We are once again heading into Town Meeting season and all the local elections that come with it. And once again, far-right conservatives are targeting school boards with the goal of banning critical race theory, Black Lives Matter, gender education, and all the other stuff that’s paving the way for a Communist America by producing a generation of brainwashed kiddies.
I’ll be on the lookout for specific candidates, especially where the conservatives put together “tickets’ of like-minded hopefuls. Tips appreciated.
Our first entry may or may not run for her school board, but she’s encouraging like-minded folks to run by waving the bloody shirt of “woke-ism” as fervently as she can.
He name is Martha Hafner, a resident of Randolph Center and a retired educator who’s up to her neck in conservative conspiratorialism. She’s also the brains behind Save Our Schoolchildren and its truly terrible website that will remind you of the bad old days of GeoCities or AngelFire.
The screenshot above is from a brief and wretched YouTube video urging people to run. Bad graphics, stock images, and a soundtrack that must be experienced to be believed.
SOS’ website and Facebook page are a shrine of conspiracy theory’s greatest hits.
It warns of leftist activists who’ve “infiltrated” public schools to “indoctrinate our children.” It usurps the image and memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in promoting a one-day tour of Vermont — which was postponed due to bad weather last week — by Lily Tang Williams, a Chinese emigré turned anti-Communist firebrand and a former candidate for U.S. House in New Hampshire. (She finished third in the Republican primary last year. The winner, Bob Burns, went on to lose badly to incumbent Democrat Anne Kuster.)
LTW is a real piece of work who sees America treading the same path as Mao’s China thanks to the indoctrination of the children. She moved to New Hampshire a few years ago, apparently as part of the libertarian Free State Project. She merits a deeper dive when or if she reschedules her speaking tour.
The SOS Facebook page warns that the federal government is planning to “mandate” critical race theory and (of course) the 1619 Project in public school curricula. Which is nonsense. The U.S. Agency of Education can make recommendations. It can give grants for recommended projects. It cannot mandate anything in anyone’s curriculum.
SOS also warns that Black Lives Matter leaders “are openly professing their commitment to communism” and sounds the alarm about “transgenderism,” whatever that is. The Facebook page promotes the views of “Dr.” James Lindsay, last seen in these parts speaking in Vermont last May. As I wrote back then, Lindsay is “a former massage therapist who claims to have a doctorate in mathematics, although I can’t find a reference anywhere to the granting institution.” His anti- CRT activism is supported by Sovereign Nations, a Christian Reconstructionist organization.
There’s also a link to an “IndoctriNation Map” showing all the locations around the country where the forces of wokeness are taking over the schools. There are three hotspots in Vermont: Burlington, South Burlington, and Essex-Westford. And of course there’s a link to an essay by (of course) John Klar on the controversy in Randolph over a transgender teen playing on the girls’ volleyball team.
One more. There’s a warning about something called the Delphi Technique, which is a way of facilitating large meetings that’s seen on the far right as a means of controlling dissent and silencing the voices of “concerned parents.” Here’s an “exposé” of the Delphi Technique by one Albert Burns, a Utahn who “has an extensive knowledge of the conspiracy which has been working so hard to destroy this nation and incorporate it into a one world government.”
Uh-huh.
So that’s a brief and incomplete tour of the mind of Martha Hafner, who may be on the school board ballot in Randolph. We’ll be on the lookout for more extremists seeking to change policies in their public schools. Voters can elect these people if they so choose, but they should be fully informed about the extreme views of some candidates.
The Vermont Political Observer. 
A minor point of contention– these are not conservatives. If they had a further right political party then the republicans, they would be all for it. Giving them credit by calling them conservatives helps no one and allows somebody else to frame the debate. . Right wing reactionaries? Right wing nutjob abbreviated to RWNJ is popular.
I try to avoid words like “nutjob” out of respect for those with mental illness. But your point is well taken.
Your point is taken as well. Having worked various human service positions in the past, it never ever crossed my mind to compare some of the nicest most fundamental innocent individuals with the Right wing wack-a-doos.
No snark intended, I will make that change in my vocabulary.
John:
As a public service, would you consider posting these articles in local Front Porch Forum groups to warn voters of the towns that these Republican extremists are running for school board positions?
As a resident of Randolph and a member of FPF, the discussion around John Klar’s extremist views and his written opinion blogs leading up to the Nov election was a good way to let the local community know about him, and I dare say, helped him lose.
I consider myself an engaged voter in Randolph with my finger on the pulse of what’s happening locally— yet I’ve never heard of this woman that you mentioned that may be running for school board at OSSD. Posting your article to a wider audience on FPF ahead of Town Meeting Day might be a consideration.
P.S. I read all of your articles and enjoy them immensely, mostly for the snark (lol). Keep up the good work!
FPF only allows people to post in their hometown’s forum. It’s a good idea, but against the rules.