In a recent series of video stings, James O'Keefe's Project Veritas has succeeded once again in showing ordinary Americans what their liberal betters think of them - in a nutshell, not much.
O'Keefe first made his mark in 2009 when he and a few pals went undercover to bring down ACORN, an astonishingly corrupt cartel of community organizations with its many hands stuck deep in Uncle Sam's many pockets. O'Keefe's trick was a simple one: to get ACORN officials to reveal privately what they would never say publicly.
To be fair, Common Core operates on a loftier plane than did ACORN. Hatched originally by the National Governors Association and nurtured by the Obama administration, Common Core aims to standardize what is taught in schools across America. Who could object to that? Initially, at least, 42 states signed on.
Unlike the folks at ACORN, no one affiliated with Common Core has been caught on tape advising clients how to put underage sex slaves on the federal teat. Like the ACORN people, however, those attached to Common Core will readily say in whispers what they would never post on their website.
For instance, the "Myths vs. Facts" section of Common Core's website fails to address the most-asked of all questions: Is Common Core attempting to force feed progressive values - such as they are - to America's students?
Common Core-affiliated publishing executive Kim Koerber would seem to have answered that question in the affirmative. Unaware she was being recorded on video, Koerber proudly confirmed all the suspicions conservatives might harbor about educational decision makers.
As Koerber saw things, conservatives just "want to talk about those dead white guys." They don't like the way the Constitution is being taught because "they're idiots and they don't know what's in it." They talk so much about "climate change not being real" they make her want to scream. And as to the Second Amendment, said Koerber, "Damn the Second Amendment."
Curiously, Koerber launched her harangue by insisting, "Fox TV viewers think that Common Core comes from the educated liberal groups and that's why they are against it." Truth be told, she said little to put their minds at ease.
Koerber and others like her have little choice but to think the way they do. Natural selection being what it is, they are convinced their higher IQs destined them to be liberal. "What Conservatives Fear Most Is a Well Educated America," reads an altogether symptomatic headline on Politicususa.com. In the article, the author, rather uncharitably, explains what motivates conservative parents: "Their deep-seated believe (sic) is that if ignorance is good enough for them, it is more than sufficient for their children."
On the more grammatically solid end of the progressive media chain, opinions vary little. Writes Bill Keller, former editor of the New York Times, "Local control of public schools, including the sacred right to keep them impoverished and ineffectual, is a fundamental tenet of the conservative canon."
Having explored the left's natural habitats - I have a Ph.D. and my wife is a university professor - I can confirm that condescension is epidemic in those environs. When liberals are among their own, and they often assume they are even when they are not, they reflexively speak of conservatives as idiots.
The problem is compounded because other than on occasions like, say, Thanksgiving, liberal educators are almost always among their own. In 2012, for instance, 96 percent of Ivy League professors who donated to a candidate gave their money to Barack Obama. High school faculty lounges have become almost as diversity free.
If our educators actually knew more than conservative parents, one could at least understand their amour de soi, but they don't. Each year, the generally liberal Pew Research Center conducts a survey of political knowledge. As far as I can tell, Republicans always do better than Democrats.
"Differences in news knowledge across partisan groups are relatively modest, though Republicans tend to do somewhat better than Democrats overall," said a Pew researcher of the 2014 survey. Although he understated the persistent knowledge gap, he did concede that in some categories Republicans did much better.
He cited one example in particular: Yes, Common Core. "Republicans are 16 points more likely than Democrats to answer the Common Core question correctly (58% vs. 42%)."
Would someone please tell Kim Koerber that?
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Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessary represent those of Headlines and Global News.
An independent writer and producer, Jack Cashill has written 11 books since 2000, nine of which have been featured on C-SPAN's "Book TV." He has also produced a score of documentaries for regional PBS and national cable channels. Jack has written for Fortune, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The Weekly Standard. He has a Ph.D. from Purdue University in American studies.
