Few people have distilled down what is happening across our culture: from DEI to gender ideology to queer theory to postmodernism. They may seem unrelated, but they share DNA as off-shoot ideologies under a Marxist umbrella or genus. To think of Marxism as simply an economic theory would cloud your ability to see this connection. To grasp Marxism, you have to understand that it is a way of defining what it means to be human: answering the questions around the ontology and telos of man.

James Lindsay - author, mathematician, philosopher, founder of New Discoursesblog/podcast and social media provocateur - has dedicated this season of his life in unpacking Woke Marxism. He joined me for a two-hour interview to talk about why Marxism isn’t just a theory but rather a religion — a gnostic perversion of Christianity that is in the lineage of the serpent in the Garden of Eden.

This interview could have gone on for a couple more hours as Lindsay is a wealth of knowledge. We barely touched on Maoism, Fascism, etc.

But in this interview we do cover a lot of ground, including Lindsay’s through-line moment, a time in which a person makes the connection between an axiom they hold dear and a political agenda. For Lindsay, it was several key moments, including times when science was made a mockery in the name of the feminist political movement.

What has happened to our K-12 education system, specifically the cultural decline bringing it down?  Ryan Walters, Oklahoma State Superintendent, talks to me about how he's changing education in the Sooner state. Walters previously served as the state’s Secretary of Education and he was also a history teacher for 8 yrs. Oklahoma ranks 49th in reading in education according to EdWeek in 2021.

In this podcast, we discuss:
-- The legal standing behind Walter's support for the 10 Commandments displayed in all schools. 
-- Why religious liberty allows for tax-payer dollars to fund a Catholic Charter School.
-- How the teaching of history has moved from foundational truths to a perverse hatred of American values and institutions. 
-- How Oklahoma has banned DEI and any teaching of sexuality in the schools. 
  

Some 70% of teachers are part of a teachers union. Most likely NEA (National Education Association) or AFT (American Federation of Teachers). That means our kids and their education are beholden to what is essentially an interest group supported by our government. But their interests don't appear to be aligned with many parents. For instance, NEA President Becky Pringle roused the audience with a preacher-like sermon on standing up for the truth against persecution. That truth to her is that abortion is a right and that sex isn't binary, and that kids could be taught pornography in elementary school. If these sounds like value systems that don't fall along the lines of academic courses, like you know - math and reading, it's because these are value systems. 

So much for the separation of church and state. In my interview with Michael Hartney, who's studied unions and their hold on education, we talk about the following:
- Why teachers unions got so powerful
- Why Catholic Schools perform better than public schools
- How government essentially subsidizes unions
- How the pluralistic value systems of public schools caused many to lose the attraction of parochial schools, which is a value system grounded in respect, community, honor and acknowledgement of a higher being. 
- As a way to compete against emerging schools, the teachers unions are trying to stand for a mission. Unfortunately, that mission is something many parents don't like or want.