Never thought I’d write a title that would combine Star Wars and King of England Henry II but there you go! Good ole Henry (ok, not so much) and the priest was Thomas Beckett who had excommunicated a number of bishops that supported Henry.
And yes, four knights did carry out Henry’s words as if it was a direct order which has passed down through the ages and whose “principle” still rides today when powerful/political people merely speak out and their supporters go forth.
Yes, I’ve twisted it a bit.
While it would be amusing to call Governor Groomer the modern-day King Henry, he really is the “troublesome priest” for the rest of us in that he decided to drop down from a moral governance model to rule our lives. Twice now, he has made it clear that Government is pre-eminent over we the people. He believes that he no longer needs our consent – witness his “Public Health trumps Everything” during the pandemic in ruling (vs governing) how we would live our lives.
And now, he has decided that Parents SHOULDN’T be in charge and in control of their children when it comes to Education and being in school. In this, he perfectly aligned with Biden’s Secretary of Education (and highly Progressive), Miguel Cardona:
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona refused to say that parents should be informed if their child is undergoing a gender transition at school during congressional testimony on Thursday. The secretary’s non-answer came under questioning before the House Education and Labor Committee by Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), who repeatedly asked Cardona if he thought schools should keep a student’s gender transition secret from their parents.
…”Should schools ever keep it a secret from parents if their children are involved in gender transition?” Banks asked again.
Cardona replied: “Schools should be partnering with parents on communication, and there are times when schools are working and supporting students on issues that are very sensitive, but I do believe that parents should be connected with schools, and, in many cases, working together is what’s going to help the student.”
“I have spoken to students who shared, whatever situation is at their home, that they felt safe at the school, and we have to be careful not to turn this into something that it’s not,” the secretary continued. “Our schools are safe places for our students, and our teachers are often the front-liners when it comes to supporting our students when they have issues in their lives.”
Cardona pussy-footed around but the intent was clear with his reference to “safe spaces” – note that he didn’t say that the child’s home was that “safe space”. Note, too, the “our teachers are often the front-liners” bit- and here I am thinking that Parents are ALWAYS the First Responders (leaving aside, for the moment, those parents who truly are unfit but who are a tiny percentage of Parents in the aggregate). This was a “side-eye” disparagement of Parents – and an underhanded disparagement against Parents.
Sununu, not being half the politician his Dad is, just blurted it out and made sure that Parents SHOULDN’T be involved in their child’s sexuality decisions while in school. He fell hook, line, and sinker (or was he the behind-the-scenes guy in casting that hook, line, and sinker.) for the Left’s ideology that teachers are the new Parents.
He’s all in on the new phrase “What happens in Schools, stays in Schools”. While that really is a Las Vega line, it is about the actions of consenting adults and the marketing nuance was “do what you want, we’ll keep your secrets”. Who knew that school systems would adopt the same thought line and message for underaged, minor children?
Groomers, indeed.
So the question is, is Governor Groomer the new King Henry, and Parents are the new “troublesome priest(s)” in his worldview? Or is it the other way around – is Sununu the priest that must be dealt with (politically) by Parents who are unwilling to allow Government to keep secrets from them when it comes to their children?
Frank Edleblut came within a hair’s breadth of beating Sununu in the primary three election cycles ago. Yes, GraniteGrok endorsed him at the time and I know that I would do so again. He’s smarter than Sununu, more Conservative than Sununu, more thoughtful than Sununu – and is a self-made man instead of depending on Daddy’s money and contacts.
The above title aside, Frank isn’t a Wan-Kanobi, but certainly someone that understands boundaries and lanes for Government – and its Proper Role. The Left hates Edleblut because he understands that Government isn’t in charge of us, it should be the other way around. The Left sees Education as a wedge between parents and their children, Frank sees Education as what it was and is supposed to be – outsourcing of their child to teachers who have only certain things that they are supposed to teach but always knowing that Parents should be in control.
In this, Frank would be far superior to Sununu.
So, after all that, perhaps a twinge of Obi-Wan is there after all.
