The National Education Association, the country’s largest and most politically
powerful teachers’ union, has put together a handbook on the “Radical Right”
and distributed it to its activists. The handbook lists dozens of conservative,
pro-family and pro-life organizations “to help members inform themselves fully
about the purposes, activities, and interconnections of those groups that are
leading the radical right’s crusade against the public schools.”
Among the groups on NEA’s enemies lists are:
American Family Association
American Legislative Exchange Council
Christian Coalition
Citizens for Excellence in Education
Concerned Women for America
Eagle Forum
Family Research Council
Focus on the Family
Free Congress Foundation
National Right to Life Committee
National Right to Work Committee
The Rutherford Institute
Traditional Values Coalition
Under the heading “National Leaders of the Radical Right,” NEA lists people
from Lamar Alexander to Sun Myung Moon. While the 31 of the 32 individuals
named are described only by title or occupation, Free Congress Foundation
President Paul Weyrich is described as “‘Godfather’ or guru to radical right.”
The handbook also includes a battle plan for dealing with conservative
opponents of NEA. Called “Overview and Introduction to the Extreme Right: A
State’s Approach,” the essay details how to identify and “fight the radical
right in your schools and community.”
According to NEA, the ideal America for the radical right “would be one in
which citizens conformed to the rightwing views on everything from foreign
policy to the selection of textbooks in our classrooms.”
“Unfortunately for the extremist point of view,” says NEA, “free public
education provides a strong defense against the frantic propaganda and
namecalling that forms the core of rightwing assaults on the American
consciousness.”
NEA describes radical right tactics as spreading “the Big Lie,” attacking the
union’s structure, and labeling NEA as anti-American and anti-God. The union
says that the radical right’s main vulnerabilities are “human logic and
intelligence” and “the United States Constitution.”
The union claims to want to educate others about the radical right. “Like many
things that are discovered when rocks are lifted, the radical right cannot
stand prolonged exposure to the light of day,” reads the essay. NEA says it
supports “legitimate criticism,” but draws the line when “the sole support for
a position rests on gross distortion of the truth, threats, and libelous
accusations.”
The handbook lists a number of ways to identify the radical right and tactics
to use when it is discovered. Among the signs that extremists are at work in
your area is this one: “The formation of ‘concerned parents’ groups, and the
attendance of leaders of such a group at board meetings, for example, usually
signal a possible censorship attempt.” NEA claims that the “only way you can
tell the difference between an honestly concerned parent group and a (sic)
anti-public-school extremist operation is to study the tactics of extremism.”
The handbook was put together by NEA’s Center for the Preservation of Public
Education and was distributed at a workshop at the union’s recent annual
convention. It is the latest in a series of attempts by the public education
establishment to label its opponents as extremists.
Earlier this year, the Upstate New York Coalition for Democracy, headquartered
in the union offices of New York State United Teachers, distributed a survey
which put the Christian Coalition and Concerned Women for America on the same
list of “extremists” as the Aryan Nation and the Ku Klux Klan.
The Association of California School Administrators generated controversy with
its survey, which named the Eagle Forum and Christian Coalition, along with the
ACLU and Mexican American Political Association, as “disruptive groups” —
mainly for opposing school district policies at board meetings.
Mike Antonucci is managing editor of Western Journalism Center, parent company of WorldNetDaily
