With new boards coming in January, there's an opportunity to reverse a trend that has proven detrimental to local politics - the nationalization of local debates.
If you expect any positive movement in the FCPS with the new School Board, you are kidding yourself. Fredericksburg City voted for the most status quo supporting board we have ever had. The FDC successfully convinced the lemming voters of Fredericksburg to vote for candidates that have zero interest in change, especially for change in the financial malfeasance in the School Board operations and the rampant nepotism in the Fredericksburg School board and top tier leadership of FCPS. There is zero interest in FCPS improving their academic performance. Its all about maintaining the status quo at the levers of power. Many thanks to our local Boss Tweeds and Tammany Hall, you got exactly what you paid for.
Spot-on analysis about how national ideologies have hijacked local problem-solving. Your Spotsylvania case study is particul arly instructive because it shows the real cost: institutional memory gone, experienced teachers fled, resources wasted on sideshows. What makes this piece so valuable is you're not just diagnosing teh problem, you're naming the tension every local board faces between solving actual problems versusperforming ideology for a national audience. The Lincoln invocation works here because you're calling for the same kind of contextual thinking he used.
It's not so much that I mind the idea of functioning school boards - it's the presentation of it as a solution to our national issues. Stiff upper lip and carry on is all. Pretend it doesn't matter. Don't talk about it, because talking about it may give offense.
That is most certainly not the solution. If it were, the last 40-50 years of liberals/Democrats/independents doing it would have worked by now. If you're satisfied with that, then carry on.
I would argue that the facts say otherwise. There needs to be a change. There must be some solution beyond keeping our mouths shut and our heads down to the problems that not only exist, but are worsening.
If you feel you and our nation are more free, safer, healthier, more prosperous, wiser, etc. than you could or should be, then I would posit following such tactics have worked so far. Sadly, I either do not share your optimism or your values.
One of the things I've found most disconcerting and disappointing as I've watched us slide into the abyss at an ever quickening pace - has not been that it has happened logarithmically - to where it seemed controllable and reasonable during the Reagan years, increased under Gingrich's disdain for our form of government coupled with Nationalist Christians (Nat-C's for short) gaining evermore power, to the civil liberties signed over in fear after 9-11, the militancy of the Tea Party, ever more overt racism of the Obama years, the tentative attempts at totalitarian control during the 1st Trump disaster, to the clear and overt actions being made toward that goal by Republicans and oligarchs in the last year - but that so many people that you would think would be the most horrified by these actions make it a deliberate tactic to ignore them at all costs.
Is the sole metric of whether our society is functioning as it should to be whether there is camaraderie and congeniality amongst local school boards? Are there no principles we are unwilling to give away as long as the 401K is protected?
If so, we're not showing it. I see so many pundits who make the differentiation that happens here. Trump did this, and Trump did that.
Ignoring that he could not do these things alone. A majority of the electorate chose a felon convicted of fraud, whose moral, intellectual, patriotic, and ethical deficiencies are both known and legion, who was charged and likely only escaped conviction of more serious charges by being elected - and who is openly following a playbook designed by billionaires and their evermore controlling media monopoly almost to the letter.
The results?
Our former allies now fear us as much as any other totalitarian state. With cause. We've threatened to invade and annex Canada. To steal or forcibly buy Greenland. Are actively instigating an illegal shadow war in Venezuela under specious reasons that includes war crimes. As we just openly abandoned NATO and advised everyone else our loyalties are transactional, not moral.
Our taxes change daily based upon whether they help or impede the Republican Party or its adherents. Our streets are policed by secret police who do not even show their faces as they sweep through communities - arresting, detaining, deporting, or gulaging those taken. Often in deliberate indifference to the judiciary. Or even probable cause. With racial profiling allowed.
Meanwhile, Republican activists on the Supreme Court are now using a shadow docket that most of us had never heard of a year ago to issue party favorable rulings without so much as a justification of their orders. Pardons have been issued by Republicans to those who violently attacked our government, and now - to rub salt in the wounds of those police who defended us - we'll be paying these insurrectionists damages for the pain and suffering when they tried to overthrow us.
Inspector generals, actual generals, policemen, prosecutors, colleges, companies, anyone who might stand for rule of law or civil liberties is systematically fired, attacked, criminally charged, defunded by Republicans at the first hint of principle or dissent as loyal employees are falsely fired for cause, and our military is paid by billionaires rather than taxpayers.
Foods and medicine are left to rot in warehouses internationally rather than to be delivered as intended by the American people. With millions dying as a result. We award genocide and lawlessness in Gaza and abandon Ukraine. Now whether that's due to some pictures with Bubba or just a general disdain for a peaceable people who just want to be free - one wonders. But I doubt they care one way or another. It's what's happening that matters more than the why.
Americans suffer ever worsening wealth inequality, health care costs are skyrocketing in the only one of the top 70 countries in the world that does not have a national healthcare system, while sciences, environmental laws, and consumer laws are systematically gutted by Republicans.
And the only thing you believe matters is that we smile focusing on test scores?
Huh.
Few things.
Republicans again - nationally have openly said that they will not consider their time in national power a success unless they destroy the Department of Education.
They have shaken down universities, law firms for millions in money and in kind legal representation. Overtaken museums, threatened sporting events, even things as petty as the Kennedy Center.
Locally - they are looking to defund school lunches and breakfasts, as well as installing voucher programs to increase the gap between the haves and the have nots.
With all of that, is there ever a point out there where appeasement does not appear to you to be the solution?
Because if it's there, hard for me to see it.
And finally - if none of those things mentioned above are not enough for you to stand up for them, what exactly do you think that you're teaching our children?
I suspect kids aren't as dumb as you say. And they learn just as much from what they see as what they hear.
Maybe we ought to focus more on what we're teaching them. Because if it's what I'm seeing yet you and other appeasers are either not seeing or not caring about enough to stand up for it - not sure I can blame them for not buying it.
I don't.
A long time ago, someone wrote that they held certain truths to be self-evident. That all were created equal, and endowed with certain inalienable rights. Amongst them were life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It mattered enough then for them to pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their honor.
Does it matter enough to us now to do the same. Or is the 401k and a non-judgemental, non-questioning cheerful demeanor more important?
And does the above state of things support or destroy those basic tenets of our nation?
Because I'm not sure what your trying to teach them is worth the effort.
If you expect any positive movement in the FCPS with the new School Board, you are kidding yourself. Fredericksburg City voted for the most status quo supporting board we have ever had. The FDC successfully convinced the lemming voters of Fredericksburg to vote for candidates that have zero interest in change, especially for change in the financial malfeasance in the School Board operations and the rampant nepotism in the Fredericksburg School board and top tier leadership of FCPS. There is zero interest in FCPS improving their academic performance. Its all about maintaining the status quo at the levers of power. Many thanks to our local Boss Tweeds and Tammany Hall, you got exactly what you paid for.
Very true. Evidenced by FDC endorsing the school board member that was stealing money from teachers and students so she could have luxury vacations
Spot-on analysis about how national ideologies have hijacked local problem-solving. Your Spotsylvania case study is particul arly instructive because it shows the real cost: institutional memory gone, experienced teachers fled, resources wasted on sideshows. What makes this piece so valuable is you're not just diagnosing teh problem, you're naming the tension every local board faces between solving actual problems versusperforming ideology for a national audience. The Lincoln invocation works here because you're calling for the same kind of contextual thinking he used.
It's not so much that I mind the idea of functioning school boards - it's the presentation of it as a solution to our national issues. Stiff upper lip and carry on is all. Pretend it doesn't matter. Don't talk about it, because talking about it may give offense.
That is most certainly not the solution. If it were, the last 40-50 years of liberals/Democrats/independents doing it would have worked by now. If you're satisfied with that, then carry on.
I would argue that the facts say otherwise. There needs to be a change. There must be some solution beyond keeping our mouths shut and our heads down to the problems that not only exist, but are worsening.
If you feel you and our nation are more free, safer, healthier, more prosperous, wiser, etc. than you could or should be, then I would posit following such tactics have worked so far. Sadly, I either do not share your optimism or your values.
One of the things I've found most disconcerting and disappointing as I've watched us slide into the abyss at an ever quickening pace - has not been that it has happened logarithmically - to where it seemed controllable and reasonable during the Reagan years, increased under Gingrich's disdain for our form of government coupled with Nationalist Christians (Nat-C's for short) gaining evermore power, to the civil liberties signed over in fear after 9-11, the militancy of the Tea Party, ever more overt racism of the Obama years, the tentative attempts at totalitarian control during the 1st Trump disaster, to the clear and overt actions being made toward that goal by Republicans and oligarchs in the last year - but that so many people that you would think would be the most horrified by these actions make it a deliberate tactic to ignore them at all costs.
Is the sole metric of whether our society is functioning as it should to be whether there is camaraderie and congeniality amongst local school boards? Are there no principles we are unwilling to give away as long as the 401K is protected?
If so, we're not showing it. I see so many pundits who make the differentiation that happens here. Trump did this, and Trump did that.
Ignoring that he could not do these things alone. A majority of the electorate chose a felon convicted of fraud, whose moral, intellectual, patriotic, and ethical deficiencies are both known and legion, who was charged and likely only escaped conviction of more serious charges by being elected - and who is openly following a playbook designed by billionaires and their evermore controlling media monopoly almost to the letter.
The results?
Our former allies now fear us as much as any other totalitarian state. With cause. We've threatened to invade and annex Canada. To steal or forcibly buy Greenland. Are actively instigating an illegal shadow war in Venezuela under specious reasons that includes war crimes. As we just openly abandoned NATO and advised everyone else our loyalties are transactional, not moral.
Our taxes change daily based upon whether they help or impede the Republican Party or its adherents. Our streets are policed by secret police who do not even show their faces as they sweep through communities - arresting, detaining, deporting, or gulaging those taken. Often in deliberate indifference to the judiciary. Or even probable cause. With racial profiling allowed.
Meanwhile, Republican activists on the Supreme Court are now using a shadow docket that most of us had never heard of a year ago to issue party favorable rulings without so much as a justification of their orders. Pardons have been issued by Republicans to those who violently attacked our government, and now - to rub salt in the wounds of those police who defended us - we'll be paying these insurrectionists damages for the pain and suffering when they tried to overthrow us.
Inspector generals, actual generals, policemen, prosecutors, colleges, companies, anyone who might stand for rule of law or civil liberties is systematically fired, attacked, criminally charged, defunded by Republicans at the first hint of principle or dissent as loyal employees are falsely fired for cause, and our military is paid by billionaires rather than taxpayers.
Foods and medicine are left to rot in warehouses internationally rather than to be delivered as intended by the American people. With millions dying as a result. We award genocide and lawlessness in Gaza and abandon Ukraine. Now whether that's due to some pictures with Bubba or just a general disdain for a peaceable people who just want to be free - one wonders. But I doubt they care one way or another. It's what's happening that matters more than the why.
Americans suffer ever worsening wealth inequality, health care costs are skyrocketing in the only one of the top 70 countries in the world that does not have a national healthcare system, while sciences, environmental laws, and consumer laws are systematically gutted by Republicans.
And the only thing you believe matters is that we smile focusing on test scores?
Huh.
Few things.
Republicans again - nationally have openly said that they will not consider their time in national power a success unless they destroy the Department of Education.
They have shaken down universities, law firms for millions in money and in kind legal representation. Overtaken museums, threatened sporting events, even things as petty as the Kennedy Center.
Locally - they are looking to defund school lunches and breakfasts, as well as installing voucher programs to increase the gap between the haves and the have nots.
With all of that, is there ever a point out there where appeasement does not appear to you to be the solution?
Because if it's there, hard for me to see it.
And finally - if none of those things mentioned above are not enough for you to stand up for them, what exactly do you think that you're teaching our children?
I suspect kids aren't as dumb as you say. And they learn just as much from what they see as what they hear.
Maybe we ought to focus more on what we're teaching them. Because if it's what I'm seeing yet you and other appeasers are either not seeing or not caring about enough to stand up for it - not sure I can blame them for not buying it.
I don't.
A long time ago, someone wrote that they held certain truths to be self-evident. That all were created equal, and endowed with certain inalienable rights. Amongst them were life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It mattered enough then for them to pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their honor.
Does it matter enough to us now to do the same. Or is the 401k and a non-judgemental, non-questioning cheerful demeanor more important?
And does the above state of things support or destroy those basic tenets of our nation?
Because I'm not sure what your trying to teach them is worth the effort.
Moving on.