Now that the veil has been lifted from the public's eyes and with Merrick Garland's Department of "Justice" still planning to intimidate American citizens, the National School Boards Association has issued a fake apology for calling parents terrorists.  This is the usual smoke-and-mirrors tactic of progressives.  They say what they mean, then claim that it was misunderstood.  Make no mistake: the NSBA's statement that parents are terrorists conveys the entity's real thoughts despite the recent apology.

It is ironic that the NSBA and the agents of Commissar Garland say they are concerned with limiting violence.  That clearly didn't motivate the Loudoun County School Board when a "gender fluid" boy sexually assaulted a girl.  If I were a parent whose child experienced that kind of grotesque violence, I would be incensed, too.  Instead of limiting violence or seeking justice, Loudoun County covered it up. So much for protecting children.

The rot in American education is long, going back decades to the '60s radicals and Marxists who wanted to dethrone Western civilization and its values of liberty, equality, and merit.  The children of those radicals populate today's school boards, the scions of the anti-American and anti-Western protesters who called for a "long march through the institutions" to change society.  Their targets then, as now, are the common Americans, the middle-class backbone of the country, the nuclear families that provide the sustenance and stability of civil society.

Through the scrawling vandalism of American monuments, progressives give voice to their genuine beliefs.  America is a terrorist nation.  Americans are a terrorist people.  "Genocidal terrorist."  "Colonizer."  "Murderer."  These are the all too common words and phrases plastered onto our heroes and icons.  Even the author of the Declaration of Independence is not free from assault.

Since suburban parents and families are often the descendants of those "genocidal terrorists" and "colonizers," it's not a stretch to say progressives see as modern-day terrorists and colonizers those parents and other American families concerned with Critical Hate Theory's acidic and insidious propaganda.

They were the problem with the founding of the United States.  They are the problem with the United States today.  There are no nuances.  Their Manichean world of right and wrong, righteousness and unrighteousness, is the life spirit that governs their actions.  Without it, they may be forced to contemplate questions that would frighten them, as it frightened Jefferson.

What makes the NSBA's apology hollow is that we know that it consulted with the Biden administration for the inflammatory language, despite now saying the language was in error.  The NSBA knew what it was doing then.  It knows what it is doing now.

The attempt to save face and appeal to the better angels of our nature is a common progressive tactic.  Progressives know that conservatives and Christians are more empathetic, charitable, and forgiving than they.  Therefore, they hope the same spirit of charity will be extended to those who do not intend to change their ways; their apology and calls for forgiveness are a red herring meant to distract from the obvious.

Despite the NSBA board's apology, does anyone really think its members don't consider parents and families concerned with CRT and gender-fluid propaganda "terrorists"?  Does anyone really think school boards and administrators can be trusted with protecting children when they call for their muzzling, masking, and silence?  Does anyone really think teachers consider the United States a force for good in the world and an inspiration for future generations?

What the last year of school board and schooling debates and protests has shown is how far the rot in public education, even private education, sinks.  Yet Americans have an unprecedented opportunity in the coming elections, and the coming decade, to transform education for themselves, their children, and future generations for the better.  This doesn't just begin with school board elections.

The battle over school boards is just a small battle in a larger war over the future of the culture of education.  We mustn't settle for believing that public education can be a well for patriotism and wholesomeness because of who is elected in school board races (though this is important).  We must also look to private schools, religious schools, and homeschooling as places that will play a major role in the future of education.  In short, we must look to ourselves.  Change starts with us.

Family life is also a domain of the future of our educational spirit.  Education doesn't stop in the classroom.  The spirit of education runs through the books we read, the programs we watch, and the stories we tell in our homes.  No NSBA memo, apology, or fake groveling for forgiveness and "doing better" will erase the fact that Americans clearly see the poison being thrust upon the next generation.  They have declared war on us.  We shouldn't forget that even if we do not wish harm on them, though they seek harm on us.

Paul Krause is a writer, editor, and teacher. He is the author of The Odyssey of Love: A Christian Guide to the Great Books and The Politics of Plato and contributed to The College Lecture Today and the forthcoming book Diseases, Disasters, and Political Theory.  He is the incoming editor of VoegelinView.

Image: A classroom by the CDC.

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