Mercedes Schneider describes the arbitrary and capricious actions of the Berkeley School Board in South Carolina. “Moms for Liberty” won control of the board in the recent election. At its first meeting, it fired the superintendent and the board’s attorney and immediately replaced them.
I posted a report previously about this extremist takeover, written by Paul Bowers, a journalist in South Carolina who attended the tumultuous meeting.
She points out that the superintendent had been rated “proficient” unanimously by the previous board only a month earlier.
Read her post and see how little respect these M4L people have for democratic and legal norms.
Schneider concludes, let the litigation begin!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“little respect”
Media report that M4L uses both religious and political messaging.
Do any conservative religious groups have respect for democracy?
Authoritarianism is linked to right wing religion.
Linda, I suggest a revision to your question, because as asked, the answer would be yes. Some conservative religious groups do respect democracy. Even some evangelicals respect democracy.
But most if not all extreme fundamentalists, the ones that supported Traitor Trump, even today, do not respect democracy or any government they do not control.
Those extreme fundamentalists cheery-pick quotes from the Bible (translating those selections literally instead of metaphorically as they were written), and they are no different than most if not all Islamic fundamentalists. No respect for anyone or anything else that does not agree with them 1000%. Extremist fundamentalist religions, no matter the religion or sect, do not respect any form of government they do not control.
If a significant number of institutional members of a church/religious sect respected democracy and the democratic laws that protect the vulnerable in communities… enough, then, mammoth situations like the cover up of clergy pedophilia wouldn’t require media for exposure.
If the people Lloyd alludes to are, or are seen as powerful within the institution, church spending to take away gay rights and abortion rights would be an issue prominent enough to thwart clergy.
If I am given the latitude to ask one more question, what is an example of a transgression the church’s overseers could commit that would create an exodus of members? I presume that aiding and abetting a despot wouldn’t provide sufficient reason. I presume that Black and Hispanic men barred from leadership based on race, wouldn’t do it.
The new strategy of the far right is to label educators “an enemy of the people” and advance a stealth takeover of school boards. We this this same strategy on display in several red “dead head” states. Moms for Liberty and some other fake outraged parent groups are tools of destruction. Normal citizens that value public education and understand the commitment to the common good are going to have to get engaged to defend their public schools in order to fend off right wing takeovers. It is going to take lot of local activists that knock on doors sounding the alarm to local residents to counter this assault on democracy. These right wing extremists have lots of dark money behind them.
cx: We see this same strategy…
I like Rebekah Jones renaming: “Mons for Tyranny”
Yes, that’s the PhD whistlebliwer scientist that the Florida brain dead monkeys true Ted for Matt Gaetz.
Rejected.
Florida: where thinking goes to die
LOL!!!!
What search firm would ever take that job?
Doubtful they’ll use a search firm.
How many illegal questions do you think they’ll ask in interviews?
Do the women of M4L enjoy the irony of their position?
Even if targeted by a group like M4L, nobody can fire nor influence the firing of women in the top leadership jobs of the Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention nor, the Mormon church.
Religious schools can fire, not hire, fail to promote people, based on sex. Female is a sex. (SCOTUS exempted the schools from civil rights employment law in 2020.)
Progressive parents need to meet the morons head on at these meetings. They want fireworks? Give the Mutants for Libeltry or whatever they are a lot more than they expected. We need organized groups of progressive Moms and Dads in communities around the country showing up at school board meetings to shout the hateful fundy zealots down.
Yes, Bob. An opposing strategy of taking the high road fails when self-righteous tyrants want to impose their brand of bigotry on others. Tyrants have to be stopped on the low roads that they travel.
Bigotry is learned young. In 1957, when Jerry Jones (owner of the Cowboys) was 14 years old in Ark., he allegedly blocked the entry of Black students to an integrated school. Raw Story recently posted about a photo of the incident. Jones was asked about his role that day and his subsequent actions related to race and discrimination.
Jones’ answers fall flat. Others knew to be better as early as 1957 and to, subsequently, act with conscience and consciousness, why didn’t Jones?