In the past five years, this country has seen more government-sanctioned race and class baiting than ever before. These tools have been used to silence opposition to the Obama administration’s position on everything from terrorism to taxes. The recent inflammatory statements made by Education Secretary Arne Duncan are just the latest chapter in that political curriculum.

In the face of mounting (and, as it turns out, diversified) opposition to the federal education Common Core program, Duncan remarked, “It’s fascinating … that some of the pushback [against Common Core] is coming from, sort of, white suburban moms who – all of a sudden – [realize] their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were.”

Duncan has since been labeled a bigot because his comment was belittling to parents of all races. It was based on several offensive presumptions: first, that the education system’s problems are race and class-based; second, that white suburban moms are fine with a subpar education system as long as their children are insulated from it; and third, that race plays a role in a parent’s level of sophistication with regards to education. The underlying presumption, of course, is that Big Government must take a larger role in education in order to save the rest of us.

Clearly, Duncan expected his statement to divide and conquer the opposition. Instead, it solidified it. The coalition questioning increased federal control of education through Common Core is made up of people across religious, political, racial and class spectrums. And, as it turns out, people of all ages as well. “I don’t like it,” one fourth grade girl said of Common Core, “because it seems like they are just teaching us to take the test.” How, one wonders, would Duncan seek to discredit her?