In Minnesota, a school board has declared that officially sanctioned "government speech" cannot be challenged.  This is what happens when Marx replaces the Constitution for decades in schools and colleges across America.  It is quite possibly the best reminder we could have that it's imperative that Constitution-loving Americans start throwing their hats in the ring for school and local college board elections.

The story came out of Rochester, Minnesota, home to the Mayo Clinic, a large and prestigious employer that helps make Rochester the third largest city in Minnesota.  With almost 120,000 citizens, Rochester is not an inconsequential little place that can safely be laughed at and then ignored.

Rochester also shows all the signs of a citizenry that is way too credentialed.  It is primarily White (82%!), with Asians (6.8%) and Blacks (6.3%) making up the next two largest population groups.  The city's median income is $74,527, making it one of America's more affluent cities.

The Rochester school board's members are mostly middle-aged white women.  Here are quick bios about their academic credentials:

• Jean Marvin: B.A. in English and history; M.Ed.; Ph.D. in education.
• Cathy Nation: M.A. in public policy.
• Melissa Amundsen: Studied management info systems, computer science, and psychology at college (not clear whether she graduated).
• Julie Workman: B.A. in musical education; graduate studies in string pedagogy.
• Don Barlow: Pastor and firefighter.
• Dr. Jessica Garcia: B.S. in psychology; Ph.D. in clinical psychology.
• Karen Maclaughlin: J.D. (that is, she's an attorney!).

All that "education," and it seems that not one of them is familiar with the First Amendment.  How else to explain the pure totalitarianism behind the Rochester Public School Board's recent decision?

The Rochester Public Schools board voted unanimously Tuesday evening to make several phrases and images, including "Black Lives Matter," government speech, meaning the school can't be held liable for allowing those views while not allowing opposing views.

"So here with adopting the messages that you're adopting as government speech, you're saying these are the messages that we're communicating as a school district and by doing that we're not also creating a forum to allow other types of speech to enter the forum," John Edison, the RPS board attorney said.  

By declaring certain phrases involving the Black Lives Matter movement as government speech, the board is protecting itself from legal action because it is allowing one type of speech, but not any speech in opposition to those phrases.

But it's not just "Black lives matter," in Rochester schools, speech concerning "Brown lives matter," "Indigenous lives matter, "Stop Asian hate", as well as the pride flag, are now all declared official government speech.

Wow!  Just wow!

Apparently, the board members (one of whom is a lawyer) and their attorney are unfamiliar with the fact that the First Amendment says that citizens have the right to challenge "official government speech":

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Thanks to the Fourteenth Amendment, the core, inherent rights stated in the first ten amendments to the Constitution apply to all government bodies in America — including a local public school district.

In addition, as if any further evidence were needed that free speech is still inviolable, even in Rochester, Minnesota, Section 3 of the Minnesota Constitution states that "all persons may freely speak, write and publish their sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of such right."

The more "educated" people are in America, the less they know.  That's because our academic institutions aren't really "educating" people about their government, math, science, or history.  Instead, they have dedicated themselves for decades to indoctrinating children with leftist doctrines.

However, here's the good news: at least 75 million (and, I believe, many more) people voted for Donald Trump.  We need to harness that energy, beginning with restoring knowledge to our schools.  There are practical ways to achieve that goal, some of which are set out in this article.

Image: Censored (cropped) by Brian Wangenheim on Unsplash.

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