What just happened?
Everyone has opinion about what happened in last Tuesday's election. McAuliffe was just another Clinton Democrat who didn't motivate the base (true;) a candidate who doubled down on a progressive agenda would have won (maybe;) the racist (and bullshit) attacks on non-existent teaching of Critical Race Theory turned suburban and rural voters away from the Democrats (maybe some, but who knows how much;) the Democrats have a trifecta in Washington and can't get anything done (misses on facts and lumping Joe Manchin and Krystin Sinema in with the "Democratic Party" certainly doesn't help the brand;) and if Manchin and Sinema hadn't been such obstructionists then the bills would have passed and money would be flowing to cities and states to solve real problems (true but money and new benefits take time to settle in enough for us to feel it in our daily lives - but at least the news cycle would have been about success and optimism.)
So even as I write this, I realize that truth can be elusive and it's probably always more complicated than can be expressed (or ranted) in a tweet. There are a lot of smart people looking at the data, analyzing the results, and who understand the in-state politics, trends and culture. Hopefully those facts (even though they too will be subject to interpretation) will center discussions about what happened and what should happen going forward.
Schools certainly took up a lot of airtime in the campaign. I'm spending a lot of time these days working with unions and advocates to save public education. It's been under attack for decades ever since Milton Friedman first proposed school vouchers in the 1950s and racists revolted against Brown v Board of Education. Today, it's the rampant growth of charter schools creating a parallel system of publicly funded/privately operated and under-regulated schools, a burst of pro-voucher legislation in red states and the latest political assault on the already mentioned (and still bullshit) attacks on Critical Race Theory. Mask and vaccination mandates are just more big government assaults on freedom.
This article in the Atlantic particularly caught my attention. It pointed to some data that's well worth further investigation and understanding:
A lot of suburban parents lost faith in Virginia’s public schools over the past year, and as a result, they’re more open to conservative narratives about problems in public schools.
The unraveling began at the schools. COVID-19 has been terrible for everyone, and it has been especially hard on parents. Unpredictable school closures didn’t just screw up parents’ work schedules; they drove millions of parents, including 3 million women, out of the workforce altogether.
A lot of parents were angry about school. Polling indicates that they are still really angry. Education was the top issue in the contest, according to the latest Washington Post/SCHAR poll, narrowly edging out the economy, 24 to 23. Democrats typically do very well on education in Virginia—suburban voters organize their lives around well-funded public schools. But this year, Youngkin entered Election Day up nine points over McAuliffe among voters who said education was their top priority.
The most important data point for the election is public-school enrollment in Northern Virginia, and it’s very bad for Democrats. Fairfax County, the largest county in the state, has lost more than 10,000 students since the start of the pandemic—a decline of about 5 percent. In neighboring Arlington County, the dropoff is 3.9 percent; in Loudoun County, it’s 3.4 percent. Those may look like modest declines, but they should not be happening in prosperous counties where the population is growing quickly. The public schools in all three counties have a reputation for quality. People move there for the schools.
What this all says to me is that the attack on public education and all our public institutions will only get more focused and intense. The rhetorical attacks capture and hold our attention but they are just covers for the weakening of those public systems that we all depend upon and that define us as nation. CRT is a well planned and executed distraction. Responses to mask mandates are being fueled by right wing funders to stir up voter discontent.
So what do we do? There's no one simple thing, but lets start by acknowledging the importance of our public things, defending our public institutions and reforming them (always) to ensure they serve everyone and evolve to meet new challenges as they arise.
Stay tuned.
Music that Defends Public Goods
MC Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger wrote this song, I Need a Teacher, during the Red for Ed protests several years ago.
And speaking of saving public systems, check out Joe Troop’s A Plea to the US Government to Fully Fund the Post Office.