School Board Elections: Choosing directions

It has been tricky writing about something where I know I am just seeing the tip of the ice berg; I know there is so much more. 

It feels more comfortable when I can be specific, but if someone in a different district -- or even a different state -- is reading, I want it to be helpful for them too.

One struggle has been even knowing what to call them. There are points in favor of using the term "conservative". I could say "Republican-leaning", though I bet a lot of the candidates identify as Libertarian or Independent. 

The most recent thought was "recidivists".

For the purposes of clear communication, that isn't great, because there is no familiarity with the term being applied to them. Therefore, the real problem is that there hasn't been enough discussion on this for there to be familiarity with any term. 

I do want to take a moment to get into why "recidivists" came to mind.

In general, that word is for anyone going back to an old behavior. There is also some connotation of them being criminals, as "recidivism" gets used more in conversations about crime and corrections.

Since Trump announced his candidacy, racists have been getting louder and prouder. A lot of conservatives didn't like the vulgarity, but the ones who have embraced it have been more prominent. Ask Liz Cheney, who is not a particularly progressive person.

For conservatives who didn't embrace Trumpism -- some of whom have been having a hard time, I know -- there still needs to be an acknowledgment that the racism has been there for quite some time. That goes back before Trump.

Even people who look at the glory days of the party as back when it was Ronald Reagan... Ronald Reagan got a big push for his campaign by speaking on state's rights near Philadelphia, Mississippi, where three Civil Rights workers were murdered. 

That was what we call a dog whistle, and Lee Atwater, Republican consultant and strategist, was the king of dog whistles. That made turning the "War on Drugs" into a means of racist control really easy. That it was a war against Black and brown people was hidden by the word "urban".

That goes back to 1980, 41 years ago. (Though you could make arguments likening Trump to Barry Goldwater, going back further.) Was moving from dog whistles to bullhorns the right progress to make?

Beaverton School Board candidate Jeanette Schade was just on Glenn Beck and has all sorts of new fans from it. Is that what we want?

Schade also denounced the false story that she received a donation from the Proud Boys, because it was just someone who spoke with a Proud Boy at a Trump rally. Is that the influence we want?

If you want conservatism that isn't sociopathic, that may be a possibility, but it is going to require some serious honesty and soul searching. The party is not currently there.

So what do you choose?

Do we want to move forward, with greater equality, greater valuing of individuals, and at least minimal consideration for each other?

Or do we want to stand with the January 6th insurrectionists?

So many times I have written that something was an oversimplification, but this really isn't. Candidates may seem to be going in a direction that you like, but they are not moderates. They have an agenda of bigotry.

This choice should be easy. 

Ballots are due May 18th.

For Beaverton School District, please vote for Susan Greenberg, Karen Pérez-Da Silva, and Sunita Garg, and either LeeAnn Larsen or Ugonna Enyinnaya. We are just lucky that whoever was recruiting for Beaverton missed Zone 5.

For Hillsboro School District, please vote for Erika Lopez, Mark Watson, Nancy Thomas, and Jaci Spross.

Other districts: Look for candidates against sex education and critical race theory, and in favor of opening schools full time immediately. Actively vote against them.

And if you were just going to ignore school board elections, or know other people who were going to do so, please reconsider. This matters.