CAL THOMAS: How children are taught to become progressives
How are progressives made? By cooking them in a public school six hours a day, five days a week where they are seemingly indoctrinated with an ideology that contradicts the values and beliefs of many of their parents.
It began as a trickle, but now is approaching a flood as activist groups notably LGBTQ organizations have infiltrated public schools and demanded their views on sexuality and gender be taught.
Here are a few of many examples. In Montgomery County, Maryland (where I received a good education without the culture war stuff), Cedar Grove Elementary School posted this message on its PTA Facebook page: [we] will be celebrating love, respect, and tolerance: by use of video with students holding Pride flags while pledging, Love, Respect, Freedom, Tolerance, Equality, and Pride. What happened to pledging to the American flag?
Also in Montgomery County, a once conservative suburb of Washington, D.C., The Washington Times reports a group of parents are waiting for a federal judge to rule on their lawsuit directed at overturning a school district policy that requires teachers to hide how gender-transitioning students identify at school by reverting to birth names and pronouns with unsupportive caregivers.
Erin Lee, the mother of a 12-year-old girl in Fort Collins, Colorado, complained when an after school arts club her daughter attended turned out to be a Genders and Sexualities Alliance Club. Lee said the club taught that heterosexuality and monogamy are not normal. She also claimed students were told not to tell their parents. Lee pulled her daughter out of the middle school and enrolled her in a private Christian school where she says she is doing much better.
Its not just gender and sexuality that is being taught in public schools. A group of Jewish parents has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the teaching of what they claim are anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist materials in Los Angeles public schools. The materials, they say, refer to Israel as a settler state founded on genocide.
In their book Get Out Now: Why You Should Pull Your Child from Public School Before Its Too Late, Mary Rice Hasson and Theresa Farnan detail at great length with hundreds of documenting footnotes the progress activist groups have made in manipulating the minds of young people whose ability to think critically has yet to be even marginally developed.
This one paragraph sums up the challenge: Public education has been incredibly successful in one area churning out youthful progressives growing numbers of men and women in the grips of existential confusion, perpetual victimhood, and political intolerance ... The system takes full advantage of their most formative years in early elementary school, and the indoctrination continues through high school. Thanks to Americas public schools, they show up to college already prepped and ready to play on the progressive team.
The authors have an appendix in which they answer most of the questions raised by parents including how to deal with the cost of private education and whether their kids can play sports if they dont attend a public school.
Refusing to protect ones children from this stuff is a form of moral, spiritual and intellectual abuse. As this school year comes to an end, the summer would be a good time for parents of public school children to consider what is truly best for their offspring. They can start by investigating what is taught in their local school and they can finish by getting them out.
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Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas latest book Americas Expiration Date: The Fall of Empires and Superpowers and the Future of the United States (HarperCollins/Zondervan).
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CAL THOMAS: How children are taught to become progressives
- Progressives are learning the hard way how to survive Fox News - Politico - August 31st, 2026 [August 31st, 2026]
- Senator Markey fields national progressives to make his case in primary race against Moulton - The Boston Globe - August 31st, 2026 [August 31st, 2026]
- Progressives Warn Democrats Endlessly Invoking Hasan Piker to 'Get Their Shit Together' - Common Dreams - August 31st, 2026 [August 31st, 2026]
- In the Age of Trump, Progressives Should Stand Up for Sovereignty - Inkstick Media - August 27th, 2026 [August 27th, 2026]
- Aspiring politician? NJ progressives are actively recruiting candidates for 2027. - Gothamist - August 27th, 2026 [August 27th, 2026]
- Democrats and progressives wrestle with the Woke 1.0 era - Yahoo - August 27th, 2026 [August 27th, 2026]
- Democrats and progressives wrestle with the Woke 1.0 era - The Week - August 27th, 2026 [August 27th, 2026]
- Mass. primary is pitting new progressives against old-school organized labor - Spectrum News - August 27th, 2026 [August 27th, 2026]
- Are Too Many Vancouver Progressives Running for Mayor? - The Tyee - August 27th, 2026 [August 27th, 2026]
- Two Black Progressives Made History Tuesday Night. Neither Waited for Permission. - The Root - August 27th, 2026 [August 27th, 2026]
- The Information State: Progressives Road to Dystopia - Mises Institute - August 27th, 2026 [August 27th, 2026]
- Democratic star AOC caught in balancing act between progressives and centrists - The Observer - August 27th, 2026 [August 27th, 2026]
- Why are progressives winning across the United States? Its not complicated | Bernie Sanders - The Guardian - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- In a Big Year for Progressives, Heres Why These Moderates Won Their Primaries - The New York Times - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- South Korean progressives' 'Park Chung-hee' coalition in the AI era - Nikkei Asia - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Trump and Vance lead GOP midterm push as progressives head to Uruguay - Fox News - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Progressives are rising, but Black voters arent sold - Yahoo - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Hillary Clinton to host karaoke night for progressives in NYC - Washington Examiner - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Fox News: Get these sexy progressives away from my hungry eyes - Daily Kos - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Hillary Clinton to host karaoke night for progressives in NYC - Denver Gazette - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Suffolk Dem progressives on the prowl - Newsday - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Its Obvious Now Why Woke 1 Failed. I Have an Idea for How Progressives Can Be Less Annoying Next Time. - slate.com - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Top 5 most heated moments as progressives spar over who is farther to the left in final Dem Senate debate - Fox News - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Hey progressives: Shoplifting isnt need, its just plain greed - New York Post - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Progressives are on the march. Can they break Beacon Hill's status quo? - MassLive - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Opinion | The AI Emergency Is Already Hereand Progressives Must Confront It - Common Dreams - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Bernie Sanders has a response for progressives upset over Hongs loss in Wisconsin - Politico - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Progressives back substitute teacher over Wasserman Schultz in Florida - theguardian.com - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Before todays progressives, there were Conyers and Jackson | Thompson - The Detroit News - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- GOP targets progressives as frustration over economy grows - The Hill - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Opinion | Progressives in 2026 Are in a Catch-22 - WSJ - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Major tests for progressives and Trump are on tap in Tuesdays primaries - NBC News - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Progressives see a win and a loss in Minnesota and Wisconsin Democratic primaries - prismreports.org - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Op-Ed: Progressives Are Winning the Future of Washington's Legislature - The Urbanist - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Trump ally loses, mixed results for progressives: takeaways from primaries in Minnesota, Wisconsin and beyond - theguardian.com - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Progressives are on the cusp of a huge win. Their biggest stars are staying away. - Politico - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Francesca Hongs loss in Wisconsin is a win for progressives - salon.com - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Why AOC and other progressives are backing off Woke 1 - vox.com - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Could progressives win over long-term Delaware Democrats? - Bay to Bay News - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- CO-1 candidate Shimon Blau courts progressives after years of mocking them - 9News - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- What Abdul El-Sayeds victory says about progressives, outsiders and the Democratic Party - ThePrint - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- The Campaign Tactics Helping Progressives Win Primaries Ahead of the 2026 Midterms - The New York Times - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Progressives' wave of success meets choppy waters in Hawaii - USA Today - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Progressives look to shake up Beacon Hill as Sept. 1 primary nears. The key races and why they matter - MassLive.com - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Opinion | Without the Working Class, There's Only So Much Progressives Can Win - Common Dreams - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Progressives must ditch the all-or-nothing approach - The Seattle Times - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Progressives Rack Up Primary Wins, Testing Democratic Assumptions Ahead of the Midterms - Time Magazine - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- The Democratic party needs to do more than represent wealthy progressives | Dustin Guastella - The Guardian - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Progressives expand their reach and money finds its limit: Takeaways from Tuesdays primaries - NBC News - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Progressives didnt get the big election night they wanted - Politico - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Wisconsin is the latest test for progressives, the electability argument and, soon, party unity - Straight Arrow - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Primaries in the Midwest have become a high stakes proving ground for progressives - NPR - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Key Election Takeaways From Progressives Big Night - wsj.com - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Primaries takeaways: Progressives score big wins and turn to November - ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- How White Progressives Co-Opting Woke Harmed the Black Community - Emerald Book - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- El-Sayed gives progressives another victory and a new challenge - The Washington Post - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Progressives had another big primary night with a notable exception: From the Politics Desk - NBC News - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- With Primary Wins, Progressives Make Clear That Michigan Is Not for Sale - Truthout - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Wisconsin is next battleground between progressives and moderates over future of the Democratic Party - Milwaukee Independent - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Opinion | Colorado Progressives Hike the Tax Slope - wsj.com - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Michigan primary gives progressives a breakthrough and Democrats a test - Detroit Free Press - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Progressives win in Michigan, and a pop star announces a break: The news quiz - NBC News - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- After Abdul El-Sayeds Win in Michigan, Progressives Are Preparing for the Next Round Against AIPAC - inthesetimes.com - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Progressives in Ascendance With Key Primary Wins in Michigan | National News | U.S. News - U.S. News & World Report - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Progressives big Midwest test - Politico - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Progressives vs. The Establishment: AOC says party is united on key issue - Modern Ghana - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Queens councilmember breaks with progressives on ICE abolition letter - Queens Daily Eagle - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- As moderates beat progressives in Hawaii, nation looks to Wisconsin Gov. race | Morning in America - NewsNation - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Elena Kagan's warning to progressives attacking the Supreme Court - reason.com - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- El-Sayed scores marquee victory for progressives, and other takeaways from Tuesdays primaries - WKOW - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Can Opposing Data Centers Help Progressives Win? - Mother Jones - August 1st, 2026 [August 1st, 2026]
- Progressives Midwest insurgency is powered by the growing data center backlash - Semafor - August 1st, 2026 [August 1st, 2026]
- Religion isnt just for the right: five ways progressives are invoking religious freedom laws - The Guardian - August 1st, 2026 [August 1st, 2026]
- Meet All the New Progressives and Democratic Socialists Heading to Congress - Zeteo - August 1st, 2026 [August 1st, 2026]
- Analysis: Have progressives peaked? The next few weeks will be crucial in Democrats tug-of-war - WBAL News Radio - August 1st, 2026 [August 1st, 2026]
- Rep. Burgess Owens says progressives are getting involved with GOP primaries to shift Utah leftward - Yahoo - August 1st, 2026 [August 1st, 2026]
- Utah Republican says progressives are inside the gate to shift Utah to the left - Deseret News - August 1st, 2026 [August 1st, 2026]
- Sanders on Fetterman attacks: I would not put too much credibility on what he says about El-Sayed and Progressives - cnn.com - August 1st, 2026 [August 1st, 2026]
- Minnesota progressives campaign on Medicare for All as ranks of uninsured grow - MinnPost - July 24th, 2026 [July 24th, 2026]
- Progressives want to tax billionaires first, and you're next on the list - Fox News - July 24th, 2026 [July 24th, 2026]