#RedForEd leader deserved to be exposed
In April, while the press ignored its responsibilities and other Republicans shrank from the gathering scene, state Rep. Maria Syms belled the socialist cat Noah Karvelis as #TooRedfFrEd.
Using his own fevered words — which he has since tried to scrub from the record — she told voters and parents who he was and exactly what lunacy he had advocated. Syms correctly called for support of Arizona’s undercompensated teachers and the 20 percent pay raise they now have coming, but rightly stated that teachers deserve better leaders than harebrained socialist revolutionaries with radical-left agendas.
Liberals and the mainstream media quickly vilified her, even wildly calling her racist, while she waited for the GOP cavalry that never came.
And now?
Now, we know Mr. Karvelis spent his Fourth of July insulting the Founders of our nation, as keynote speaker at a national Socialist convention. He touted there the success of his movement and his tax initiative in Arizona, as the crowd gleefully chanted, “tax the rich.” I guess he thought no one was watching.
Earlier this month, Gov. Doug Ducey also rightly called out the socialist #RedForEd leaders as using our teachers to further their “tax the rich” ballot measure that would turn Arizona into one of the highest income-tax states — just shy of California.
Why else would Karvelis say he would be satisfied with a 15 percent teacher raise, only to then call a strike despite the state’s promise of a 20 percent pay raise? Was it for the teachers? Sadly, no.
The teachers were a means to the end of getting their Bernie Sanders tax plan — which is economic insanity for Arizona — on the ballot.
Mr. Karvelis is impressive in his instinct for self-promotion and preservation. He spent recent weeks trying to erase his online socialist rants and hoping we forget his call for subversive elementary-school lesson plans to steep children in grievance over “toxic white masculinity” and “white supremacy.”
But he has really outdone himself this week, declaring that he is not really a socialist at all, but simply a run-ofthe-mill “progressive democrat.” Move along folks ...nothin’ to see here. Does this 24-year-old self-avowed socialist revolutionary really expect Arizonans to buy his immature “dog ate my homework” dodge?
Mr. Karvelis has not advanced public education, but rather exploited it. While this is uncomfortable for some to say aloud, we should commend Syms and Ducey for exposing this #TooRedForEd sham while still championing our teachers with a 20 percent raise and more.
Since the mainstream media continue to give Karvelis a free pass — still ignoring his insane writings while allowing him to recast himself — Arizonans must stand together and hold him accountable for his expressed ideas and his recent attempts to hide them from the public. Arizonans should also ask the Democratic Party why it is supporting this socialist agenda.
The socialist energy now driving and dominating the American left is itself a sign of the failure of American schools in recent decades — or rather a sign of successful miseducation.
It reflects a dismal ignorance of history, which demonstrates that the socialist dream promises equality but delivers misery and tyranny. From the 20th century failures of the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, eastern Europe, Cambodia and Ethiopia to the current 21st century failures in Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea, the resulting economic hardship, starvation, violence and death are undeniable.
Socialism is not the benign equalizer; on the contrary, it stands without question as one of the most deceptive, destructive and deadly constructs ever contrived in human affairs.
It is time for the GOP, business leaders and individuals who believe in freedom to stand with Rep. Syms and Gov. Ducey in defense of the principles that define our great state — free enterprise, individual liberty and dynamic economic opportunity and growth, in support of community enterprises like public K-12 and university education that honor our shared moral obligations to the next generation.
Remember, we support our teachers, children and quality education — not socialists.