Complete privatization of schools is the ideological goal of the Right. One of their major strategies is to weaken teacher unions. As teacher unions are weakened, public education will have fewer financial and people resources to put into maintaining public and political support for public education. The Right, in combination with corporate interests, has been successful not only in opposing the agenda and interests of teacher unions, but also in getting people into government office supportive of their ideology. They are currently poised for long-term domination (even despite the occasional setbacks of specific elections) of the all branches of government, including the courts, at both the Federal level and in many states. If the political opposition to public education and organized labor continues on its present course, it is likely only a matter of time that public schools and teacher unions, as they now exist, will become a thing of the past.
Underlying the political success of those who oppose public education is network of right-wing organizations, individuals, and their funders, who create powerful and compelling messages and get those messages out to the broad public and to elected officials. This right-wing movement has been the dominant force in influencing public opinion and in enabling the Right to take control of the policy agenda in this country. Clearly, this policy agenda includes the complete privatization of education.
If public education, as it now exists, is to survive, its advocates must forcefully counter the right-wing movement. This can not be done by education advocates alone, and fortunately, it doesn’t have to be.
As pointed out in the preceding section, “Responding to the Attack,” public education advocates have as potential strategic allies a wide range of organizations, groups, and individuals whose issues are under attack by the Right. The financial resources to respond to the attack are there. They just have to be focused and well utilized. The skills and knowledge are there. They just have to be organized and well directed. The knowledge of how to proceed is there—indeed, the Right has provided a road map of what works. Public education advocates just have to show the determination to follow their own version of that road map, and the imagination to create some new roads of their own.
Teacher organizations and other public education advocates should consider joining with organized labor, environmental organizations, civil liberty groups, trial lawyers, and the many others under attack from the Right. Teachers and their allies will need to work cooperatively and effectively, and along with the progressive philanthropic community, provide the necessary funding to develop the infrastructure of organizations and individuals that will be required to counter the juggernaut of the Right.
In the conclusion of his 1971 memorandum to the Chamber of Commerce, a key document in launching the right-wing movement, Louis Powell wrote: “… business and the enterprise system are in deep trouble, and the hour is late.”
Now, our country, our sense of community, and our democracy itself are in deep trouble, and the hour is late.