Opinion: Let freedom ring - ClarkCountyToday.com

In her weekly column, Nancy Churchill states ‘a focus on freedom is how we will win the culture war; humanity is longing to be free’

Nancy Churchill
Dangerous Rhetoric

Around the world, the World Economic Forum’s “Great Reset” appears to be actively working to dismantle democratic systems of economic freedom, capitalism and personal prosperity in order to replace them with a worldwide authoritarian dictatorship. These people do not value individuals; they value power and control.

The future may seem grim and chaotic, but it doesn’t have to be. We are on the cusp of a rebirth of a classical liberal society which values reasoned debate, pursuit of truth, the scientific method, fact-based analysis and treating people as individuals, not as groups.

What we focus on expands

A focus on freedom is how we will win the culture war. Humanity is longing to be free. The Great Reset crowd may try to suppress and devalue the individual, but that’s a social-evolutionary dead-end. The American experiment with personal freedom is going to inspire a rebound against authoritarianism. How do we remind our communities of the value of freedom? Where do we start? Let’s focus on the state of education in Washington and in our local school districts.

What is Critical Race Theory (CRT)?

The fifty-year infiltration of critical theory into the educational institutions has had an enormous impact on how our children are being educated and radicalized today.

According to the website Critical Race Training in Education, “Critical Race Theory is not the traditional civil rights movement, which sought to provide equal opportunity and dignity without regard to race. Rather, Critical Race Theory, and the training to implement it, is a radical ideology that focuses on race as the key to understanding society, and objectifies people based on race.”

Critical Race Theory is an outgrowth of the Marxist school of critical theory. It is an academic movement which seeks to link racism, race, and power. Critical Race theorists challenge the foundations of the Enlightenment liberal order, such as rationalism, the rule of law, and legal reasoning.

Critical Race Training in Washington Education

An article titled “The Worst Aspects of CRT-based ‘Liberated Ethic Studies’ Flourishing in WA State Teacher Training” lays out the current challenges for educators in our state. The author details how the Washington State Board of Education has contracted with a nonprofit called Washington Ethnic Studies Now (WAESN) to create a framework for ethnic studies trainings that are clearly both racist and antisemitic. Using the “ethnic studies” label, WAESN intends to take Critical Race Theory mainstream, which counters many claims that CRT never gets into the classroom.

Critical Race Training has been embedded in Washington State’s teacher education requirements. For institutes of higher education, Gov. Jay Inslee signed Senate Bill 5227, which mandates Washington’s 40 public colleges and universities conduct training sessions and assessments for both faculty and staff around diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism starting in the 2022-23 academic year.

Regarding K-12 education, Inslee signed Senate Bill 5044 into law, which requires Critical Race Theory (CRT) training for all school staff, board directors, teachers, and administrators in public schools across the state. Our local teachers and administrators are required by law to be “trained” to be racist and view everyone through the lens of identity politics, rather than as individuals with intrinsic value.

Parents and taxpayers can become advocates for civil rights and freedom

The Washington Policy Center notes that school districts can opt out of these mandatory CRT trainings. “Washington is a local control state, which gives school districts the legal authority to reject controversial learning materials. The cited authority is RCW 28A.150.230 (2) (g). The strength of public education is local control. That is why school boards are elected locally, and why parents are encouraged to get directly engaged and become advocates for children.”

When concerned parents and taxpayers get involved, they can have a huge impact on what materials are taught in their school districts. The time for action to save our country is now, and getting involved in your local school district is the quickest way for each of us to have a big impact in our overall society. Let Freedom Ring!

It’s time for those of us who were raised in the era after Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” Speech to make sure that our younger generations understand the battle against racism that we’ve been fighting since the 1960s. Dr. King’s famous speech ends with this idea:

“Let freedom ring. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old spiritual, “Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.” Freedom is the antidote to both racism and tyranny. Let’s focus on the work needed to speed up the day when we can all be free at last. We each have a part to play to let freedom ring.

Nancy Churchill is the state committeewoman for the Ferry County Republican Party. She may be reached at DangerousRhetoric@pm.me. The opinions expressed in Dangerous Rhetoric are her own.