Thank You Republican Voters !

Regular readers of this blog will know that's it's rare that I have anything good to say about Republicans or the Republican Party. But this is one of those rare instances. After the recent Republican primary here in Texas, I believe the citizens of Texas (and other states who must use textbooks designed for Texas) owe some Republican voters a "thank you" and a great big "attaboy".

Texas is such a large state with so many school children, that most textbook publishers design their books for the Texas school system and then sell those same books to many smaller states across the nation. Because of this, people across the nation should be interested in what is happening with the Texas State Board of Education (who set the standards for textbooks used by the state).

And lately, things have not been good with that semi-prestigious body of elected members. There is a large clique of radical-right-wing-fundamentalists on the board who would like to replace real science and history with their own religious and political beliefs. Not too long ago, they came within one vote of forcing science teachers to teach "intelligent design (creationism)" alongside evolution in Texas science classes.

They also want to skew American history toward their right-wing beliefs by making heroes out of people like Joe McCarthy (the father of 1950's blacklisting), Phyllis Schlafly (die-hard opponent of women's rights and equality), and Newt Gingrich (disgraced ex-Speaker of the House of Representatives). The vote on the history textbook guidelines will come in the next few months.

The leader of this group was Don McLeroy (pictured), a young-earth creationist, who has said, "The way I evaluate history textbooks is first I see how they cover christianity and Israel. Then I see how they treat Ronald Reagan. . ."

This right-wing clique had hoped to get one more vote in this year's election, giving them control of the State Board of Education (SBOE). That would give them the power to propagandize Texas history textbooks, and embolden them to once again bring up the question of putting creationism in Texas science textbooks.

But Republican primary voters threw a wrench into those plans. The voters in SBOE District 9 (McLeroy's district) handed him and his cohorts a crushing defeat by electing his opponent Thomas Ratliff (a moderate who opposes interjecting religion and political ideology into the classroom). Instead of gaining a vote, this right-wing clique has lost a vote on the board.

And they could lose another. In the district of retiring right-wing fundamentalist Cynthia Dunbar, there is a run-off between a right-winger and a moderate. This one is too close to call.

Meanwhile, the right-wing fundies had hoped to unseat a moderate in SBOE District 15 (which includes Lubbock and Amarillo). This is a very conservative part of the state and they had thought their chances of picking up this seat were pretty good. But it didn't happen. Republicans in SBOE District 15 re-elected the moderate.

It turns out that there's a fairly large segment of Republican voters who want the truth taught in Texas classrooms instead of religious and political propaganda. I applaud these voters and say THANK YOU! You have done a great service to the school children of Texas and the nation.