Transcripts For CSPAN2 Mike Gonzalez The Plot To Change America 20240712

Moderate. So if you think of something youd like to ask either or both of them, please submit the question in questions box. Tell us your name and where youre tuning in from. Well answer as many questions as we can in the time we have. But before we get to the discussion between Mike Gonzalez and Michael Knowles i want to introduce a special guest to kick off the program. That special excess Heritage Foundation president , mrs. Kale coles james. Ms. James, the floor is yours. Well, good morning. I am so excited to welcome you to the Heritage Foundation and to our virtual book launch of the plot to change america. I want to thank you all but especially i want to think Michael Knowles for join us today. We are so honored to have you with us. We are so proud of Mike Gonzalez and the time and the research hat the has put into this tremendous book. Mike isnt afraid to point out what is happening to our beloved country, and he is not afraid to call out those who buy into the destructiveness of identity politics. Mike is often at the tip of the spear at heritage when it comes to these issues. And he does it because he is a true patriot and because he doesnt want to see our beloved country go any further down this treacherous road. Ladies and gentlemen, it was only in the 1960s when we were struggling to decreate the country and courageous whites and blacks were working to bring races together and ensure america live upped to its promise of liberty and justice and equal treatment for all people. Today, most americans live in racial harmony. We have had our first black president , we have had women and people of all colors and backgrounds in the highest ranks of American Business and government. And yet, and yet, our young people are coming out of our colleges and universities believing that grievance politics, identity politics, is the road to justice and equality. When in fact it will bring us right to a place where this nation is looking at a time in our history when we have never been more disrupted. This book couldnt be any more timely with the riots and the destruction of statues and monuments and the rewriting of American History in the classroom, the American People need to wake up to the insidiousness of identity politics. They need to understand what this has already cost our society and they need to understand how it will poisen our children and our grandchildren if we just standby and allow it to continue. We cant let that happen and we wont let that happen. So, mike, thank you for writing this important back and thank you mick for being here deafblind Michael Knowles for being here today to talk about that. Were all looking forward to the conversation. Thank you very much, mrs. James, it is an honor to be here at the Heritage Foundation, all beat virtually and not in the building, and its such a pressure to be joined by Mike Gonzalez and talk about this book, the mott to change america. , mike, i i dont want to accuse you of anything but when i look around today and i see roving bands of an nor kyes an nor kyes tearing town Founding Fathers using the resident rim of identity politicked some are selfproclaimed marxists. Cannot wonder if you hired this group of people as a Marketing Tool to promote the thesis in the book bus it seems as though were seeing that thesis played out horrifyingly in real time. Michael thank you for the introduction, thank you for being here. Im very happy that my book is selling well and my ideas are getting out but im not very happy at all the reason why. I tide not hire these people but everything we have seen today, everything, you just put your fixer on it. Everything we have seen from the an naarty in portland to the 69 team project to the blm organization, to robin de angelos socalled antiracism Training Sessions, all of this is at the heart of why i wrote my book. Little did i know as i wassiting a year ago that we were going to have the summer of 2020 whether im beginning to call the summer of hate. It is really cocoon sequence of the things we have done to ourselves. Its funny because you trace the origin of this identity politics back to the 60s when you might see the summer of love and i think a lot of people were skeptical of that designation at the time but now i think your description is apt. The fruit of the ideologies and it has led to the summer of hate. Thats one moment in the book that was surprising to me but it think youre absolutely right, which is that when people think of identity politics, and all of the affiliated pathologies, Political Correctness, intersectionality, when we think of it, a lot of people consider that to be just a sort of ebbs exsentries can i and we need to talk but the politics and the identity politics is on the side. What you says i much more specific and damning. You say they identity politics has become our national hardware. What do you mean by that . Its really the software of our culture, its everywhere. We have become divided into groups based on race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, gender, even disability status, and anything that conquers a degree of victimhood which can be used to claim respect or attention or rewards or compensatory justice, it from from in the moment you enterschool when your daughters principal is saying diversity is our friend, to then high school, when our kids are made to read howard zen, which does a wonderful job not of telling history because is it vest bad history about instilling grievances against the installs of grievances at the heart of this and needs to work that way. And then obviously the university cam puts are being taken over by this, but its might migrate over to the work force. Hr telling people to put a sign on their difficults that say im an ally. An ally . Are we in a time of war . So it has ware did is really have come to believe a jugular issue of high crimes. Not every group gets to claim identity politics, grievance status, because even though as you can see on the camera i have relatively swathery skin from any sis sallan heritage sicilian heritage and i do not qualify and other people do not qualify. How does one get to claim this privilege of being considered oppress pressed . Yes, this is a we decided in the 60s to siphon off a group of people and call them minorities. Hadnt done this before. Could have done this in the 1920s when we had a huge number of air meanans or syrians or lib niece or sicilians in your case or jewish people, people seen as could by identified by pinot type, we could have keene seen know type. We chose to say, no, lets have all of these immigrants coming in joint the melting pot and become americans through assimilation. And the 1940s you have social scientists who believe to associate the victimhood, veins of vimhood, collective discrimination with a the term minority and then the term minimum north as we know it today comes into the fdirt fee tuned in webster 1961 in the definition we to the of today, that has an association with victimhood. This so we divide all these people into minority groups and they have this sense of grieve vanses, of victimhood, and it is that which they then use to say, well, the country is system systemically racist, so we must change all the institutions and all the structures in the system itself. You mentioned the social scientists. You mention the institutions. I think in the popular imagination, identity politics is something that was developed from the grassroots. People spontaneously taking to the streets and coming toward a kind of consciousness as a group of people and demanding their rights in the face of oppression. Thats the official left wing narrative at least by the people pushing identity politics. You say the origins are a little bit different. You say the origins were much more specific. It involved the small group of people and it was highly intentional. So, which is is it and who is behind it . Is not at all a grassroots effort. In fact, it was driven by elite activist who ideologies, who then formed the bureaucracy to create these groups who then instill promoted at universities and the 1960s, the Ford Foundation gave a great deal of money actually, of hundred thousand or so, to ucla researchers to go into the southwest and canvass Mexican Americans and came back with horrible news for the activists, Mexican Americans did not feel they were minorities, did not feel they were victim a victim group did know they were doing they faced discrimination which they did but they thought they could solve their own problem at an individual level. They could use their own individual agency to overcome their problems. Food news for the ucla researchers and the Ford Foundation which undertook a process to instill to create identities. The Ford Foundation was giving money, even already in the late 60s to instill identities into groups, the Ford Foundation then creates laraza, the Mexican American Legal Defense fund and the Ford Foundation begins to really support all of this group creation. Behind all this is the thinking of post modernistsistsd the Frankfurt School that wanted to remace the narrative in terms of post modernest to use [inaudible] and replace what you and me as the american dream, the american story, which has obviously were nat perfect country by any means but which can be perfected, improved by using our ideals. It is these theories that you see themselves may over again and again and again, out on the people who create the groups, who create the ethnic groups and, pan ethnic groups and create identities. You mentioned antonio, who founder of the italian communist party, the most significant marx philosophyer. Including karl marx so you have a marxist with these ideas critical theory and me modern university. You have people claiming the mantle of identity politics who describe. The as train marxist, specifically the leader of the blm organization. The Common Thread seems to be karl marx, people who are say vowedly communist and win you races that specter in the out people say thats a crazy Conspiracy Theory. Oh, youre seeing communist everywhere. Thats a red scare. So, is thats Conspiracy Theory or is its conspiracy . He comes up with the idea, the fascist tend to prison to stop his brain working. Very bad idea, as we know from the apostle st. Paul, people do a lot of good thinking in prison and good writing, so he begins to think in the late 20s in and 30s why revolutions havent happened. Only succeeded in one place, back water of europe, russia, in 1719, but they failed all the revolutions have failed since 1848. Theres no determined soviet, theres no italian soviet. The german revolution failed. And he begins to say, well, the reason is that the worker has become his ohno presser, has seasoned all the cultural given odd of the socalled oppressor class and kept to the family, religion, the economic system, and all the institutions. So, antonio this is his theory. We need to destroy the hegemonic narrative and replace it with a counternarrative. This what were seeing today, as you said, were seeing creator november the 1619 project says this is pout replacing the narrative of america. Further refinement come width the Frankfurt School, which second president writes a become in 1937, with which pronounces that the first the critical theories unremitting attack on all the norms of the west. Martin jay who wrote a very good book on at the transplant Forward School notes that the almost ignored, completely ignored the soviet union, no a tacks on stalin, even at the height of the famine, the all the massacres. Its really nonremitting back on the western norms and american norms, and whether you have today on campus you have critical theory, something that has infiltrated every faculty. If you are in law school outcome have to study critical legal their rhythm if youre in other places you have to study Critical Race Theory, all the ethnic studies departments which were started in the sixes in by thing a in the steps in actually by these activists are about replacing the narrative, angela davis, the former black panther, member of the communist party u. S. A. Who was thought at brandeis. A guru of the new left, she says that ethnic studies are the spell electric to all arm of the revolution. She knows what shing saying and saying is openly. So, i think that we should take it seriously when we see today what is happening repeating the same phrases that these neomarxists, cultural marxists used in the 20s in and 30s and 40s and 50s and 60s. You can trace as you just did, as you outline trace this evolution this, intellectual revolution that overflows into this crazy Politics Around us. One interesting point in the book is you did not dedicate a chapter to black identity because of the unique role of black people in the history of the United States, obviously legal slavery, then jim crow and then everything that accompanies those institutions. What you point out is identity politics attempts to conflate the experience of other minority groups as the continue to be created day by day with the black experience in america. So, just as matter of chronology even, how too these minority groups develop . Perhaps we could begin with hispanic or latino or i think the new term that the identity politics people want to use is lattin x. An x at the end. I dont know how to pronounce that so i wont try. Notice your last name is gonzalez, so what is the hispanic identity and assuming people dont did not buy into it when it came out, why has it stuck . Installize ago the unique black experience that is especially specious and they did it on purpose. This National Organization for women and other feminists were talking in terms terms of jane t the time. To make a Clear Association with jim crow. Thurgood marshall said in a decision that he said, no, look, our experience is unique and so i say in my book, he plot to change america, im not going to have a chapter on africanamericans because they are a unique experience. Dont think that it is healthy to fill the hearts and minds of africanamericans with resent and hatred but i think that slavery happened, jim crow happened, segregation happened. In fact, i fight so hard because i dont want to go back to the era of separate but equal and slowly very rapidly going back to separate but equal with identity politics. The hispanic model is a very clear one. The fared tried to organize in the 40s with the election of at the Los Angeles City council, organized Mexican Americans who did not think were organized enough in a voting bloc and then the Chicano Movement comes in and has this believes that mexicans should be considered a race, obviously mexicans is a nationality. There are many mexicans who are european origin, mexicans who are indigenous origin, mixes laugh, even mexicanafrican mexicans. Then they too have this association of mexicans, then the begin to realize we want to expand this coast to coast and bring in cubans, puerto ricoans and thats when they start to calm if we that idea of hispanic which the activist begin to almost intimidate, work the bureaucracy into creating the burcracy finally throws in the towel in 1977. The office of management and bug comes occupant with a policy directive number a whichs the hispanic identity and is then three years later it gets introduced into the census of 1980, the first census that hat this hispanic identity and has asia americans which is another huge pan Umbrella Group that brings together of many different origin, picks, china, korea, so americans with very different groups of very different cultural indicators brought in under this umbrella of asianamerican. The same thing as hispanic americans. People listening to this would be surprised to hear that hispanics were concocted about the bureaucracy and they will think that this has been around forever. In fact its a writer, professor at the university of california system, Christina Mora who wrote about this and said there will be collective amnesia. People will accept it as having existed always and want to do with the middle ee east north africa, create another Identity Group, arab americans or persian americans. The development of mina, which im pleased to say i think we collective amnesia about mina chills a new Identity Group that the left tried no foison us during the Obama Administration and never took off. So win one for the good guys because theres not one more grieve vans group concocted. Arabs consider considered white for the vast majority of our history. You name a number of very wellknown arabs including, mitch daniels, former for of indiana or other people, steve jobs, not particularly opress on the basis of his race. That raises this question of White Privilege which we hear but today. Best selling books written on the subject. You cant take a job or go to a School Without attending a Training Session where you are castigated for your White Privilege but raises a question. If one receives a special privilege by virtue of being white, then i would aring atyivities clamoring to remove their designation as white and create a new identity politics group. Their there seems to be a problem there. Gives the why to this idea of White Privilege. Jd vans wrote a back, hillbilly elegy and described he was of appalachian origin, scotch irish and when he got to yale he did not know unaware what was expected of him culturally, which utensils to use or anything like that. This is, i think this i quote the activists who met at the census pureow, including a radical palestinian activist, the idea that the census through the offices [inaudible] tell yo everything yaw wont to know but agency capture by the left. They were very clear about when they consider discussing what to do. First wanted to model on hispanics and then discuss back that arab americans do not want this and im not asking for the mina category and then a professor of ethnic studies said, but once they understand that they will be benefited soed with the category, benefit inside terms of racial previous reps, University Admissions on hiring practices or government contracts, they will embrace it and showed right away how this is really one of the things is using these racial previous reins as a gateway drug to identity politics. But shows also that you could derive benefit from proving that youre that not white. Right you might call it oppression privilege. Its become totally inverted. You quote linda in the book as pointing out that she began to wear the hijab which she wares in her public appearances because without it she was just another white woman and that was nod advantageous politically and the woman question comps up as well inch addition to racial categories there are sexual categories for identify politics and what is always struck me as very strange is women make up the majority of the population, women make up the majority of college students, how is it that the majority could become an aggrieved minority . Right. As i said in the 60s, with the second wave of feminism, they identified women the analogize the situation with black americans which i reduce instinct as to that of women and use the jane crow analogy. I see actually michael a new iteration of this and that is thatlight women are seeing as being moved to the oppressor class. You have the new term karen that comes in, people are mocking women as karens, which is really a bizarre thing, phenomenon to be happening. And i believe that i havent read her back, robin deangries book white frag fragility has a chapter called white womens tears. Women can get certain set asides and hiring quotas for being a woman but i believe that women this could be happening maybe being moved back into the catber of oppressor class. White women that is. Im with you. I have not yet mustered mass simple to read the white frag justicity book as has the term karen. The term karen in common use, is a racial slur. Refers to white women. The difference is its a socially acceptable racial slur. You see this evolution, this change in what sort of racial categories are protected, what sort of sexual categories are protected. There is a narrow disagreement between the new feminist and the old feminist. The old feminist of the second wave, very much believed in biological sex. Im woman, hear me roar, and now the category of sex has been completely obliterated. A major news agency that referred the other day to individuals with a cervix. Didnt use the term woman. Now you might say im woman, hear me roar has been replaced i am individual with a cervix hear me roar. This would create a contradiction, problem within that particular identity category, is there im searching for any hope we can recover from this identity politics nightmare. Is there a charges because of contradictions identity politics will collapse on itself or will it require a greater effort to rid ourselves of the problem. I tell you, i am hopeful and the rope why, i think the reason why im hopeful, the reason i wrote my become is to shed light on what has happened. I thing americans need to be aware of what happened, who did it, how they did it, why they did it, before we can start thinking of ways to reverse what happened. I think at the end of the day, these are all really at heart whether the culture mar the are marxist ideas the conflict is a purely marxist concept of all of life being nothing but conflict between groups and power dynamics, but at the end of the day, marxists set out to do the impossible. It is supreme vain attempt of changing human nature. Human nature is unchangeable. You reeled the odyssey, the iliad, the bible, you come across people like ulysses and moses, theyre just like us. Theyre humans. They lived thousands of years ago but have the same vices and very virtues we health how many nature is unchangeable so when they fail to change human nature marxists have to pull become on coercion if not violence. And that always happens. That is a feature, not a bug of marxism. Every marckist system that has existed has had to rely on coercion and i think the American People are to attached to freedom, to their liberties to really put up with coercion that much longer. That is why you see the pushback against cancel culture, against hate speech, against pc, and because it is really these are coercive technique used to silence enough dissent. So i think my purpose, i believe, with my book is to explain as plainly as i can how this was done, how these groups came about and why, and start cheng the conversation change the conversation and get us to think differently in a more informed way and i think that would be the beginning of the process of solution. I really do believe that. Im not being polly janish, im optimistic. You have hit on a central constellation here, probably the sole consolation thatcrests have in the Popular Culture and politics which is that reality resetters nit the end. Might take a long time, might be 70 years of the soviet union, a long time under any other terrible regime on earth but because you cannot change human nature ultimately that reality will reassert itself and as youll know artfully in the book, it does appear that people are coming to realize that these identity categories that have been foisted on them by elites, by specific individual people, individuals that you name in the book, fey dont describe them. Dont describe the realities they see. On the issue of the gender transgender ideology, people know that men and women are different and no matter how many times a professor at a very liberal college insists otherwise they know that is not the case. For the various Identity Group inside particular hispanics. No matter how many times theyre told you must go by hispanic, must go by latino, latin x. Theyll say i dont think that describes me very much. Id like to close before we move ton q a id like to get back to this point at the very beginning and a point you make the first chapters of the book, which is we hear now as a constant mantra at every university, every grade school for that matter, diversetive is our strength. And it would seem that what people mean is stopping ourselves up smaller and smaller Identity Groups will make america stronger, giving up more and more grievance will make america stronger, look around at the statues toppling and discover that probabliles not the case. We have an older idea in america, out of many one we come together and that unity in the United States is our strength. Have people the he argument that President Trump made were all patriots are theres a common good here in america. Is that argument catching on or even if we can remain hopeful, do we have a was to go of division and identity politics before reality reasserts itself . Im glad you brought this up. Its not just that people are being herded goo grouped but you have to represent a group. Congresswoman presley put it very well when she said lost year if you come to the table as maybe of the group you have to speak for that group. If youre not going to speak to come in and represent that group and represent what is a signed to you, dont come to the table. Understood essentialallism. We. I have to income and speak and the idea that our the hispanic category. You just said to me its a great way to close, what makes thus country possible, makes this country you of sicilian an stress my and me spanish cube yap ancestry to come together is there is an american creed and an American Culture we can adhere to, that we can halve loyalty. To you can continue to eat pasta if you want. To i can continue to smoke cigars which i do, but we have to we do this is something that america is exceptionally unique. No other country does this. Ive lived in seven other country at least a year, many months. This country is exceptional in that is does take people in from all over the world and says youre an american, heres what we do. At the end of the day we have solved all our problem, solved slavery, solved segregation, solved jim crow, by going back to the ideals of the revolution, all men are created equal. The foundational ideal, all men are created equal. When lincoln fought against slave and if said everside disnot put in those words to dough net the brits it he pit in for me. Martin luther king says we are here to cash a promissory note. That promissory note is the promise that all men are created equal and that is what we have to go back to aspiring to live by those ideals. Its when we have aspired to that, that we have solved our problems and i it by aspiring to this ideal well solve identity politics. I think youre right and building off of the equality principle, perhaps we should acknowledge the equality of our viewers and take some questions. I know there are a lot of questions out there. There are a bun of questions. We probably wont have item to get to them all but well do as many as possible. The first one that i will read is from jim scott in centennial, colorado. He asked with the media, woke correspond, professional sports legals, universities and every other powerful institution on board with identity politics how does the average person fight against this . I dont want anyone to lose their job us but i think we need to draw inspiration from the people who live behind the iron curtain and in the soviet union, who did speak the truth, and face the consequences. I think that there are brave basketball players who are remaining standing when they play the National Anthem. I think that we should hold them up as heroes. They are the ones who have courage. We need the media who will say, look how craigous they did. The basketball players left the court when they played the National Anthem. That if is not camous to be that one man, that picture of people saluting hitler and this one man with his arms folded, that this courageous one. So i think that when and your Company Comes along and tells you theres going to be another struggle you have to put something on your desk. I you use prudence but gently push back and say, well, what is happening . Why . I think that we have to summon up courage and please dont lose your job, but we need to create some space for liberty. Michael, i dont know if you have any ideas. Well, i agree with everything you have said and im remind of this irony which is that the left always tells us that there is institutional racism. Institutional oppression. But then it occurs to me the left controls every Major Institution in the United States. They control the mainstream media, hollywood, they control big tech, they control administrative government, they control Higher Education and lower education. The list goes on and on so if there is institutional racism or oppression it in would be the fault of the people who run the institution. You bring up be point the brave basketball player who stood up for the National Anthem when erv else was taking a knee. That guys name was jonathan isaac. Im not a big nba fan but i think a lot of people had never heard his name before and i think theres a consolation here and a worthy lesson which is even though this is a relatively unnorthern player, he is now selling more jerseys than anybody necessary his league other than lebron james. There is what some people called a silent majority out the, not who are conservative necessarily or republican or necessarily. The silent majority of people who feel bull yesterday, censored and intimidated by this highly ideology yaleizes institutional environment and want to push become and reward people who fight against that. Very often imim speaking on a College Campus kids ask me shy speak up in class or shy keep my mouth shut and get a good grade and later on ill tell people me views and teams to me that integrity is habit. We dont want anyone to lose johns or kicked out of school but be wise as serpents and innocent as doves but habits have to be practiced and its not going to be easier tomorrow to practice not easier to tell the truth and have integrity when youre out of college and you suddenly have a job and a family to support. Not going to be easier ten years from now or 20 years from now either. Courage is a virtue,. One wants to be prudent but if you show courage there are lot of people out there, more than most people think, who will reward speaking the truth in an oppressive environment. Michael this is a good up you interaction with audiences a deafer day so youre talking to average people who are trying to navigate this. For people who dont study these marc how does the average person talk but what is going on in laymans terms and explain to their neighbor why its so dangerous . The laymans terms are actually the key here because so much of what is in mikes book, the plot to change americahas been based on the highly technical jar john of egghead leftist academics going back 147 yves and if one is to engage in a conversation in a Critical Race Theory class we have not idea what were talking about if think if we speak in plain terms, thats going to be a much easier way to communicate to people and the nice thing is, because you have this highly ideologyized leftist culture and the alternative is common sense, using common language, speaking plain throughly. The idea of Political Correctness is to create euphemisms that say basic obvious things. So, i would engage on that level. Dont think that you need to go through the prison notebooks or read i can anything out there that drivel. I think its true of a lot of people. But there are many people in this country who can see that something is off, something isnt right, when the statute toes are toppling. Thats simple enough and one thing encourage people to do as well is recognize, going back to all of these older thinkers. What he hefts trick has been to pretend all their political philosophy so the science of history they stevedore social sciences and they use the term science here so that its impossible to disagree with them. Whereas in an authentic politics and political philosophy theres debate between eternal questions that we have debated since the dawn of civilization. And that is legitimate, these topics are open for debate. You dont need to have 15 letters at the end of your last name and cred dep shalls from the top schools in order to engage. We the people have a cinderellas at least for now. One thing want to add to that. Thats very good, michael. My son going to college, and he said when you talk bit critical theory, make sure you make the case that you are not talking about critical thinking. Youre its the opposite. Critical theory is this opposite of critical thinking. Its telling you what to do making a puppet out of you and if anybody wants to really keep up with this, theres a very good resource, Michael Knowles show a great podcast and michaels to explain things very well. Want to give you thanks for that. Thank you very mump. I appreciate that. A question, you didnt clue a section on africanamerican because of their unique history. Why is it you think that black leaders have not fought back against all of the invented groups hijacking their movement . That is a very good question i have asked myself all along. Could be some people have said that the Ford Foundation, when it was set ago tout create groups, had the fear that the Civil Rights Movement needed to have a wider constituency, could not be africanamericans who are 12 to of the population. Could be that leaders think that the constituency is enlarge whether then speak on behalf of all colored people. The need leaders and the average americans are very different. Sometimes at odds and i think this is a key when that happens, when you have reverend sharpton or somebody else speaking in terms of on behalf of all people of color, all minorities, realen hansing but this is not doing any good to africanamericans. I dont believe. Michael, do you have any thoughts on that . I have all of mikes thoughts. Think thats absolutely right. I actually think this point of that mike makes in the book, not to have a chapter on black identity, is sort of the key here because the black identity in america is unique, and you cannot as mike says, analogize other gropes experiences for one simpling reason which is that a huge number of black people in America Today can trace their ancestry back to slave ships. They were brought here against their will and that is a cot gory different experience from people whose ancestors chose to come here, and i think that choice, the idea that your great grandfather decided to come to this country in search of a better life, of a free, of will, shows you how preposterous it is to now generations later cop drive this grove vans at the country grievance at the done trip that your ancestors sought out and a miss to build a better life. Can hes put what to do about insertion of identity politics in education. Michael you have debt with is in in montgomery county, harvard, and different plays. Whatted a vice would you give for parents from k through ph. D who have kids in school . To the meetings of the board of education and make a pest of yourself. Ask the tough questions. My wife doesnt like to come with me to meetings of the board of ed for this rope. You have to ask why are you spending money on such things a culturally responsive teaching which has sear proof it works and youre spending hundreds of thousands of dollars that could be spent only books and computers and so forth. Im on the policy recommendation is give my become are two one is to get the government out of the category of creation business. The burcrats not anthropologyis and biologists and should not be create little categories and the second one which is corollary is to get out of stop giving benefits for people to adhere to these categories. Once we stop this i do believe that affirmative action which is racial preferences is unconstitutional and is running out of time. Sandra day oconnor in 2003 said, we are going to approve this but only for 25 more years. That is coming up soon in eight years, but i think even before that, the next time this comes because of asianamerican and Chinese Americans and native americans, the next time it comes before the court the court will throw it out and say this is clearly a violation of equality under the law. You know, i of course agree, parents should be very involved in their childrens schools and go the School Board Meetings and look at the curricula. One thing i think that it is important here as well is do not underestimate how damaging identity politics can be for Young Children when you find identity politics in the schools. There is nothing worse than that you can tell a young child than you cannot succeed because of your skin color or your Sexual Identity or whichever identity cat gore you prefer. In the 1990s when he had the selfesteem movement that went a little too extreme we told kids they could do whatever they want and always wonderful and got participation trophies and a, pluses on every assignment. Now things have swung in the opposite direction we tell i suppose at half the population you will not succeed. More than half the population when you include women. You will not succeed. You will not be able to do anything. Give up. Dont even try. Thats the worst message that is the opposite of what education should be doing, the entire point of education particularly liberal education is to teach us to grow, to grow in wisdom and tame our passions and to make of us responsible people who can strive and who can achieve and so when those identity politics creep in, it may seem like a trivial issue. We can joke but the identity category end but it can be profoundly damaging for your childs life. Any parent who comes across any idea that punch to allattity or hard work or the use of reason, the assumption of whitism, go back to the teacher and say do not teach this poison to my childful this is racist stuff. This you have to on this one you have to stand up and say, this is poison. What separates us from frankton it our use of reason so do not say it is a white thing. I cant believe that we saying this in 2020 and it is fight against that really hard. There was an argument on twitter whether two plus two actually equals four. And people were serious. Michael, this one to you. Its from david from canada. He asks why do corporations and Foundations Fund this movement . What do they when so few people actually support it. A great question from our neighbors to the north which i lovely refer to as americas hat. The Republican Party in the practical partisan rachael and the conserve if the moment, in their zeal to go after the size of government they seem to give Corporate America a pass and developed a Bad Reputation as being promoters of Corporate America. Corporate america is the problem. Corporate america probably more than any other group maybe with the exception of education is leading this leftward lurch in america and embricing identity politics and hurdling off the cliff interest nonsense and opolican . Why . Because they the goal to follow the almighty dollar and its easier when you have contrived active gist funs whichwellfunded and highly organized as mike described in the plot to change america. When you have got those highly motivated groups, petitioning, then, boycotts, making a couple dozen phone calls that will wish corporate policy because they just dont want to deal with it. Its easier. Theyll save a little money finally. Why not capitulate, and we need told corporations to account. Theres been a debate since the rise of President Trump and the last four years over globalism. We now have corporations that dont even pay that much limit to the United States theyve seem to have more of a transnational loyalty of the nba seem more loyal to china than they are to the United States. And that is a big problem if dont blame corporations for following the almighty dollar but i think we have to do much more in this country to hold them to account because even if somehow he manage to rein in the administer if the dispost by in miracle we were able to around in the educational system you would still have this major power for shaping public opinion, Corporate America, and if we dont also get them on the right track, then were not going to be able to escape this absolute scourge of identity politics. We have time one for one more question for mike. With all the talk but identity politics we know we have a shared american identity. How do we restore that . We need to go back to teaching civics. Who were the founders, what were there foibles and strengths. Why arguments . Arguments often argued against each. Other what is the system of what is natural right, what is natural law . Were the only what makes america exceptional is the fact were the only country to derive our legitimacy from natural law and natural right. It is really all over our founding documents. What too these things mean . Do we have rights we can observe in nature that are pregovernment and only tyrant can take away . So what is the how does our system of government work . What this separation of powers . That we derive . And then how do you become civically engaged . Civics now is taught as participation civics how to demonstrate, how to go to go on the street,. We need to go back to the old traditional understanding how a civic american his or her government but be also have to do the hard job of driving identity politics. Were a country made up of many different people. We need to go back to americans. We do derive pleasure from knowing our backgrounds and we do enjoy grandmas cooking and our familys history, but were also this other thing which is americans. Which is a wonderful thing to be, and were all very lucky that america extends us this right whether not just me but everyone here. This is really the way out. Its not going to be easy. Im not promising its easy but have to do it or we lose our freedoms, i believe. Believe that very strongly. Michael . My final thought is people should read the book. Not even just as a plug for mike, but because youre absolutely right. We will lose our freedom as we have come to understand our freedom in america and as we have cherished it. Well do that if we lose the sense of natural right, the sense of natural law, with the allow grievance to multiple and the most important take aways from the become is this didnt happen by accident. This wasnt just some spur of the moment Grassroots Campaign there were specific individuals we can name going back 100 years who plotted this and who eticketed this campaign to dismantle america. The fruit is all around us as statues Thomas Jefferson and George Washington are falling all around the country. That was not an accident. That was intentional. And if we want to save our country, save our cherished institutions and our freedom, the nation itself, that isnt going to be by accident either. That it is go to be absencal act and must he intensional act. And you have know why it was done in the first place and i encourage miami to read the book. I. Gentlemen, this is has finance i cant think of a better way to have spent the last hour. Want to thank you, Mike Gonzalez, you Michael Knowles and okay james for gives your time, your mind and your words today. Well be sharing the recording of this for everybody who has join us today later on so look out for that. And i want to reiterate two things. First, please purchase a copy of the plot to change america. If you already have purchased one, consider buying another one as a gift. Good to heritage. Org the plot. Do that, second, subscribe to beth of Michael Knowles podcasts. The Michael Knowles show, simple enough and the verdict with ted cruz. Understand theres really good episodes coming out which. So, with that, everybody, thank you for joining us. Have a wonderful tuesday. Were going to sign off. Thank you so. Thank you. Democratic senator Christopher Murphy of connecticut looks at the history of violence and firearms in the u. S. And the role they play in society. Manhattan Institute James copeland argues america is governed by