By Kathy Athearn

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke before the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) last Thursday in her first speech as a presidential candidate.

Rather than hiding the fact that the AFT has had a tremendous amount of power and influence on the Biden administration and the country, Harris proudly announced it, thanking AFT President Randi Weingarten for being a “great force” and “an incredible friend and adviser” to the White House. As Family Research Council’s Senior Fellow for Education Studies Meg Kilgannon explained on “Washington Watch” last week, “AFT was a key advisor to the CDC in developing the plans for school re-openings, which were actually plans to keep schools closed. And we all know the harm that that did to children and families.”

Harris Claims That Teachers’ Student Loan Debt Has Been Forgiven

Harris told the AFT teachers, “We see a future … where no teacher has to struggle with the burden of student loan debt. So, as an example, our administration has forgiven student loan debt for nearly five million Americans and twice as much for our public servants, including our teachers.” In reality, however, the Biden administration’s SAVE plan has been tied up in court, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June of 2023 that the administration doesn’t have the authority to forgive student loan debt.

Why should those hardworking taxpayers who decided not to go to college or who have worked hard to pay off their student loans be forced to pay for others’ student loan debt? A fairer, more ethical approach to alleviating student debt is to make college more affordable, transparent, and accountable for everyone. One way to do that is for Congress to pass the College Cost Reduction Act introduced by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) in January.

Harris Accuses Republicans of Attacking the Freedom to Vote

Harris also told teachers, “While you teach students about democracy and representative government, extremists attack the sacred freedom to vote.”

In reality, however, Republicans are working hard to strengthen election integrity while nearly all House Democrats voted against the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act (H.R. 8281) which would certify only U.S. citizens to register to vote in national elections.

Democrats are also opposing bills that would stop election fraud at the state level. In Michigan, for example, all Democrats in the House of Representatives voted against two bills that strip the power of local election officials to investigate allegations of fraud and double the fees of candidates who request ballot recounts, among other changes.

Harris Continues the Narrative that Republicans Are ‘Banning Books’

A mere 12 days after the assassination attempt on former President Trump, Harris used incendiary rhetoric as she talked to her passionate audience. (It is worth watching this part of her speech in full.) Harris declared, “And while you teach students about our nation’s past, these extremists attack the freedom to learn and acknowledge our nation’s true and full history — including book bans. Book bans in this year of our Lord 2024. And on these last two issues … just think about it. So, we want to ban assault weapons, and they want to ban books.”

As Kilgannon explained, “We’re not about banning books. We are about having children protected from inappropriate material in their school libraries. And any book that’s not selected by a library can still be purchased at Barnes & Noble or any other bookstore, or Amazon or any number of places. So the book is in no way banned. We simply do not allow certain materials to be presented to children when they are incapable of understanding them, or they are inappropriate educationally. And so this charge about banning books just rings so hollow. Parents can see right through that, and it’s such a weak point for them. I’m surprised she brought it up, but I guess it must work with their base.”

Harris Urges Teachers to Continue Teaching Children LGBTQ Ideology

Harris went on to declare, “…[T]hese extremists also attack the freedom to love who you love openly and with pride. They pass so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ laws. Now, I have to tell you, so many of you may know, in 2004, on Valentine’s Day weekend, I was one of the first elected officials in the country to perform same-sex marriages. So, here’s the thing: It pains me so to think 20 years later that there are some young teachers in their 20s who are afraid to put up a photograph of themselves and their partner for fear they could lose their job. … In this moment, we are in a fight for our most fundamental freedoms. And to this room of leaders, I say: Bring it on. Bring it on. Bring it on.”

While teachers (and all Americans) have the freedom to love whom they love, they should not disregard parental authority and families’ religious beliefs by pushing LGBTQ ideology (or Queer Theory) on students. The laws that LGBTQ activists call “Don’t Say Gay” laws actually protect elementary school students from activist teachers who want to indoctrinate kids on topics like gay sex, oral sex, gender fluidity, and other LGBTQ propaganda.

People of Faith Should Boldly and Lovingly Defend Truth in Today’s Culture Wars

Many of us fondly remember teachers that have had a significant, lasting impact on our lives. We are extremely grateful for the hard work, dedication, and attention that teachers pour into future generations. The nation’s largest teachers’ unions, however, including AFT and National Education Association, are deeply political and partisan. As Kilgannon explained, “They’re against vouchers, any kind of school choice. … They are all about using their union dues and their union members in Democratic Party politics, in terms of manning polls, turning out voters, all of the machinery around the Democratic Party is based on union people largely doing that work.”

Teachers’ unions are powerful political groups that hold leftist, Marxist views, seeking to fundamentally change America, as Kilgannon documents in FRC’s publications, “The SPLC’s Radical ‘Learning for Justice’ Program” and “A Concerned Citizen’s Guide to Engaging with Public Schools.”

It is essential for parents and all Americans to be aware of the power of teachers’ unions, the SPLC, and NextGen Marxists. The current culture war is one of NextGen Marxists vs. people of faith, traditional families, and freedom-loving Americans. It is also a spiritual war. We should not shy away from our faith or biblical values. We should continue to teach our children to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength by studying the Bible with them and teaching them to love their neighbors as ourselves — even when we disagree with them. We should teach them about the sanctity of every single human life from the moment of fertilization until natural death.

Finally, we should equip our children to recognize lies and defend truth by teaching them a biblical worldview, the truth about America’s history, and the principles upon which it was founded.