Data Points: The State Of American Society

The data points below are taken from the state of Illinois—a Deep Blue state. However, I suspect that the results can be replicated, on varying scales, in other states that feature Deep Blue political machines in one or a few major metro areas, wielding disproportionate influence over the government educational system. Other states, even including Red states, are sliding in this direction, as you can ascertain from reports across the country that show less and less emphasis on education and more and more time spent on developing wokeness among the children.

It would be nice to say that the good news is that parents control local school boards, but we all know that the awakening among parents remains a mixed bag. Yes, there has been pushback on the part of concerned normals, but the reality is that normals are an embattled minority in many to most areas. Many parents wish things were different, but lack the life convictions to formulate and push a coherent rebuild of the culture that could provide their children with a credible trajectory toward a normal human adulthood.

Here in IL the Dems are cruising towards re-election, despite widespread discontent. That’s a warning sign in itself—the fact that, rightly or wrongly—so many of the educated professionals in suburban areas of metro Chicago do not see Republican candicates as viable alternatives. Bear in mind, that many of the current crop of GOP candidates in IL are solid people, Trump endorsed, unabashed conservatives. Thus, the polling probably reflects more about the cultural degradation of the educated professional classes than about the current GOP candidates.

Wirepoints documents what these people—the educated professionals by and large are the key to Dem power holding in IL—are voting to continue. The radical Dem governor, Pritzker, is bragging a record high graduation rate from HS in IL, despite his continuing State of Emergency and in face of a Ballot Iniative that would grant public unions vast new powers to strike. Here are those numbers:

Pritzker’s big brag: A record 87% of Illinois students graduate…but only 3 in 10 students taking the SAT can read at grade level – Wirepoints Quickpoint

Two graphs will tell the story more quickly than words:

Now, the authors conclude with an utterly unrealistic call to drop partisan politics and circle the wagons together by empowering parents. They rightly point out that Establishment Republicans, over the years, did little to reform the system. On the other hand, the rapid spread of woke indoctrination to government schools virtually everywhere across the country shows that the the problem is bigger than what can be solved on the local level. Even if that were the case, the fact that supposedly concerned parents—”poll after poll show parents want more choices outside of the status quo”—continue to vote for the worst abusers of their children.

This is a cultural problem on a national scale. The real solution at this point is probably to withdraw from the top down from DC system of education and rebuild outside that system, an alternative system. Easier said than done, but it is happening at an increasing pace—even if the scale is small. Time was, back in the latter part of the 20th century, that there were still viable alternative, from K through professional schools, in the form of religious run educational systems, most prominently the Catholic system. Mainline religion, including Catholic, has fallen victim to the Gramscian Long March through all societal institutions—religious as well as secular. Those religious institutions have voluntarily self-destructed or are in the process of doing so. They have gone over to the other side. For the latest bad news—and I’ve largely given up reading this kind of stuff, but, well …

Francis’s Team in Command of the Church. All Jesuits

Where Is The Catholic Tom Wolfe?

Report from Vatican's Synod on Synodality celebrates diversity, inclusion, journeying, and other logs in bonfire of bureaucratic vanity

The truth is that building up from ground level is extraordinarily difficult. Home schooling alone is unlikely to transform the society—parents need institutional support, and to this point in time there is precious little of that on offer. It appears that those who remain well intentioned suffer from their own self imposed ideological blinders and are themselves in need of a conversion, yet their blinders prevent them from seeing a way forward.

To conclude, I’m sure most readers have seen the reporting on the sad state of military recruiting, which reflects directly on both the cultural state of America as well as the educational decline. In brief, the recruiting demographic is increasingly fat, dumb, and sexually confused, making for poor soldierly material at a time when the US is trying to simultaneously muscle both Russia and China, as well as much of the rest of an increasingly restive “global South”. Readiness is suffering.

In response, recently the Marines have dropped their Woke recruiting videos and gone back to more traditional methods. Please note, that does NOT mean the substance of the Woke military has changed. Nor that the academies that provide the officers for the services are any less woke. The result is that normals continue, at an increasing pace, to opt out of the military as a career. For just one indication, but one which is attracting attention even in the MSM—this is about who Americans are, and you can bet that none of this is a problem for Russia or China:

Virginia Military Institute Went Woke, Enrollment Fell 25%

Authored by Daniel Greenfield via the Gatestone Institute,

The Virginia Military Institute is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the presence of women at the nation's oldest state military college with an appearance by Kimberly Dark: a fat rights activist and author of lesbian fanfic who wants to "reimagine masculinity".

"Why couldn't we see that America has been racist forever, sexist forever?" Dark ranted in a post titled, "For those who do not want a Trump presidency — this is what we will do now."

Under Superintendent Cedric Wins, this is what the Virginia Military Institute has become.

Young men who once turned to VMI for its tradition of excellence and were eager to serve their country are now going elsewhere.

"How have you benefited from adherence to your gender role?" a VMI diversity training presentation asks.