The Christian home-schooler who made ‘parental rights’ a GOP rallying cry

Of course it was always about the money not the kids. Just another grift. We stop allowing our tax money going to these private institutions.

When former president Donald Trump called for a federal parental bill of rights in a 2023 campaign video, saying secular public school instruction had become a "new religion," he was invoking arguments Farris first made 40 years ago.

That's what Trump does: take ridiculous right-wing talking points and repackage them in an even dumber way so that the GOP base can really get their teeth into it.

The idea that not pushing a religion is itself a religion is profoundly stupid, but Christian Nationalists can't imagine that not everyone thinks like they do so they slurp it up like gravy.

The attack on public schools started with desegregation. Once public schools desegregated, wealthy whites put their kids in private schools which, at the time, could still segregate. Eventually they were forced to admit minorities, but they realized this wasn't much of a problem cause they could still keep out poor minorities. With how segregated religion is, making a religious private school is a great way to keep out poor and black students. If that's not enough, homeschooling gives complete control.

Remember folks 9 times out of 10 when a child is being abused its by their parents or guardian. Think about that when these people talk about giving parents absolute control over another human.

The Republicans want to destroy the public schools fund by taxes where everyone is a allowed to go and get an education.

They want to give that tax money to private religious or for profit schools.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

“We’ve got to recognize that we’re swinging for the fences here, that any time you try to take down a giant of this nature, it’s an uphill battle,” Farris said on the previously undisclosed July 2021 call, a recording of which was obtained by the watchdog group Documented and shared with The Washington Post.

The 50-minute recording, whose details Farris did not dispute in a series of interviews with The Post, is a remarkable demonstration of how the ideology he has long championed has moved from the partisan fringe to the center of the nation’s bitter debates over public education.

When former president Donald Trump called for a federal parental bill of rights in a 2023 campaign video, saying secular public school instruction had become a “new religion,” he was invoking arguments Farris first made 40 years ago.

Tiffany Justice, co-founder of the right-wing group Moms for Liberty, which has become a powerful force in the parental rights movement since its launch less than three years ago, said it would be a mistake to overemphasize the impact of conservative Christian home-schoolers on the battles now playing out across the country.

Farris was approached after the speech by Peter Bohlinger, a Southern California real estate magnate who helps lead Ziklag, a group devoted to expanding Christian influence over American culture and government.

Bohlinger laid out the plan on the donor call: ADF lawyers would file lawsuits they hoped would lead to a Supreme Court ruling that declared a constitutional right to vouchers for private and home schools.

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Here's the deal with Michael Farris.

Dude was (is, technically) a constitutional lawyer, and knew his stuff forward and backward. He's filed multiple briefs with SCOTUS on various cases, and IIRC he even argued a case or two before them. I followed him on Facebook, where he would post lots of political opinions and news, and elicit conversation from lots of people. I really respected the guy and his knowledge, and most of his opinions, once upon a time.

Sometime in probably 2012 (give or take some years), best guess, he had what he described as an epiphany / religious vision while on the treadmill at the gym. Like God or an angel had given him a clear vision of what he was supposed to be doing, and shortly after, he shifted his focus and efforts.

I can't find that post now, and I don't remember at this point what he shifted his focus to, but after that, the tone of his posts changed, and I was suddenly disagreeing with many, many of his newly espoused opinions. After a while of that, he decided to move his public political discourse form his personal account to a page, and I lost track of him after that.

To this day, I'm convinced he had a stroke while at the gym, and it tweaked something in his brain. It was really disappointing to see his sudden shift in position and watch his steady decline afterward.

What a piece of shit