Did that scare you? No….. why not? Maybe it’s because it is just words and it poses no real threat to you…… it’s just words. This example is like writing, or calling your representatives in Washington. What you communicate to them is just a bunch of words and they really have very little, or no effect on their actions…….. until recently that is. There was a small little “boo” said that the Washington reps not only heard……. it shook them to their very toes. Them and the special interest groups that trade them favors, “money” also known as campaign support, for agendas of their choosing. It came in the unlikely package of parents….. ANGRY parents. Parents that have been on the sidelines of the “system” for a very long time. Just like a bench warmer they have been of little consequence to any part of the game called “education”. With the pandemics changes in how education was presented came a parental awakening of just what was being taught to their children. The common response was, “are you kidding me!” I had no idea! With the gubernatorial election in Virginia came the frosting on the cake. Parents were told not only did they have no say in their kids education but they were labeled as “domestic terrorists” to be monitored on a national scale. One parent that showed up at a school board meeting and complained that his daughter was raped and that the school not only knew about it they did nothing……….. nothing that is except cover up the rape, transfer the offender to another school, and then……. had the girls father violently arrested when he dared to complain at a school board meeting!! As a father, I don’t know how that father contained himself enough to try to get redress from “the system”. Had that been my daughter standing there, emotionally devastated, with tears in her eyes, telling me what happened…………. I don’t know what I would have done, but self control would have been hard to maintain. Not only did all of this play out on national TV but the commentary from the school board that parents had NO BUSINESS trying to intervene in the school boards decisions, but a candidate for Governor ran on a plank that included that stance. Those actions were front and center in the national news. One “established” Democratic candidate endorsed the action of the school board and one “unknown” Republican candidate strongly opposed their actions. This was in a very heavily democratic controlled state……… and ……. what happened? What happened was that this fathers horrific injustice hit a nerve with not only every parent with a child in a public school in the country, but it has mobilized MOTHERS NATIONWIDE!! School boards nationwide are learning that a MAMA bear is a bad thing to provoke. Established school board members are being voted out in large numbers. Even board presidents are being replaced, some embarrassingly so on national TV.

With these local actions taking place how is this going to affect National elections? Think about this. School boards are as local as elections can get. Every bit as local as property taxes that pay to support them. MaMa bears, no…….. all parents, are upset enough to get involved, run for school boards, and make a difference in the decisions of the local boards. If they don’t run for a board seat they are showing up at meetings, paying attention to programs, and having a HUGE impact on local elections of all types. THESE are the “grass roots” reactions that have the politicians in a “heavy sweat”. Regardless of party affiliation, campaign money is the driving force for most, no ALL, politicians. They need it to run for, or to stay, in office. The biggest money comes from special interest groups like teachers unions, and large donors looking for payback in one form or another. What is a candidate to do? Ignore the siren song of the “money people”………….OR…….. ignore the growing voice of the newly awakened MAMA bears in this country? CAREFUL…….. be VERY careful how you treat this very rapidly growing voting bloc. In many states now local politics are being turned upside down with this “newly awakened” motivated movement. This movement is spreading faster than the corona virus and the ONLY answer is to pay attention to their input. Virginia’s gubernatorial race is proof positive that parents can not be bought! There are so many local elections that the big donors can’t keep up. It’s not only like herding cats, it’s like herding feral cats, or controlling a grass fire in a strong wind. My thought is that it is a very good wind feeding a wild fire that is long overdue, and needed, to get rid of as much of the “rotten wood” as possible as soon as possible. GOD SPEED PARENTS!!!!!! Blow winds………BLOW!!!! From a pontoon boat somewhere it’s……….. Dave of the Woods!