“Thus always to tyrants!” is the motto of Virginia and printed on our flag. Virtue, portrayed as a woman, vanquishes tyranny, symbolized by a fallen king at her feet.
On Tuesday, Virginia’s Mama and Papa Bears defeated Tyrant Terry, who wanted centralized, bureaucratic government control of schools. Sic semper tyrannis.
Political outsider Glenn Youngkin’s unlikely victory over former Gov. Terry McAuliffe was fueled by the wrath of parents furious at sexually explicit and racist curriculum.
McAuliffe also didn’t care that COVID-related public-school closures disproportionately hurt students of color, with National Journal reporting that McAuliffe “declined comment when asked, in hindsight, if it was a mistake for schools to be closed last year.”
Parents were incensed that McAuliffe imperiously dismissed their concerns by uttering his most toxic line: “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
But parents knew better, and they laughed last. Despite liberal claims otherwise, the Virginia state code says “a parent has a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care of the parent’s child.”
Elections are numbers games. Leftist teachers unions may have bankrolled McAuliffe, but there are more parents than teachers in Virginia.
Parents were angry that many Virginia high-school libraries included books like a cartoon graphic novel — a genre appealing to teens and preteens — with arguably pornographic content.
This explicit content wasn’t allowed on late-night television, and we know this because Independent Women’s Voice released a 30-second ad titled “Worth 1,000 Words” (housed at ToxicSchools.org) that dared to show this sexually explicit content pushed on our kids.
Our original ad and a blurred-to-comply edition were both rejected by Virginia and Washington, DC, network affiliate television stations, which claimed federal law prohibits pornographic images and words on air — even late at night or with news value.
IWV specifically tried to buy time after 11 p.m. so Virginia adults could see for themselves what’s available to schoolchildren.
Unfortunately, in 2016, then-Gov. McAuliffe vetoed a bill that would have required schools to give parents more input about sexually explicit content covered in school.
Virginia parents also rejected the racist concept of “critical race theory” promoted by liberals who tell children of color they are less capable of achieving the American dream and that white children are inherently evil.
We could see similar nationwide parental backlash across the country next year. With apologies to James Carville, it’s the schools, stupid.
Carrie Sheffield, a Virginia resident, is a senior policy analyst with Independent Women’s Voice.