New Authoritarian GOP Removed "Democracy" from Textbooks As Too "Partisan"

SemDem 
Sunday July 01, 2018 · 12:22 PM EDT

The de-evolution of the GOP into the Cult of Trump is more frightening by the day. In my younger years, the Reagan conservatives touted democracy—usually when they were contrasting us to their number one enemy: Russia. 

How times have changed.

GOP candidate for MI governor Pat Colbeck at a Trump rally gushing about the Orange Oaf
Right-wing conservatives in Michigan, led by Trump nut state Sen. Patrick Colbeck (R), (@pjcolbeck), are forcing Michigan schools to adopt “new standards” that do some sick stuff to social studies.  The term “core democratic values” has been stricken---replaced with “core values”. 

The reason?  It’s too “partisan”:

”Some believed that even using the word ‘democratic’ implied partisan leanings,” said Rebecca Baker-Bush, a social studies consultant with the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District who served on the standards committee and who is also president of the Michigan Council on the Social Studies. “That was a new one on me.”

One requirement for anyone wanting to be governor should be an understanding of the term “democratic”. Several teachers and professors have tried to take Colbeck back to school in an op-ed posted by the Detroit Free Press:

Core democratic values are derived from the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and other specific documents, speeches and writings of the nation. They include the rights to liberty, equality, the common good (general welfare), diversity (pluralism) and property.

Developing a reasoned commitment to these values enables students to recognize shared beliefs that bind them together as citizens, even when they disagree on particular public issues. As teacher educators we are deeply concerned about any de-emphasis of the core democratic values in name or in substance.

And because it’s just impossible to have any story about the GOP without adding bigotry, Colbeck’s got you covered:

The [old] standard about the expansion of civil rights for minorities in the 20th century included specific references to Native Americans, Latinos, people with disabilities, and gays and lesbians. They were removed in the proposed new standards, while language was added saying that the expansion of civil rights for some groups can be seen as “an infringement of rights and freedoms” of others.

Read more
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/7/1/1777042/-New-Authoritarian-GOP-Removed-Democracy-from-Textbooks-As-Too-Partisan