Conservative is Not a Dirty Word

I recall a story told me by a young mother about her two toddler sons, riding in the back of her minivan.  Close in age, they were of course one another’s best friend and chief tormenter.  On this day, the elder brother, Bobby, was pumping his finger up and down, pretending he was using a spray bottle.  “Crrshhh, crshhhh ,” he said as he “sprayed” everything in the van with his imaginary bottle.  “Crshhh, crshhh.” Younger brother, Jake, giggled along, good-naturedly oblivious to the torment about to befall him.

Mom was thinking through her errands, not picking up on the particulars of their conversation, when suddenly Jake started screaming.  It wasn’t the casual whining which usually accompanied brotherly teasing, but that sound of deep and real torment every mother dreads.

She pulled over, convinced he must have been hurt or maybe stung by a bee she’d seen in the van. She hurriedly unstrapped him from his car seat, searching for the culprit, “What is it?  What happened, Jakey?  Where does it hurt?”

Through sobs, he reported piteously, “Bobby sprayed ‘Jake Killer’ on my book and when I pick it up I’m going to die!”  With a flick of his finger and one little spray of make believe, Bobby had caused his brother serious torment.  Jake was inconsolable, utterly convinced of his own doom, and his mother could do nothing to convince him that it was his own participation in the fantasy that was harming him.  I’m sure we can all picture the grin of satisfaction on his brother’s face. 

We may chuckle at this story, but far too many of us are subjecting ourselves to the same make-believe and manipulation in the adult world.  Somehow the prevailing rhetoric in media and society now is that “conservative” is a dirty word – and, shockingly, many of us go along and participate in the fantasy by acting ashamed or hiding from our values to avoid the imaginary sting.  It seems to only require one little word, one little sneer, one little smear… and people who have nothing to be ashamed of give in to the make-believe and fold on their principles.

“Crshhh, crshhh…you want women to be slaves to their bodies.”  No, we want the precious sanctity of humans to be recognized and protected, no matter how small and helpless they are. 

“Crshhh, crshhh,” they spray, “You want to erase gay and trans kids.”  No, we want schools to stop focusing on the sexual preferences of kids, so all children can be valued and educated in a manner that does not contradict their parents’ rights to bring them up in any religious, social, or political tradition they choose. 

“Crshh, crshhh, you want to BAN BOOKS!”  No, we want schools and libraries to be places where adult-themed materials are not presented to minors (like the grocery store, the bank, a random street corner, or any other place where adults would be prosecuted for giving pornographic depictions to minors). 

“Crshhh, crshhh, you HATE anyone who doesn’t hold your beliefs!”  No, we believe true tolerance means loving people no matter how different they are from us, and we do not accept the false premise that we must PROMOTE everything about a person in order to show them fairness and love.

With Fall unfurling, we find ourselves in another election cycle.  Candidates who aren’t staunchly pro-left will be vilified and attacked as “dreaded conservatives” and shamed for having traditional values.  Sadly, many candidates will participate in the fantasy by acting ashamed, playing to the middle, hiding their values, and courting left-leaning votes.

School board races are supposed to be non-partisan, but anyone who has paid attention during the last 10 election cycles knows only one party tries to follow this rule.  Left-leaning candidates have been financed by the Democrat party for decades.  Teacher’s unions, school boards, curriculum providers, and credentialing institutions like the OSBA are overwhelmingly politically left (and active about it) and they endorse only Democrats, while Republican leadership meekly asserts they won’t get involved.  When conservative groups do endorse candidates, it is loudly and hypocritically decried as some sort of subversive plot.

While our largely feckless (or quietly left-leaning) “Republican” leaders stay silent about these races, I will not.  I will support candidates who are conservative – not because schools should be “turned” conservative, but because conservatives are the only ones I see who are truly prepared to defend parent’s rights, to protect vulnerable children from predatory practices, and who are willing to insist on radical fairness in school policies – NOT the race-baiting, divisive identity politics that seeks to privilege one group over another. 

I’m searching for candidates who are willing to correct the course of public education.  It’s supposed to be available to all, applicable to all, and designed to deliver effective academic instruction.  It’s not supposed to be a place where left-leaning (nor right-leaning) politics are forced on our children.  As the backgrounds and beliefs of the community grow more diverse, a public school’s role should be to hold more dearly and strictly to neutrality and balance so that all parents feel comfortable making use of the educational opportunities their tax dollars fund.

I’m looking for candidates who want to restore the big, bright line between what is the school’s responsibility and what is the family’s responsibility.  Public education has been one-sided for far too long in this county, and where has that gotten our kids?  Abused, confused, regressed, and uneducated.  Our kids have been pawns in the political engineering of teacher’s unions, who insisted on the most ridiculous, self-serving, anti-student covid concessions and kept our children masked, isolated, and left behind.  Our kids have been the excuse for ever-increasing expenditures (some nearby districts top out at $30,000 per student per year!), while enduring race antagonism, identity politics, overt sexualization, increasing sexual abuse, confusion, and abysmal educational results.

I’m looking for candidates who know conservative is not a dirty word.

School board candidates, be bold.  Don’t participate in the fantasy that conservatives don’t belong on public boards, or that you have to present a neutral façade to be accepted.  Don’t buy into the deception that traditional values need to be hidden.  How many times do we conservatives have to say, “We’re in the majority” before we actually start behaving like it’s true?