Photo by Ben Rosett on Unsplash

It never ceases to amaze me that corporate, political, media, religious, and other power elites routinely speak and act in the name of the masses – without ever consulting us hoi polloi.

This disconnect is the source of a lot of the arrogance, stupidity, and inequality afflicting our society.

Consider the huge, very troubling takeover of US Steel by the Japanese conglomerate, Nippon. This buyout was being quietly hustled to conclusion by both giants. But – boom! – suddenly the deal hit a steel wall, specifically the furious opposition of America’s United Steelworkers union. The corporate elites had smugly cut a backroom deal without ever mentioning it to the union! Thousands of workers had their livelihoods arrogantly treated as irrelevant. So, the union just said uh-uh, and the executive boneheads’ big buyout went from done to life support.

The stupidity gene has also imbedded itself in the brains of Christian authoritarians. They are hell-bent on forcing their holier-than-thou church dogma on all of us – without, of course, asking whether we want to be “saved” by them. So here comes one Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s hyper-Christian superintendent of public schools. In a Burning Bush moment, Ryan felt God ordained him to decree that every classroom must henceforth display a Bible, and all teachers must alter their lesson plans to teach from it – even math teachers!

But a funny thing happened to this un-elected flaming theocrat: Local school boards and teachers simply ignored him. Ryan, brimming with ego, had not bothered to consult parents, school boards, teachers, or legislators – so no Bibles have been purchased and no curriculums have been changed.

However, his dictatorial theatrics did get the attention of one major group: Oklahoma’s GOP lawmakers are now investigating his “rogue behavior.”

Do something!

If you also feel queasy about the encroachment of Christian nationalism into our schools, check out the work from the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

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