John Engler, known for his vengefulness, facilitated the school debacle during his tenure with ease. Documented proof and scholarly studies underwriting the need for Engler's drastic action were never produced. Engler's resources and support came from the ideological warehouses of the Hard Right and the cut-throat business bosses long anxious to flex their power.
"Friendly fascism in the United States...(does not) need a charismatic, apparently all-powerful leader such as Mussolini or Hitler...The chief executive, rather, becomes the nominal head of a network that not only serves as a linchpin to help hold the Establishment together, but also provides it with a sanctimonious aura of legitimacy through the imagery of the (governor), his family, his associates and their doings."Without such supporting assets as provided by the various organizations and the immense funding mechanisms as come from the powers behind the governor, Engler could never dare begin the process of creating educational apartheid in our cities. He would not dare to suggest elitist academies be funded by public tax dollars in the posh conservative suburbs.
"The chief executive is...a TV performer, (a star of the Far Right), and his...(office) is indeed 'a awesome bullypulpit' from which he and his entire production staff can wield a potent "magic wand."...the Establishment's top levels (have no need to) remove power from the...(governor) but would accentuate the need for at least one fully presented face, to help counterbalance the facelessness of the (greedy business and religious) oligarchy and (help to) legitimate the regime as a whole...continuing to distract attention from the (purposes) and powers operating behind and through (the governorship)."
--Friendly Fascism by Bertram Gross
Engler Designed Devices to Force the Public Schools to Fail The crippled public school was designed by legislation, revenue limitation, and the creation of deregulated bootleg charter competition to fail.
Localizing the school code makes decentralization and fragmentation possible, thus furthering disruption and failure of the system. The support of the public will be lost.
Step by step, the coordinated editorial attacks unfold. The primary sources are the Detroit News and the Grand Rapids Press. Yet all of this is still but a dim foreshadowing of the darkside program laid out for Michigan and orchestrated by TEACH, the Mackinaw Center and the Foundation for Traditional Values and a dozen other national Hard Right groups were all joined in.
Their plan: destroy confidence in the schools, flirt with the racial issues. Project blame schools and teachers for the "punks and thugs," the "hounds of hell" that roam our cities. Then while there is a "moment," devise an unlimited charter system funded by a "direct grant to parents." Steal the tax funds for private purposes.
All the while, far rightist were to push ahead to a full blown voucher system of educational apartheid. Engler's announced intention to entirely remove the State School Code is just another clever calculated step in the process.
Engler's method of operation: Keep the offensive, keep the opposition off guard. Ignore the criticisms, just bully your way through.
Tomorrow we learn how the Nerd intends to re-invent public education.
How much of the Engler influence remains, will soon be known.
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