One Utah

As part of an earlier discussion, Caveat asked:

“How do we steer our ponderous educational contraption towards a more humane and less fundamentalist, path?”

With regard to public education, it’s important to understand that there is a swath of the American public that distrusts public education. To these folks, education is problematic because it teaches things they don’t believe - like evolution and gender equality and the facts about human sexuality. For these folks, education is strictly practical - you go to school to get job training. These are folks who periodically whine and cry about “liberal” professors indoctrinating their children (i.e. teaching them the facts rather than biblical myths).

On a relatively regular basis, there is a wingnut eruption over some issue. The case last year in Dover, PA where a judge effectively smacked a bunch of creationist down is a good example; the case had been bubbling below the surface for at least 18 months before it blew up publicly; conservatives lost and that loss still stings and they’re vowing to keep fighting despite a resounding and public defeat. Currently, in a Delaware county, a group of paleo conservatives are fighting tooth and nail to get a sexuality curriculum that teaches only what they approve. They keep losing but they keep fighting. The fight is always the same - it’s part of the fundamentalist war on modernity - and it just moves from place to place. These are the folks who run organizations like the Utah Eagle Forum. You can count on them to claim they’re speaking for “real” Americans.

In Frank Rich’s What’s the Matter with Kansas, he describes the plen-t-plaint - there’s always some outrage over something that this portion of the populace is upset about. It may “promotion of homosexuality” through GSA’s or diversity education. It may be promoting promiscuity through providing teens with contraception and accurate medical information. Or, as happened in the Northwest (h/t to republicoft) objecting to public schools showing Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth because it is not (I shit you not) unbiblical. Forty years ago, this same portion of the public was starting private “Christian” schools to keep their little white kids from sitting next to little black kids in public schools. It’s not as if their fight is noble or particularly praiseworthy. It is however consistently a fight against any form of modernity, change, or diversity.

In terms of numbers, these folks represent somewhere between 10 and 30% of the public. But they are frighteningly well organized, fanatical to the point of “Dude you’re fucking scary”, relentless and more than a little amoral.

And these folks have thrown themselves screaming in front of progress in public education. Their superior organization has allowed them to dominate the Republican party in many places - our much benighted Utah included. As a result, even in Utah, elected Republicans are more conservative than the public that elected them. Two aspects have certainly benefited these folks - the first is amazing mis-competence of the media. IOW, despite the fact that a majority of Americans favor some form of legal recognition of same sex couples, the media presents the debate in absolute black and white terms; someone asking for same couples to have legal marriage usually ends up debating someone like Gayle Ruzicka who believes same sex couples shouldn’t even exist and all gay folk should get themselves to Evergreen ASAP. The second aspect has been the absolute failure of the progressive movement in America in the last forty years. Culturally, progressives may be winning, but politically no generation of American progressives has been less capable of effective political organizing and campaigning than the baby boomers. It’s no accident that the leading conservative politicians are all baby boomers - Gingrich, Santorum, Bush, Huckabee, McCain - while progressive baby boomers produced the triangulating Clintons.

To get back to Caveat’s question, what do we do now?

It’s important to know what we’re asking for and what we’re not willing to settle for. In terms of sexuality education, we’re asking for comprehensive, medically accurate, age appropriate curriculum. We know from real world experience that abstinence only fails abjectly and completely fails. In terms of science education, we want actual science taught in our schools. Creationism, whether or not its under that label Intelligent Design, Old Earth Creationism, or Young Earth Creationism, is mythology and religion dressed in scientific language, but it’s not scientific. It’s formalized ignorance, but it is ignorance nonetheless.

It is finally starting to happen, but progressives are bringing some level of organizational competence to creating a broad based progressive movement. Organizationally, progressives have far too long relied on single issue organizations and for far too long, have consistently failed to be effective. Conservatives, as Paul Waldman reminds us, have effectively created a broad based movement. This movement sees the vital connections between the single issues and acts on all of them while consistently constructing the arguments in favor of the overarching conservative movement. While representing a minority view in the US, conservatives nevertheless have built a political majority. Progressives need to learn this lesson. Reproductive health and freedom, gender equality, economic justice, rights for sexual minorities, racial justice and religious freedom are all connected; fighting anti-choice judges, for instance, would be far more effective if we make the case that reproductive freedom isn’t just about abortion. Read what conservatives have to say about the “contraceptive mentality” and privacy rights you know conservatives don’t believe abortion is the ultimate end of the fight.

Finally, the biggest battle will be against public official beholden to the most conservative elements of American society. Gayle Ruzicka always gets what she wants - not because she’s right but because most of our legislators are scared trouserless of the old witch. She’s ruthless, amoral, organized and does not pretend to be nice, civil, or pleasant. Go to a school board public forum and you will hear the loudest voices from the most conservative people - they may be in the minority even at the meeting but they’ll scream the loudest. Elected officials hear those voices and think they speak for a majority. And because conservative organizations are such tight ships, they get their people out far more effectively than do the rest of us.

We have to take over ineffective progressive organizations, we have to get people out and we have to be personally active. We have to write letters, make phone calls, and make our voices heard and get better people elected. And that is how we answer Caveat’s question - with action.

This entry was posted Saturday, February 3rd, 2007 at 8:45 am and is filed under 4th Estate (Media), Bigotry, Bigotry, Contraception, Democracy, Elections, Equality, Evolution, Gail Rusika, Homophobia, Human Rights, Privacy, Religious Fundamentalism, Republicans, SLC Politics, Salt Lake City, Society, Utah Legislature, Utah Politics, censorship. Both comments and pings are currently closed.