October 26, 2021

By Jeanine Molloff

   The late Lee Atwater was the GOP consultant who formulated the infamous “Southern Strategy” which brought the ‘Grand Old Party’ back into power. The strategy was reduced to the following quote. 

    “You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger”--that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, any you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites...”We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.” Exclusive: Lee Atwater’s Infamous 1981 Interview on the Southern Strategy | The Nation

   This quote represents the epitome of what we now call out as ‘dog-whistle politics,’ or the stealth coded language of racists and neo-Nazis intended to thinly disguise their ugly intentions. That was yesteryear, this is now. Racists and Nazis no longer feel the need to hide their xenophobic mentality. For example, an Idaho school board candidate named Dave Reilly has openly embraced the violent language of neo-Nazism, (albeit social media style complete with memes and sophomoric attempts at crude satire). He has also received the full endorsement of the Idaho GOP. Other than offering xenophobic libel hoping to incite political violence, Reilly has no actual qualifications, except his White skin, alleged White Christianity and a double Y chromosome. His tweets are openly misogynistic, racist and anti-Semitic. He has tweeted among other things, that …"women’s voting rights were a mistake, that women should not be allowed on social media, that more Americans should believe antisemitic stereotypes, that “Judaism is the religion of anti-Christ,” and that “all Jews are dangerous.” Antisemitic Troll Tries to Infiltrate Idaho School Board (thedailybeast.com)

   Ironically, Reilly has sued people for reporting on his obvious bigotries, and they are obvious since Reilly has a history of tweets which, again contain multiple racist, misogynist and anti-Semitic smears and libels.  Post Falls school board candidate draws controversy over tweets - KXLY

   One last thing, Reilly is also vehemently against the teaching of CRT aka Critical Race Theory, which is consistent with his publicly stated opinions via twitter.

The power behind GOP’s neo-Nazism—corporate funded think tanks like ALEC....

    Now, while Dave Reilly has openly pushed this clear libel against minorities and women, he is merely a pawn suffering from limited grey matter, and not one of the major power brokers.  No, that dubious ‘honor’ comes from the world of corporate billionaires, compromised politicians, the legions of corporate attorneys who create a flurry of ‘get out of jail free’ cards for the powerful and well-heeled, and a handful of corporate funded think tanks. One such think tank which operates as a ‘bill-mill’ creating model legislation with fill in the blank ease, is the American Legislative Exchange Council aka ALEC.

   The rich and powerful have always had a vested interest in maintaining rabid bigotry in US society, and the motive is as old as the pyramids. When bigotry and subsequent scapegoating flourish in a nation; working people remain divided, rendering them easier to control and abuse. There’s no deeper meaning behind this neo-Machiavellian campaign engineered to criminalize minorities who dare to demand equal rights.

   The racism, misogyny, religious bigotry, homophobia, etc., manifested by white supremacy/neo-Nazism is necessary to divert everyone’s attention from the very real economic and political crimes of the billionaire class. It’s the intellectual equivalent of ‘waving a red flag in front of a mad bull,’ and nothing more.

   The latest incarnation of such rabid Nazism lies within the dog whistle coded language of the anti-CRT movement infecting the national consciousness. (CRT is the acronym for the theory taught in law school known as Critical Race Theory. CRT is NOT taught in the K-12 public schools. Never has been.

The corporate funded think tank who creates these bigoted bills—ALEC...

   Furthermore, the endorsement of neo-Nazi Dave Reilly by the Idaho GOP coincides with the rash of anti-CRT (Critical Race Theory) bills flooding state legislatures which seek to not only censor how history and current events are taught, but also censor the very mention of ANY narrative that challenges the veracity of the dominant White Supremacist worldview.  And yet, these anti-CRT laws are not originating with the state level legislators or the school board candidates pushing this anti-intellectual garbage. This censorship is being sponsored by many corporate funded shills—but the lead author has been a group known by a seemingly benign acronym—ALEC or the American Legislative Exchange Council.

So, who is ALEC, and how have they sponsored this wholesale censorship of our schools?

Major expose conducted by CMD (Center for Media and Democracy)….

   The American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC has functioned as a ‘bill mill’ and is responsible for crafting the templates used by GOP politicians nationwide. ALEC Claims Credit for Voter Suppression and Anti-Critical Race Theory Laws at Secret Meeting - EXPOSEDbyCMD

One model bill template focuses on the rash of anti-CRT (Critical Race Theory) bills receiving major media coverage. Realistically, these bills more closely align along the intellectual pablum lines of the ‘false equivalence’ argument. In fact, these anti-CRT bills are solely predicated on that same false equivalence assertion. And think about it, that’s all this crowd has to offer.

False equivalence arguments, wholesale academic censorship....and ALEC....

   The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) published an investigative report on ALEC’s role in the anti-CRT movement. The headline reads: ALEC Claims Credit for Voter Suppression and Anti-Critical Race Theory Laws at Secret Meeting. It was written by David Armiak, who is research director with the Center for Media and Democracy. ALEC Claims Credit for Voter Suppression and Anti-Critical Race Theory Laws at Secret Meeting - EXPOSEDbyCMD

Now, ALEC has been in the news recently for another reason: they suffered a mass exodus of corporate funder members after news broke that the group was the impetus behind multiple racist voter ID laws. ALEC responded to this income stream loss by allegedly dropping all ‘model’ policy goals related to election procedures or any social issues. American Legislative Exchange Council Transparency and Public Engagement - American Legislative Exchange Council (alec.org)   Unsurprisingly, ALEC didn’t keep its word, and was back in the ‘social’ issues business just in time for Trump’s rant against the 1619 Project. From Trump’s instigation came the anti-CRT brigades, demanding that Critical Race Theory be banned from public schools K-12 curriculum.

ALEC and the Council for National Policy—Ties to hate groups....

   Just this past May, ALEC representatives were panel speakers at the Council for National Policy meeting aka CNP.  Many ‘Council’ members hold extremist political positions, openly embracing white supremacist, anti-gay, anti-Muslim goals, as documented by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Many current and former CNP members have documented ties to known hate groups. Council for National Policy - SourceWatch

   The panel discussions revolved around state legislation on voting rights restrictions—and predictably—forbidding any mention of Critical Race Theory in our public schools. This became the entryway for neo-Nazis like—Dave Reilly. The presenters from ALEC included three of their own board members, Utah State Senate President J. Stuart Adams, Mississippi Speaker of the House Phillip Gunn, future Florida Speaker of the House Rep. Danny Perez, and last—but certainly not least—ALEC CEO Lisa Nelson. CMD obtained videos which documented their participation.

    ALEC has claimed credit for the onslaught of anti-CRT legislation, hosting a virtual workshop on December 3, 2020, titled “Against Critical Theory’s Onslaught.” The workshop was part of their annual States and Nation Policy Summit. It counted corporate lobbyists, state legislators, and staff from right-wing policy groups as documented by an attendance list published by the Center for Media and Democracy. ALEC 2020 States and Nation Policy Summit Attendees - SourceWatch  The workshop description stated that, “The 1619 curriculum is infecting our schools. Diversity training is taking over our workplaces. How do patriotic Americans respond?” 2020 ALEC Virtual States & Nation Policy Summit (pathable.com)  ALEC is essentially inciting the political lynch mob to ban the teaching of our full history, by banning any mention of systemic racism, misogyny, or religious bigotry, and the pedagogical boogie man—is Critical Race Theory. CRT is the excuse used by radical white supremacists to justify censoring academic freedom in our public schools. The fact that CRT is only taught in law school and has never been included in any K-12 curriculum remains as irrelevant to these rabid bigots as sanity does—to The Donald. CRT becomes the gateway issue needed to reduce history and civics curriculums to White Supremacist propaganda. CRT is—the new--’forced busing.’

CRT definition—and why the GOP uses it to mobilize the mob....

   Authors Don Wiener and Alex Kotch explain Critical Race Theory as the following:

…"Critical race theory posits that racism is not just the result of individual bias but is the result of institutionalized laws and practices that create or reinforce discrimination. But right-wing politicians have misconstrued the term’s meaning and convinced many of their constituents that teaching an honest history of racism in America is akin to telling white students to hate themselves and their country.” ALEC Inspires Lawmakers to File Anti-Critical Race Theory Bills - EXPOSEDbyCMD

   Wiener and Kotch also quoted Boston University Professor Ibram X. Kendi, who is the director of the Center for Antiracist Research, regarding this very subject. Professor Kendi explained.

“The Republican operatives, who dismiss the expositions of critical race theorists and anti-racists in order to define critical race theory and anti-racism, and then attack those definitions, are effectively debating themselves. They have conjured an imagined monster to scare the American people and project themselves as the nation’s defenders from that fictional monster.” ALEC Inspires Lawmakers to File Anti-Critical Race Theory Bills - EXPOSEDbyCMD

   Wiener and Kotch from CMD explain that the GOP must use the fear of this fictional monster as a political wedge issue in order to recapture the House in the upcoming 2022 midterm elections. Buzzfeed News explained. “The strategy is rooted in what Republican officials believe worked for them in 2020: tying Democrats in swing districts to a hyperemotional and tense local issue, even if it’s not something that Congress has much of a role in. In the last election, it was police funding and Black Lives Matter protests.” Critical Race Theory Is Now A Republican Campaign Issue (buzzfeednews.com) 

ALEC’s anti-CRT lobbying results in legislation....the Texas law... HR 3979 AKA SB3

   So, what does this anti-CRT lobbying from ALEC create? A prime example would be the new education law in Texas, SB3. This is the dangerous law which demands that equal time be granted to opposing viewpoints. At a surface level, this sounds benign enough, but the malignancy of white supremacy lurks between the lines. SB3 censors what teachers and students may discuss in any subject area throughout the entire K-12 curriculum. It whitewashes the truth about slavery, systemic racism post-emancipation, systemic misogyny, and the Holocaust. It does so by a specific clause in the bill which demands that “teachers who choose to discuss current events or widely debated and currently controversial issues of public policy or social affairs shall, to the best of their ability, strive to explore such issues from diverse and contending perspectives—WITHOUT GIVING DEFERENCE TO ANY PERSPECTIVE.” 87(R) HB 3979 - Introduced version (texas.gov)

Look at that last clause, the one which forbids teachers from ‘giving deference to any perspective.’ This is the language which requires granting, once again—false equivalence—to racist and Nazi perspectives. This provision is correctly interpreted to mean that if a teacher covers the evils of the Holocaust, then that same teacher must include Holocaust denial as a ‘legitimate’ perspective. This is the provision which grants a blanket permission slip to those who use the ‘false equivalence’ argument as a smokescreen to disguise what are clearly xenophobic propaganda libels. This strategy represents a systemic and cowardly attack on children of color and other minorities, while falsely claiming to protect children. Once again, ALEC has its bloody fingerprints on this new Texas law, since the sole author of the original House Bill 3979, (which became the Texas law SB3), is Texas state Representative Steve Toth—an ALEC member. Texas ALEC Politicians - SourceWatch

Conclusion...

   By now, the role of ALEC as a parasitic propagandist invading our public schools has become well established. The spate of anti-CRT laws is hell-bent on hunting down a K-12 critical race theory curriculum that has never existed, since that subject is limited to post-graduate legal studies. The lawyers of ALEC know this, but the truth doesn’t matter to them. The goal is to censor our teachers and replace our true history with white supremacist propaganda, so the GOP of Trump can regain power. This ugly willingness on ALEC’s part to prostitute themselves has resulted in school board candidates like Dave Reilly, who are boldly open and proud of their neo-Nazi beliefs. This situation is far worse than the earlier Lee Atwater “Nigger” quote. It reminds me of another opinion gleaned from a prominent politician regarding the ongoing struggle between academic freedom and propaganda. Below is the quote which reflects the core values of ALEC.

(Propaganda’s)…"task is not to make an objective study of the truth, in so far as it favors the enemy, and then set it before the masses with academic fairness; its task is to serve our own right, always and unflinchingly.”

The source of the quote was---Adolf Hitler. Nazi Propaganda | Holocaust Encyclopedia (ushmm.org)