AMAC Exclusive
Americans do a lot of grousing about their elected representatives, and usually for good reason. However, let’s take a moment to recognize the pluck and foresight of one elected official who is effectively fighting back against the “woke” trends doing such harm to our country. His efforts could become the go-to model for others across the nation.
Steve Toth, a member of the Texas State House of Representatives from Montgomery County near Houston, has put forward a pioneering piece of legislation that could soon be resonating nationally. Toth has introduced a bill that would bar both Critical Race Theory (dividing children based on skin color) and the practice of “action civics” (forcing children into political protests and lobbying as part of their required coursework).
Several state legislatures are now considering K-12 bans on Critical Race Theory. Still, none so far have combined that with a bar on the increasingly widespread practice of rewarding students with course credit if they become left-wing political activists. In general, most parents feel public schools ought to keep politics out of the classroom, no matter the political point of view. However, as you might guess, the political protests organized by advocates of the new “action civics” are invariably on the Democrat side of the political spectrum.
This issue has become all the more important because President Biden has just issued a rule that would give priority to federal education grants that push Critical Race Theory and action civics on the schools. Biden’s rule also favors federal support for the 1619 Project curriculum, which falsely claims that America was founded on slavery and that our Revolution was fought to protect it.
Furthermore, a federal bill misleadingly titled the “Civics Secures Democracy Act” would appropriate billions of dollars for grants in history and civics, all to be governed by the Biden administration’s newly announced preference for Critical Race Theory, the 1619 Project, and action civics. America’s schools could soon be facing a new, federally-supported “Common Core,” only this time the curriculum being forced on states from DC would be about racial divisiveness and mandatory leftist political activism, not just fuzzy math problems.
With the Biden administration headed down this disastrous path, one legislator in Texas decided to stand up and fight back. Steve Toth’s Texas House Bill 3979 could soon become the clearest model for states hoping to hold off federal pressure to indoctrinate America’s children with ideas such as “systemic racism” along with the federal push to turn students into radical political activists. His legislation would banish both practices from Texas public schools.
Toth’s pioneering bill has been picking up momentum and may soon become law in Texas. For that very reason, leftist teachers and journalists in Texas have begun grousing, attacking, and doing anything they can to sink the bill. To hold them off, Toth will have to stand strong and protect his legislation from attempts to weaken or dilute it. He will have to say, “Damn those torpedoes and full speed ahead.”
If he does, he will surely find legions of grateful parents and grandparents both in Texas and across the country who are concerned about the left-wing cultural revolution in their children’s schools.
Toth’s legislation could also rapidly come to be seen as the state-of-the-art model for legislators across the country who, in this challenging moment, are trying to summon the courage to push back against the woke tide.
If Toth stands strong against the pressure and HB 3979 becomes law, these efforts could help inspire a truly national response that would put the rising tyranny of the “woke” in its place.