The concept of public education is sound and in its first century was generally successful, but in the last about half century, public education has devolved into a pathetic, putrid failure. Hijacked by atheists and anti-American leftists, public education no longer teaches American traditions or reflects American values. True American history has been grossly distorted or even eliminated; our children are actually being taught to hate their country and its founding. The conundrum is parents generally do not approve of the radical leftist curriculum adopted in public schools across the nation in both blue and red states, so why does this heinous political indoctrination continue unabated?

The beginning of public education's precipitous decline can be traced to atheist activist, Madalyn Murray O'Hair, who started the evil crusade to remove God and the Bible from public schools. In 1960, she demanded that the public school her son attended in Baltimore stop praying the Lord's prayer; she sued and finally in 1963, the Supreme Court sided with her that organized prayer in a public school amounted to a government endorsement of religion, so they banned it. The results are obvious. Since then we have seen common decency and public morality erode into a brutal, coarse, immoral, violent society. With America now drowning in crime, drug abuse, and filth, our societal decay should be no surprise since we stopped teaching our children a moral foundation and took God out of school.

Local control or even influence of public education was severely weakened when President Jimmy Carter created the federal Department of Education in 1979. Once the federal government started doling out dollars for education, it came with strings, and radical leftists have been pulling those strings. They increasingly push anti-American leftist propaganda into our curriculum, but they also foster mediocrity by seeking equal outcomes, rather than improved outcomes. Since the inception of the Department of Education, American students have consistently fallen behind in every subject. Majorities in many high schools are effectively illiterate but graduate anyway. We now produce high school graduates with no discernible skills; they are essentially unemployable. After twelve-plus years of public education, why do our kids still need more years of vocational training or college to gain marketable skills?!

For decades, the devolution of public education has been incremental and relatively slow but steady. Now the leftist transformation has become brazen, bold, and rapid. Public schools are openly teaching the radical LGBTQ agenda as acceptable and normal because leftists know an immoral populace is ripe for dependency and tyranny. The Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School went so far as to teach high school juniors "Pornography Literacy," a course that explicitly and graphically explains all manner of perversions to children! What value does teaching anal sex, bondage, and more add to public education?!

We have had and continue to have our struggles, but Americans are, by and large, united in love of country and share Judeo-Christian values. A nation must have a common culture to survive, much less thrive, so leftists have been desperately fanning the fames of racial division. Their newest weapon is "Critical Race Theory," which they are forcibly imposing on education, corporate America, and our military. In essence it simply instructs that anything "white" is oppressive and racist; its sole goal is to divide Americans – it teaches us to hate, mistrust, and resent each other.

Leftists, fueled by the Democrat Media Complex, insist "White Supremacy" is the greatest terrorist threat to America. Joe Biden recently repeated this total horse hockey in Tulsa. They have amplified a barely discernible, tiny group into a massive monster, so they can associate and malign all conservative Americans with this vile ideology. It's a ruse. When they say "White Supremacy," they are targeting Christianity! Leftists know a free people who love and worship God cannot and will not be cowed by totalitarian rulers, so they are trying to minimize, if not eradicate, Christianity.

We know their wicked intentions and must resist, but leftists control education and have already poisoned younger generations with their sinister propaganda. American parents and local communities must reassert control of education. Sadly, public education is probably beyond redemption and reform. The only timely solution is school choice. States must implement school vouchers immediately to empower parents to choose the schools that succeed in educating their children and reflect their values. Public education is already in crisis and our children and country cannot wait!

"Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching" (1 Timothy 4:13).

Pete Riehm is the host of Common Sense Radio heard 8 pm every Thursday on FMTalk106.5 or streaming at fmtalk1065.com. Email him at peteriehm@bellsouth.net or on Parler @PeteRiehm or read all his columns at http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/riehm