Like the dog that finally catches the car, the radicals have become the establishment. Those free-wheeling students of the '60s - fighting "the man," bombing government buildings, burning draft cards - now work for that government and are counting the days when they'll receive their taxpayer-funded pension and retiree health care.
In fact, the radicals of the 1960s are now pushing retirement age, wrapping up careers that saw them control so much of American society -- the news media, academia, government bureaucracy and Hollywood. When Obama told audiences during the 2008 campaign that "We are the change we've been waiting for," it must have been an unsettling realization for these radicals, and likely triggered an existential crisis for some of them.
In my research of the left, I've gone down a few rabbit trails. I visited New Orleans and talked to Wade Rathke, a few months before the ACORN tree came crashing down. I met Frances Fox Piven in New York and interviewed her about a range of things at her home. (I've never met a socialist with a doorman before.) I wrote about the radical Jack Gerson, an SDS alum now influential in the Oakland, CA teachers union.
Which led me to Fred Klonsky. Klonsky, along with his brother Mike, were leaders of Students for a Democratic Society. Fred now is living comfortably as a public school teacher and union leader in the upscale Park Ridge community in suburban Chicago. Mike was reportedly lauded by Mao Zedong for his work spreading communism throughout the United States.
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My organization, Education Action Group, suspected Klonsky could be using his school district e-mail account for inappropriate purposes. So we submitted a Freedom of Information request for all the e-mails sent from his school account. According to Illinois state law, e-mails of government employees are considered public records.
Seemed routine. Until Klonsky became unhinged. Perhaps life as a public school art teacher is too sedate for this aging radical. Or maybe that abnormal gene that causes one to join the radical SDS and cavort with communists kicked in. Whatever the reason, Klonsky went ape on EAG.
His brother - the one who was a blogger on Barack Obama's campaign website until he was wiped off the site after his past was discovered - jumped in the fray, too.
These angry clowns, comrades of the domestic terrorist Bill Ayers and alumni of SDS, actually called me a "terrorist" for having the gall to request public records, and yes, hold the establishment accountable. Their attacks underscore that conservatives have become the anti-establishment, questioning and challenging the status quo.
Taxpayers have the right to access public records. It's sad they have to be subjected to personal attacks in the process. To make matters worse, school leaders have circled their wagons around Klonsky.
But we won't stop. We're going to be sure everyone knows the poison filling our public schools. They treat us like this? Just imagine what children are subjected to.
Education Action Group, with projects like “Kids Aren’t Cars” will continue showing America what is going on in our public schools until we run out of support or SDS decides to firebomb us.
Congratulations Mr. Klonsky -- you've become "the man." And we're making you and your radical comrades our special project.
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