Rafael Cruz, the fringe religious-righter and father of Texas senator and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, is claiming (inaccurately, of course) that our nation’s public education system was founded by “a member of the American Communist Party.” Here’s an excerpt from a report by our friends at Right Wing Watch:
The elder Cruz alleged in an interview on the Sirius XM program “Breitbart News Daily” this morning that public schools are brainwashing children into communism as a result of the work of education reformer John Dewey.
While he did correctly identify Dewey as a secular humanist, Cruz alleged that “John Dewey was a member of the American Communist Party,” when, in fact, Dewey was “an avowed anti-Communist” who even believed that “known Communists should not be permitted to teach children.” He co-founded the anti-Communist Committee for Cultural Freedom and was widely denounced by supporters of the Communist Party.
Cruz said that Dewey’s influence in the school system instilled anti-American values in children and, as a result, created “chaos in society.” This prompted Cruz to discuss Common Core, which he claimed “is about redefining education, redefining history and attempting to brainwash kids with a secularist view of history which denies the fundamental principles that have made America great.”
The full Right Wing Watch report, including an audio clip, is available here.
TFN Insider has reported about numerous outrageous statements from Rafael Cruz. He has declared, for example, that “wicked” voters were responsible for electing an openly lesbian mayor in Houston and that “communism and evolution go hand in hand.” He has also questioned the intelligence of African Americans and attacked the faith of Roman Catholics and Jewish Democrats. And his son, Ted Cruz, appears to be a leading contender for the GOP presidential nomination this year.
Well, Dewey was a Secular Humanist but that doesn’t necessarily equate to communism. Without question there are extremely serious issues in public education as I teach in a public school. There is a general desensitization about right and wrong which is sickening.
I do know about some comments about the RCs and Jews but don’t remember the context.
The thought of Amazed teaching children gives me the hives.
Papa Cruz, however, is mentally ill and who cares what he says or thinks.
Old man Cruz is SO easy to dismiss. But he influences others and that is scary.
Methinks that the old man has Alzheimer’s. Then again, he could just be so screwed up by his idiotic religious beliefs that he no longer can tell the truth from the lies that he has woven in his noggin.
He has a history of making absurd statements that border on the absurd and his son excels in making similar statements without proof of any kind.