As we look at the candidates who have filed, so far, for the Texas State Board of Education, we see some indications of who will be part of the far-right candidate slate. Gail Spurlock, R-Richardson, a candidate in the crowded District 12 race, appears to be one. (Click here for a listing of candidates in SBOE races.)
The Tea Party activist’s announcement notes her membership in the Golden Corridor Republican Women’s Club in North Texas. As we reported last month, the Golden Corridor club has already tried to make the private life of one of Spurlock’s opponents, incumbent George Clayton, R-Richardson, an issue. Clayton responded to the whisper campaign by acknowledging publicly that he is gay.
In addition, posts on what appears to be Spurlock’s blog, Backyard Fence, reveal an obsession with right-wing paranoia and fringe politics. One Spurlock blog post, for example, claims that “liberals” have “been in control of education for nearly a century” and that “liberals insist the American people are stupid”:
“Then, there is the issue of evolution. If they believe in survival of the fittest as the means to perfect humanity, why are they aborting people right and left? Why do they have so few children if they think their genes are superior? Why on earth do they spend so much time trying to build self esteem in the less able by pretending everyone has equal ability when that is the antithesis of their beliefs?”
Another post claims that our “governmental system” has been “breaking down … for over a century.” That’s a fascinating statement to make about a “governmental system” that has seen the United States through the Great Depression, two world wars, the Cold War and a host of other crises while also safeguarding the construction of the world’s most prosperous and free society.
Spurlock also charges that “the Left” is determined to wreck the economy and drive “Americans to destitution” in order to expand government and destroy private property.
In other posts Spurlock rails (frequently) against health care reform and ACORN, suggests that President Obama should be imprisoned, and argues for repealing the income tax and the Seventeenth Amendment, which allows the people rather than state legislatures to elect U.S. senators.
Of course, those issues have little to do with the State Board of Education’s responsibilities — at least, not until the board is making decisions about what students will learn in their social studies classrooms. And we know how the board’s far-right members have used social studies to promote their personal and political agendas in our kids’ classrooms.
My God, what a monster! She would fit right in with the Taliban.
The question merely seems whether she would be quite as insane as McLeroy and Dunbar, or just a garden variety wingnut. So far, this all seems standard Silly Party territory, not quite to the Very Silly Party caliber of that pair.
What frighteningly comes to mind is a passage from Hitler’s “Mein Kampf’;
“I believe t am sitting in accordance with the Almighty Creator; By defending myself against the__________I am fighting for the work of the Lord.” In hitler’s text Jews were his focus.. Today, however, Spurlock, Perry, and the far religious right are busy ‘fighting for the work of the Lord,” , using a fill-in-the-blank for words like liberal, Muslim, Hindu, homosexual, et al.. Her mindset, along with the mindset of many of the far right, including Perry are “fighting” for Christian values in the same way that Nazi Germany did.
Wingnut or a dangerous fascist? You decide.