Our state legislature and governor are increasingly pulling power from the local level to the state. SB 9 and SB 10 from the last legislative session, for example, took zoning out of the hands of local elected officials and moved the authority to decide what is built next door to you to the state bureaucracy. Other examples affecting almost every sector of society are too numerous to list, but AB 101 was by far the most egregious. It took away the authority of your local school board to decide what is or is not taught to our children regarding Critical Race Theory (CRT) by mandating that a one semester course of this socialist concept be included as a graduation requirement.
One of the few good things that came out of the lockdowns was that parents became acutely aware of what was being taught to their children – CRT along with offensive sex-ed. Parents in the Temecula Valley Unified School District (TVUSD) have fought back by electing school board members who are equally opposed to these teachings. The new majority stood by their promises to do battle and just passed a resolution to ban the teaching of CRT in their school district. Their resolution made clear that they saw through the hypocrisy of the claim that CRT opposes racism when it actually does just the opposite. The resolution also made clear that TVUSD policy is against true racism and is not assigned at birth to one specific race or gender.
By taking a stand against state authority over their children, Temecula’s school board answered the most important question when considering legislation, i.e., who decides? Who decides about what is taught to your children? Your local school board members over whom you have direct influence or a super-majority legislature controlled by a union? Who decides what type of building will be constructed in the empty lot next to your house? A state bureaucrat or your local city councilman?
Our government is unique in the world. All others are in one way or another a top-down system, most especially those that are socialist, communist, or a dictatorship. Ours, on the other hand, is designed to be bottom up. Instead of a “king”, in this country “We the People” are the king. It’s time we started exercising our authority by demanding that our Coachella Valley school board members and city councilmen retake the decision making authority we granted them in the last election to govern our area. Show up at their meetings, ask questions, and make recommendations supporting good policy that reflects your values – policies that provide opportunity for prosperity, policies that support families, and policies that promote a free and civil society.
Who decides?
Arlene Wohlgemuth is the vice-president for legislation at the East Valley Republican Women Patriots. Wohlgemuth was a 5-term Texas state representative and is a 6-year resident of Indio.