My sister recently saw a Facebook post about how you can recognize the more fascist candidates by how many signs they have. For that, the clear winner is Jeff Myer, running for Beaverton School District.
We laughed, but there is an element of truth. The original comment was about being more likely to get corporate sponsorship. That is true, but also, volunteer efforts are more coordinated on that side. They often have a sense of mission against those live-and-let-live heathens, and know they are surrounded by wickedness, so they work hard at it.
When you actually do believe in living and letting live, it is easy to think that the rest of the world is that way. Well, maybe a lot are, but they often get apathetic about school boards and things like that. If you really want people to be able to live well, apathy won't do it.
As it is, having read about Jeff Myers', I see those signs (all over!) and get irritated. Someone who hasn't read might think, Well, a lot of people like him; he's probably pretty good. Then, if they do vote, and they see the other candidate's name is Justice Rajee, all of that might render a subconscious influence when what we really need is consciousness.
There are a few other commonalities that I think are worth pointing out.
Transparency
That is the current key word that the fascists keep throwing around. The repeated use helps give the impression that we have been lied to, and they will fix that. The most obvious contradiction is when they keep saying "You can check the site," because so much information is up there. That belies a transparency issue.
The other problem with that -- which may require a little more digging -- is that when you do check on the candidates' statements, there are some pretty clear lies shrouded in vagueness. I spent some time checking claims for candidate Bart Rask at https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2023/05/do-they-know-or-care-that-they-are-lying.html.
Vague lies are the opposite of transparency.
One friend suggested "transparency" was a replacement for "all kids", remembering that last time around there was more of a focus on the danger of CRT to the self-esteem of white kids.
It may be instructive that after Newberg voted in several fascists, an unvaccinated teacher showed up to school in blackface as a "Rosa Parks" style stand against the way she was marginalized by not being vaccinated. She spoke about "all kids" being marginalized in some way. (Though you could argue that the white kids texting about a slave auction, speculating on bids for their classmates of color, and calling for another Holocaust were not acting like they felt marginalized.)
I did see comments worrying about the self-esteem of white kids, but what we saw was that was not really a problem. Students learning about a racist past did not make them feel evil, but increased their awareness of the past and present.
This year the focus seems to be more on what a poor state the schools are in, having missed two years of learning.
I think most people will know that their children have not missed two years worth of school as we enter into the fourth year of the pandemic. However, the candidates have two goals here.
One is their belief that any attempts to prevent contagion are a wasted effort, which goes along with their general conservative bent (even though that is not exactly how conservatism used to operate, and one reason why I use "fascist" so much).
The other reason that is important is that calling it "2 years of learning loss" is that it does not give credit for the efforts that were made and the learning that was accomplished. It is an insult to the work of the staff and the students, but fascists need to put others down; no one else has any good points. (We will explore this more later.)
You will also see many references to involving parents. That sounds good, except they don't mean that there should be information online and meetings and volunteer opportunities; that already exists.
They mean that parents have to explicitly say "yes" to sex education. This would make sense if the schools were truly teaching 10-years olds sexual positions, which they are not. The majority of what they are teaching is how to set boundaries and recognize and seek help for abuse, and how to respect other people. I don't deny the importance of knowing how to navigate puberty, but those other parts are essentially anti-fascist, so that's what they really hate.
The most blatant lies are about the comprehensive sex education, and that's not a coincidence.
They make their platform sound good, but you don't have to look that hard to see the problems. You do need to look at least a little.
Public schools are so important, and so many of the people campaigning for the fascists are not even sending their children their, opting for home schooling or the Heritage Academy. They care, but in ways that are ultimately destructive.
So we need to care for good.
Related:
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2023/05/school-board-elections-dont-let.html
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