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If you had bothered to take the time or understand the world, you'd know that childcare is NOT the responsibility of the Government. Ever. Full stop.When is this lunacy going to end? It's like a bad dream that just won't end. I mean, this is not a battle for the soul of America as its most vocal opponents have described it. It's child care for young children who are not in school yet simple so their parents can go to work, earn a living, and put food on the table at dinner time. How can that possibly be controversial?
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In the months since a Republican house of representatives member first brought the grant for early childhood education to the legislature for a vote, far-right opponents have insisted, despite evidence and assurances proving otherwise, that the grant would be used to “indoctrinate” children five and under, and turn them into social justice activists.
Supporters of the grant include the state’s two Republican senators and its business lobby, but the most vocal opponents have pitched it as a “battle for the soul of America”.
The real battle, however, appears to be against the influence of fringe voices in Idaho politics. Though seemingly an obscure battle, the intensity of the fight in the state and the blood-curdling language used by its opponents reveals much about American politics in the post-Trump era.
It is a place where conspiracy theories run amok and where even some Republican legislators are at a loss how to combat the extremism of many of their supporters, who have concluded that grant money for educating young children represents a dire threat to their way of life.
Mike Satz, executive director of a new effort to combat extremism in Idaho, the Idaho 97 Project, said: “The politics have really started devolving and the extremists have really started taking control of the Republican party in the state, and now the policies are not for the people – conservative or liberal or whatever the ideology is.”
When it comes to the early childhood grant, the people who would be affected by it are watching and waiting to see if the money will be available to improve access to care – a typical family in the state spends 25% of its annual income on care for an infant and a four-year-old.
A vote in the house on whether or not to accept the money is expected any day. The house initially rejected the funds in early March, but the state senate approved an amended version of the bill by one vote earlier this month.
Supporters have flooded local news with opinion pieces clarifying misconceptions about the grant and explaining exactly how the money would be used, but they face a mountain of misinformation coming from some rightwing lawmakers and the libertarian group Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF).
The Republican representative Charlie Shepherd provided an insight into this last week, when he told the Idaho Press that he approves of the amended version of the bill after voting against it in March.
Shepherd said that his earlier concerns about “indoctrination” had been addressed, but his constituents were not aware of that change. “And if I cannot educate them on what the bill actually does in time. At this point it’s almost political suicide for me to support the bill,” he confessed.
The amended version of the bill includes language that specifies that the appropriated money “shall not be used to dictate curricula for use by local collaboratives”. That was also true before, but the additional language makes it legally binding.
The executive director of one Idaho collaborative which could receive some of the funds, Andrew Mentzer, said the money would be beneficial for expanding childcare capacity and to help existing providers stay afloat in Valley County, a scenic, rural region in the west central part of the state.
“We lost two childcare facilities in the past 15 months in our area and that put about 50 families in a pretty bad position, during a pandemic, with regard to how and when they can go to work,” said Mentzer, executive director of the West Central Mountains Economic Development Council.
“A lot of the families ended up with situations where they had to cut hours or had a parent who couldn’t go to work, and that’s food on the table at the end of the day for the individual families.”
Already, the community is short 400 childcare slots. “Those are 400 kids whose parents can’t go to work,” Mentzer said.
The people stirring the pot
The grant money would be distributed to local collaboratives like Mentzer’s by the not-for-profit Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children (Idaho AEYC). This group is separate from its national affiliate, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), a professional membership organization for people who work in education and childcare.
Intensity of Idaho childcare battle shows rise in extremism, post-Trump (msn.com)If you had actually bothered to read the article, it's far RW activists who are insisting that this funding would be used to turn young children in to social justice activists when the reality is the most controversial thing this children would likely be taught is how to build legos toys, or how to color within the lines in a coloring book, followed by a snack and a cup of milk and a midday nap followed by a recess period where they could run and play.The rise in liberal extremism hurts everyone. There's nothing logical or beneficial to any of it.
This is NOT extremism. Wanting the taxpayer to pay for the childcare of other people's children IS EXTREMISM.
The money was from a $6 million grant passed by the Trump administration, not a long-term commitment. Republican elected representatives support it. It sounds like it's only RW extremists who don't even have any small children who are against it. They're a bunch of RW lunatics who have let their imaginations run wild and are getting some kind of a sick kick out of causing chaos while unnecessarily hurting young parents and young preschool children.
So the welfare payments and snap coupons are not enough, eh. No, I DON'T BELIEVE IN COMMUNISM. I believe in personal responsibility--you should try it sometime--FUCKING PARASITE.If you had bothered to take the time or understand the world, you'd know that childcare is NOT the responsibility of the Government. Ever. Full stop.When is this lunacy going to end? It's like a bad dream that just won't end. I mean, this is not a battle for the soul of America as its most vocal opponents have described it. It's child care for young children who are not in school yet simple so their parents can go to work, earn a living, and put food on the table at dinner time. How can that possibly be controversial?
---------------------------------------------------
In the months since a Republican house of representatives member first brought the grant for early childhood education to the legislature for a vote, far-right opponents have insisted, despite evidence and assurances proving otherwise, that the grant would be used to “indoctrinate” children five and under, and turn them into social justice activists.
Supporters of the grant include the state’s two Republican senators and its business lobby, but the most vocal opponents have pitched it as a “battle for the soul of America”.
The real battle, however, appears to be against the influence of fringe voices in Idaho politics. Though seemingly an obscure battle, the intensity of the fight in the state and the blood-curdling language used by its opponents reveals much about American politics in the post-Trump era.
It is a place where conspiracy theories run amok and where even some Republican legislators are at a loss how to combat the extremism of many of their supporters, who have concluded that grant money for educating young children represents a dire threat to their way of life.
Mike Satz, executive director of a new effort to combat extremism in Idaho, the Idaho 97 Project, said: “The politics have really started devolving and the extremists have really started taking control of the Republican party in the state, and now the policies are not for the people – conservative or liberal or whatever the ideology is.”
When it comes to the early childhood grant, the people who would be affected by it are watching and waiting to see if the money will be available to improve access to care – a typical family in the state spends 25% of its annual income on care for an infant and a four-year-old.
A vote in the house on whether or not to accept the money is expected any day. The house initially rejected the funds in early March, but the state senate approved an amended version of the bill by one vote earlier this month.
Supporters have flooded local news with opinion pieces clarifying misconceptions about the grant and explaining exactly how the money would be used, but they face a mountain of misinformation coming from some rightwing lawmakers and the libertarian group Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF).
The Republican representative Charlie Shepherd provided an insight into this last week, when he told the Idaho Press that he approves of the amended version of the bill after voting against it in March.
Shepherd said that his earlier concerns about “indoctrination” had been addressed, but his constituents were not aware of that change. “And if I cannot educate them on what the bill actually does in time. At this point it’s almost political suicide for me to support the bill,” he confessed.
The amended version of the bill includes language that specifies that the appropriated money “shall not be used to dictate curricula for use by local collaboratives”. That was also true before, but the additional language makes it legally binding.
The executive director of one Idaho collaborative which could receive some of the funds, Andrew Mentzer, said the money would be beneficial for expanding childcare capacity and to help existing providers stay afloat in Valley County, a scenic, rural region in the west central part of the state.
“We lost two childcare facilities in the past 15 months in our area and that put about 50 families in a pretty bad position, during a pandemic, with regard to how and when they can go to work,” said Mentzer, executive director of the West Central Mountains Economic Development Council.
“A lot of the families ended up with situations where they had to cut hours or had a parent who couldn’t go to work, and that’s food on the table at the end of the day for the individual families.”
Already, the community is short 400 childcare slots. “Those are 400 kids whose parents can’t go to work,” Mentzer said.
The people stirring the pot
The grant money would be distributed to local collaboratives like Mentzer’s by the not-for-profit Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children (Idaho AEYC). This group is separate from its national affiliate, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), a professional membership organization for people who work in education and childcare.
Intensity of Idaho childcare battle shows rise in extremism, post-Trump (msn.com)If you had actually bothered to read the article, it's far RW activists who are insisting that this funding would be used to turn young children in to social justice activists when the reality is the most controversial thing this children would likely be taught is how to build legos toys, or how to color within the lines in a coloring book, followed by a snack and a cup of milk and a midday nap followed by a recess period where they could run and play.The rise in liberal extremism hurts everyone. There's nothing logical or beneficial to any of it.
This is NOT extremism. Wanting the taxpayer to pay for the childcare of other people's children IS EXTREMISM.
How about taxpayer subsidized school lunches for children who would otherwise go hungry? Would you just let them go hungry? If so, would you please go to the schools to tell the children yourself.
Well, I support myself without any gov't assistance whatsoever.
However, when it comes to public policy, it's a well known fact (at least it is for educated people) that rudimentary gov't programs can and do prevent much higher social and taxpayers costs later on down the line.
