Education in America is like a vast ship that set sail 60 years ago on a path to lead this nation into a Marxist-Communist revolution. Educators worked to that end, and now they rest content in their accomplishment as this ship nears its destination. These educators see no need to return to teaching academics as it would not benefit their cause. The only way out of this situation is to engage in the spiritual battle necessary to oust the demonic forces in charge and turn it around. We must understand how we embarked on this ill-fated journey to enable us to pray for its reversal.
The movement began with the radical youth of the 1960s and 1970s, who took to the streets and college campuses to protest in large numbers. These kids held great disdain for capitalism and wanted a revolution to Communism. With plenty of drugs to fuel their hatred for this nation, they progressed from peaceful to violent protests. Hostile Marxists and Communist organizations emerged in clusters with names like the Underground Weathermen, the Black Panthers, and the Red Army Faction. In the two years between 1969 and 1970, they committed multiple crimes, including robbing banks, killing police officers, and setting off 4,330 bombs. To stop the chaos, President Reagan sent the FBI to find the perpetrators, make arrests, and imprison them. The people of our nation breathed a sigh of relief as peace returned to the campuses of America’s colleges and universities. Our streets became calm again. The worst over, the nation rested. But a revolution is a hungry monster and, unless dealt with on a spiritual level, does not go away. It hides only to resurface at a more opportune time in history. A closer look at where they hid will give us insight into how to pray.
Where did these revolutionaries go once they abandoned their violent lifestyles? Brown University professor Paul Buhle gives the best answer in his book Marxism in the United States. To the question: ’Where did all the sixties radicals go?’ The most accurate answer would be: neither to religious cults nor yuppiedom, but to the classroom.
They cleaned up, dressed up, and entered the classrooms in two phases: First, they entered many classrooms in Ivy League universities to obtain degrees, mainly in law and social sciences, to help them further their revolutionary aims. Second, they entered classrooms as teachers and professors, becoming change agents to teach future generations of America’s youth the wonders of Marxist Communism. It was the second option that allowed them to implement what Rudi Dutschke, a German Socialist student activist, termed in 1967 as the long march through the institutions, indicating the new strategy for establishing the conditions for revolution, not by rioting but by subverting capitalist domination of society by entering, not only education, but businesses, and civil service as professionals. This time, they had new, non-violent leaders prominent in American education, like Herbert Marcuse, author of Critical Race Theory, and Pablo Freire, author of Pedagogy of the Oppressed, who would show them the way.
Two examples of those who cleaned up, dressed up, and went to college are Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers (husband and wife), who co-founded the Underground Weathermen. Because of their Underground Weathermen activities, they were charged with multiple crimes, including murder, but were never convicted due to a technical mishap while processing evidence. After years of being fugitives, the couple emerged from hiding to return to become university professors in Chicago.
According to author Christopher Rufo in his recent book, America’s Cultural Revolution: How the Radical Left Conquered Everything, the long march through the universities might appear as though the radical left won. The American university is now a “counter institution” driven by the ideology of the New Left and critical theories. One researcher found the ratio of liberal to conservative faculty reaching 8:1 in political science. 17:1 in history, 44:1 in sociology, 48:1 in English, and 108:0 in race and gender studies. Today, they stand in our college and K-12 classrooms where they can control the hearts and minds of the next generation.
In the face of what presently stands before Christians, author Rod Dreher, in his book Live Not by Lies: A Manual For Christian Dissidents, encourages Christians to remain true to their faith, learn to say no to lies, and continually speak the truth.
Prayer: Father, help Your people to stand strong in You and Your mighty power. We put on the whole armor of God and take our stand against the devil and his schemes. Eph. 6:10-11
Originally posted on Intercessors for America.