From The
Idiot Factor:
Every once in a while The Wichita Eagle
runs an article from some right-wing nut. This Sunday they did just that, with;
“SCOTUS has a chance to do away with a big barrier to school choice.” They
don’t provide an actual author to this piece. They just say it is from e mThe
Orange County Register:
“The U.S. Supreme Court
may soon decide whether or not to overturn an antiquated series of laws based
in racism and anti-Catholic sentiment that stand in the way of parents making
good decisions about their kids’ education.”
When they say choice, what they really mean is that
taxpayers as myself should contribute our tax money to a religious
institution.
What he calls “anti-Catholic
sentiment” is well deserved in this case. The Catholic Church supports
anti-abortion laws. They even go as far as trying to hold
up Medicaid expansion until lawmakers agree that no tax money will go for
paying for poor people’s abortions. To put it mildly the Catholic Church is a political
institution.
The Catholic Church has taken many political issues over the
years. Today the church has a fairly progressive pope, Pope Francis. Before him
was Pope John Paul II.
He was very conservative and did all he could do to destroy what has been labeled
Liberation
Theology. He also collaborated with Ronald Reagan and the CIA to bring down the government in Poland . When I
was young I went to a Catholic
School
The author of this article tries to paint this issue as
racist and anti-Catholic. He goes to great lengths to do this. He also trashed
teachers’ unions and public
schools in general:
“When a constitutional
amendment failed, states began passing these laws individually to the glee of
southern-state racists who found the laws useful in marginalizing
African-American and Jewish students. Even the Ku Klux Klan was a supporter.
And sadly, whether by accident or by design, California
Blaine Amendments have
blocked school voucher programs that would help parents with kids in struggling
schools. Teachers unions and other powerful forces want to protect the status
quo, while the status quo is exactly what desperate parents are trying to
avoid.
Will Swaim, president
of the California Policy Center, said this decision could be a “game changer,”
adding “With so many students stuck in failing public schools, we need all
hands on deck now — not in
10 or 20 years when millions more will have passed through terrible union-run
schools. Faith-based schools could step into the breach immediately.”
According to this writer, public schools are terrible
institutions that don’t work. And he insinuates that teacher’s unions and the Ku
Klux Klan are on the same team. This is nothing more than an attack on our
schools and our public school teachers. Rather than putting more money and
support to our public institutions he wants the taxpayers to have their money
go to religious schools. Even if the religions were not political we should not
have to support institutions that represent things we don’t believe in. I was
a Catholic, but I left the church years ago. The main reason I left was due
to the politics of the church. I am agnostic so my politics are more important
than my ideas of religion.
So for me to have to support any religion with my tax
dollars is an insult. It is also insulting to force me to support a religious
institution that supports reactionary politics. It is also an insult for a
pro-union and pro-public school person. I still work for the public school
system and that system works fine when the public at large supports it. Trying
to tear our public schools down for the benefit of private religious schools in
an insult all together and has nothing to do with racism or being
anti-Catholic. As long as the Catholic Church involves itself in to reactionary
politics I have every right to be anti-Catholic.
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