Texas Freedom Network

One of the Ten Commandments forbids lying, but far-right pressure groups seem to think it doesn’t apply to them. Mistruths are plentiful in their campaign to get Cynthia Dunbar named chair of the Texas State Board of Education. The biggest lie is that opponents of her appointment are discriminating against Dunbar because of her religious beliefs. A spokesperson for one fringe group says Dunbar’s critics “oppose religious freedom, particularly Christian conservatives.”

That dishonest line of attack is simply an attempt to distract Texans from the truth: Dunbar, who has homeschooled her own children, shouldn’t be chair of the state board because she hates public schools. They are, she says, “unconstitutional,” “tyrannical,” and “tools of perversion.” Those are her own words. The fact is most people would also oppose an agriculture commissioner who despises farmers or a surgeon general who denounces modern medicine.

Moreover, her own supporters have have made it crystal clear that they think anyone who disagrees with them isn’t a real Christian. See, for example, here, here, here and here. That kind of arrogance and self-righteousness is nauseating. So is lying to people while using faith as a weapon to divide Texans for political gain.

Could it get any worse? Could someone who despises public education soon be heading up the board tasked with managing the Texas public school system? Well, the buzz suggesting that Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond, may be the next chair of the Texas State Board of Education is growing louder, writes Hearst Capitol bureau reporter Gary Scharrer for the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News.

Look, we were under no illusions when the Texas Senate wisely rejected the confirmation of Don McLeroy as board chair in May. We knew Gov. Rick Perry would likely choose another member of the board’s far-right faction as chair (even though there are other far more responsible conservative Republicans on the board). After all, the far-right faction represents his electoral base, which he will need in his re-election battle next year.

But surely even the governor realizes that choosing an extremist like Dunbar would be almost inconceivably reckless and irresponsible. Dunbar has clearly expressed her loathing for public education in her book One Nation Under God, calling public schools a “tool of perversion,” “unconstitutional” and “tryannical.” She has also personally rejected the public school system, home-schooling her children. In fact, she wrote in her book that sending our children to public schools is “throwing them into the enemy’s flames even as the children of Israel threw their children to Moloch.”

Just before the November election, Dunbar also authored a vicious Internet rant in which she called Barack Obama a terrorist sympathizer who wants to seize total power by declaring martial law. In another Internet screed, she charged that Obama is promoting Marxism by calling for “shared sacrifice and social responsibility.” (Not surprisingly, both essays have been removed from the Web sites that published them.)

By appointing Dunbar, Gov. Perry would be sending a clear message that he shares Dunbar’s extremism and her contempt for public education. He would be putting his political fortunes ahead of the education of nearly 5 million Texas schoolchildren. In short, such an appointment would be a shocking betrayal of all those children and their families.

We hope Gov. Perry won’t do something so cynical and self-serving. Frankly, we believe he’s better than that. With the next state board meeting set for July 14-17, we will likely find out soon whether we’re wrong about that.