or some sort of disloyal person—a “kook”—there’s a word—and now its “conspiracy.” See, they’ve made that something that should not even be entertained for a minute—that powerful people might get together and have a plan. Doesn’t happen! You’re a kook! You’re a Conspiracy Buff!
–George Carlin
cx: it’s
George, who is in heaven now
The right wing mastered the art of hateful labeling, appropriating symbols, Christian crosses and the flag, etc. Fascism’s warning signs.
I think that the nadir of Western Civilization was reached at the precise moment when all the Evangelical preachers did their laying on of hands prayer on Trump in the Oval Office. There it was. A close second: Trump’s walking to the end of the stage to hug the flag at CPAC. I think it was at CPAC.
Tom was not “led” to the state Catholic Conferences despite the fact that they publicly take credit for school choice legislation in their states.
Nor will, a writer about abortion be “led” to Catholic Church influence despite the fact that
there are 6 conservative Catholic judges on SCOTUS, Leonard Leo is Catholic and the Koch”s Paul Weyrich, co-founder of ALEC, was Catholic.
It’s quite the scheme, get a few high profile Democratic centrist Catholics like Joe Biden
and Nancy Pelosi and voila, the public’s knowledge about theocratic takeover is made invisible.
Protestant Christian nationalists should learn from the playbook.
Roe is dead.
But, the good news for the right wing is that Americans think the attack
against Roe v Wade sprang out of nowhere just like all of the other conservative legislation and judicial decisions to come, will.
Some of this is right-wing Catholics like Barr, but that’s a small piece. Most of these powerful Repugnicans worship only Mammon. The dumber ones worship Mammon and Trump.
But religion is useful to them. It’s the oxy of the masses. In addition ofc, to the actual oxy.
Respectfully, it is not a “small piece”. Libertarians’ interest in abortion is part of a deal that was made with wealthy and influential Catholics. Ryan Girdusky’s interview with Pat Buchanan posted at the Buchanan site makes theocracy’s deal clear.
Theocracy becomes a power player behind Koch’s authoritarian rule.
Discounting that is a huge mistake for women. The next cultural and legal change enacted, spousal rape. The push for homeschooling is part of the plan that allows men to abuse children in the name of God.
Evidently, being “led” to theocracy as the source for school choice legislation in states and as the origin of ALEC’s anti-abortion state laws is impossible. Neither conservatives nor liberals CAN be “led” there. Right wing Daily Mail’s headline 12-1-2021, “Devout Catholic Biden….six conservative Supreme Court Justices…” Note, the justices’ faith is omitted.
Get aboard the spin machine, conservative Catholics are rare and apolitical, maybe an occasional outlier, despite a colossal amount of evidence to the contrary.
I have no doubt we’re witnessing a right wing strategy (which the left joins for unspoken reasons dooming the liberal cause).
It’s notable that in “Democracy in Chains” McLean wrote that Charles Koch’s father, for whom Charles created Koch Industries, business dined with Adolf Hitler himself. That’s who we’re dealing with.
Apparently the Charles had a Nazi nanny:
Skipping ahead, in 1940, Fred Koch’s sons David and his twin William were born on May 3, in Wichita. According to Mayer, after Germany invaded France that month, the Kochs’ Nazi governess left their employment to return to a then-victorious Germany.
https://truthout.org/articles/jane-mayer-reveals-history-of-koch-family-and-the-nazis/
We’re also dealing with Putin. The Kremlin’s plan to foment racial conflict in the U.S. has had a lot of coverage. Coincidentally, Koch reportedly funds Christopher Rufo via the Manhattan Institute.
Charles Koch’s father Fred helped Stalin by building oil refineries in the Soviet Union from 1929-1931, then befriended Hitler.
Because you need this:
Para 2 of excerpt from NEPC’s Sep ’21 paper:
“The anti-CRT narrative is … used to accomplish three goals: to thwart efforts to provide an accurate and complete picture of American history; to prevent analysis and discussion of the role that race and racism have played in our history; and to blunt the momentum of efforts to increase democratic participation by members of marginalized groups.”
Everything leads to the last clause. There is a direct line from CRT [&, no doubt, Koch/running dogs] to the 33 laws passed in 19 states this year making it harder to vote. Sytemic racism alive and well.
Sunny Hostin announced on the View today that her Catholic upbringing led her to believe that life begins at conception. She added what media won’t say and what was a refreshing position from the left. Hostin intimated that Amy Comey Barrett’s Catholic faith drives her court decisions. Hostin observed that Barrett is a fellow graduate of “Catholic Notre Dame”. Hostin described Barrett’s questions yesterday about the Mississippi abortion law as disingenuous.
Republican, Anna Navarro, on the same program, pointed out judges lied when they said they supported the now, 50 year-old law known as Roe v Wade which was reaffirmed in 1992. Six conservative Catholic judges are charting the American course. They are social Darwinist ideologues who are in Charles Koch’s circle of influence. But, they are also religious fanatics driving the country to a theocratic state.
When personal faith leads judges to lie in confirmation hearings and when they overturn a law supported by 60- 73% of Americans, democracy dies. Theocracy replaces it. Without men like Paul Weyrich (Koch) and Leonard Leo, America would be a capitalist democracy
on the rise in terms of promised equality and expectations for a growth economy with financial rewards shared by workers.
Navarro said, Roe’s overturn will come at a political cost to Republicans. I doubt it.