In Virginia's Culture Wars, One Battle Has Already Been Lost

[Nevilledog]

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Brent Staples
@BrentNYT
The end of history: It will be impossible to teach it in states that are outlawing classroom discussions of race and racism, writes ⁦@jbouie⁩ - The New York Times

Opinion | In Virginia’s Culture Wars, One Battle Has Already Been Lost
Thoughts on the “critical race theory” moral panic.
nytimes.com
8:17 AM · Oct 30, 2021

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/30/opinion/virginia-election-2021.html

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https://archive.ph/8eO3v

On Tuesday, Virginians will vote to choose their next governor. The Democratic candidate is Terry McAuliffe, who served as governor from 2014 to 2018 but was term-limited out of office. The Republican candidate is Glenn Youngkin, a private equity executive and newcomer to electoral politics.

There are real, material issues at hand in Virginia, where I grew up and where I currently live, from transportation and housing costs to climate, economic inequality and, of course, the commonwealth’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The battleground for this election, however, is culture, identity and the specter of the previous president.

McAuliffe and his supporters want Virginians to feel that a vote for Youngkin is a vote for Donald Trump. “I ran against Donald Trump and Terry is running against an acolyte of Donald Trump,” said President Biden while speaking at a rally Tuesday night in Arlington. “We have a choice,” said McAuliffe at the same event. “A path that promotes conspiracies, hate, division, or a path focused on lifting up every single Virginian.”

Youngkin, for his part, wants Virginians to know that a vote for McAuliffe is a vote for “critical race theory.” Not the legal discipline that deals with the distance between formal and actual equality, but the idea, spread by right-wing activists and their wealthy supporters, that public schools are teaching a racist ideology of guilt and anti-white sentiment. Youngkin’s singular message has been that he will keep this “critical race theory” out of Virginia’s schools.

*snip*

[cilla4progress]

1. Wasn't this HRC's strategy, too?

Run against TFG?

Couldn't Virginians come up with a fresh face? I don't know that much about McAuliffe, but, doesn't seem like he would be the best choice. But, of course, he would have had the most financial backing. Which is what it takes to run for office in America.

SMDH.