BY FREDA MIKLIN
GOVERNMENTAL REPORTER
On November 1, just ahead of her announcement that she is hoping to replace U.S. Rep. Ken Buck (he is not running for re-election in Colorado CD4) in the Congress, radio host Deborah Flora was the guest speaker at the Arapahoe County Republican Breakfast Club at Maggiano’s DTC.
Photo by Freda Miklin
Flora said that what is most needed by those who seek change in our government is moral and strategic clarity, both of which are lacking in Democratic Party policies. She believes the Republican Party has “the answers for everything that is plaguing our country, our state, our cities, our county, and the world.”
She said she agrees with President Biden that, “We are in the midst of a fight for the heart and soul of this country,” but, “This is our (Republicans’) moment. We are exactly what is needed at this time in this country and we will win if we stay the course.”
She shared about an experience she had when she visited East Germany before the Berlin Wall came down 34 years ago. She met a professor there who told her he was afraid of his students because they’d been raised to believe that their first allegiance was to the state. Recently, she said, “We got very involved in the school freedom movement and what we saw there was exactly what this professor was weeping over.” She continued, “In the school system, what has been exposed…CRT is simply Marx’s critical theory covered in a layer of race so they can manipulate it…You slip people into groups, you put them into opposing sides, and you pit them against each other…Then the government has to ride in and take over—that’s how they gain control…It’s happening here. We know that.”
Flora talked about a movie she made, “Whose Children Are They?” which she described as, “The crux of the crossroads we’re looking at when we talk about…separating freedom from Marxism. In the Marxist ideology, children belong to the state (which) has the right to form their very character and their allegiance.” She contrasted that with what she described as the western Judeo-Christian ideal, which “is the foundation of civilization,” in which parents are the ultimate authority over their children’s lives.
Flora continued, “This started right after the Civil War…It’s taken that long to get where we are (but) it will not take that long to get back because Marxism is unnatural.” She went on, “The father of modern education is John Dewey (who) was a Marxist and loved the Soviet style of education. He is the lifetime president, long after his death, of the teachers’ unions and he started the teachers’ colleges. That’s how we got here.”
According to a paper published on the U.S. Dept. of Education website and PBS (Public Broadcasting System), John Dewey, who held a doctorate from Johns Hopkins and headed the philosophy department of the University of Chicago, had a pragmatic philosophy of teaching that “put a premium on meaningful activity in learning” and experience, rather than “authoritarianism and rote learning.” Those sources also indicated that Dewey believed in “learning by doing and development of practical life skills.” We could find no references to him being connected to teachers’ unions, although they existed during his entire lifetime, which spanned from 1859 to 1952.
Flora also told her audience only one of 85 new business items adopted by the National Education Association (NEA) in 2022 had to do with raising academic goals.
The Villager reviewed those 2022 new business items and found that they were generally political in nature, including: 1) “The NEA shall issue a National Call to Action to ensure that all students, educators, schools, campuses, and communities are safe from gun violence.” 2) NEA will support members who educate students and other members about the history, geography, and current state of affairs of the Palestinian people.” 3) NEA shall write a letter to the U.S. Department of Education, as well as the state Departments of Education to promote the appropriation of funding for Aspiring Educators to matriculate in an education preparation program.” 4) “NEA will publicly stand in defense of abortion and reproductive rights and encourage members to participate in activities including rallies and demonstrations, lobbying and political campaigns, educational events, and other actions to support the right to abortion, contraception, and a person’s decision about their health.”
The common-sense solution that Flora hopes to see in education is the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) and the use of Educational Service Agencies, under which “the money follows the student, not the system.” She described the DOE as “a money-laundering system” because, “the teachers’ unions give 98% to 100% of their money to Democrats, who then keep the unions in power, and it goes around in a circle.”
She encouraged people “to stand up for school choice.” She would like to see “a parental rights’ amendment,” and wants to convince teachers to quit the teachers’ unions, “because we are at a crossroads between Marxism and freedom.”
Pointing to a group of local women she spoke to when she was running for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in 2022, Flora said, “Half of the room, just a few months before, were Democrats…We are winning this war…if we see what is really happening around us.”
fmiklin.villager@gmail.com