OPINION:
Democrats in Virginia who do the bidding of teachers’ unions and who are angry that a Republican dared win back the governor’s mansion have been pushing back hard against the newly minted Gov. Glenn Youngkin and his executive order giving parents the right to dictate face mask policies for their own kids.
Democrats, on school face mask watch, like to pretend they have a moral high ground.
But all they’re really doing is fishing for victims to exploit so they can further their own selfishly ambitious political goals — goals, that if reached, will turn America socialist-slash-Marxist and replace the concept of individualism with an ugly dark collectivism.
After all, if they can get today’s youth to accept that government is to be obeyed, blindly and automatically, then those are tomorrow’s lockstep Democrat Party voters. Non-thinking. Non-questioning. Non-analytical.
Democrats are such hypocrites.
When Democrat Ralph Northam was in the governor’s mansion in Virginia, his executive orders were treated as law. All the face mask happy people said mask up! — it’s the law! — even though, of course, it wasn’t. Then, store front windows declared a face mask “law” in place. Then, school administrators and union-backed teachers insisted on obedience to the face mask “law” in place. Then, left-leaning school boards demeaned and viciously attacked parents who wanted their children to go face mask free during the school day because, as these leftists said, the “law” was for all to wear masks. Some school board zealots even went to far as to deem parents who resisted this so-called-but-not-really “law” as enemies of the state, criminal entities, deserving of federal Justice Department investigation.
The point? The takeaway?
These same hardline leftists who screamed about “law” when it was really a Democrat’s executive order are now screaming about a Republican’s executive order, claiming it’s not “law.”
These same hardline school administrators who “lawfully” forced face masks onto Virginia’s public school students while Northam the Democrat ruled from Richmond are now outright rebelling against the same “lawful” order to take off the face masks, this time issued by Youngkin.
The only difference is one order was issued by a Democrat; the other, by a Republican.
Public schools and their socialist-minded minions in the unions — and that’s “unions” in quotation marks because Virginia doesn’t actually recognize “unions” — but these socialist types masquerading as concerned about kids’ health are now stripping parents of their rights to decide.
Parental authorities don’t matter to Democrats so much as government will.
A handful of left-leaning school districts bucked Youngkin’s order and demanded the children who attend their facilities wear their face masks, pending the outcome of court challenge.
“Fairfax County Public Schools is one of seven school boards that has banded together to file a lawsuit against the Republican governor’s executive order to make masks optional in schools across the Commonwealth,” WUSA 9 wrote.
And for parents who defy the schools?
For parents who demand schools recognize their parental authorities?
For parents who tell their kids, hey, Kid, wear the face mask if you want — but I’m not going to make you wear it? For those parents?
The headline says all: “FCPS students who repeatedly refuse to wear mask could be excluded from in-person learning,” WUSA 9 wrote.
Who died and made these bureaucrats God?
Three words for the school administrators who like to mount their high horses and snottily pretend as if they’re protecting children better than the children’ own parents protect them: Know your place.
Parents, not school administrators, hold parental rights. That’s why it’s called parental rights and not administrators’ rights. Parents, also of note, pay the salaries of these school administrators. That makes parents the bosses; teachers, school boards, administrators and staffers — the servants.
Know your place. It’s a powerful phrase, one that all government workers should hang above their desks, alongside their mirrors, on the dash boards of their cars.
Youngkin made a common sense pronouncement on face masks that returned parental rights to their rightful places — with parents. Those who want their kids to wear face masks can insist on their kids wearing face masks. Those who don’t — don’t. That school bureaucrats cannot stand to allow parents this simple choice speaks volumes about the Marxist, collectivist, anti-American training grounds the public education system has become.
America’s public schools are no longer great places of learning. They’re pools of socialism training where the Democrats and Democrat minions fish to train their next generation of mindless voters.
The leftists who staff them need to be reminded of their place.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Socialists Don’t Sleep: Christians Must Rise Or America Will Fall,” is available by clicking HERE.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.