DEAR EDITOR:

The Republican playbook demands that their party leadership keep their base in a state of permanent outrage; therefore, we get a steady stream of contrived culture wars and attacks by their supporters such as syndicated columnist Cal Thomas.

In his June 30 column, Thomas (long past his due date for retirement, I believe) called Vice President Kamala Harris a liar, but failed to back up his accusation. Thomas’s “evidence” was that when she visited the border, she chose a different city than one the Republicans preferred. His attacks on President Joe Biden aren’t working, so he is now going after women of color.

Later in his column, Thomas wrote, “What frustrates and contributes to the anger many Americans feel toward their government is that solutions exist, but many politicians refuse to apply them.” True enough, but it is the Republican politicians who prefer to block Democratic solutions rather than offer policy proposals of their own.

Instead, GOP politicians offer culture wars. When their concern that Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head were being canceled failed to get any traction, they shifted their focus to Critical Race Theory. But to make this work, they had to invent a new definition of CRT to make it sound like some kind of dangerous propaganda.

Here are some points worth noting. Critical Race Theory has been around for decades. It is an academic theory, not a policy. It combines disciplines such as law, economics, sociology and political science, and is mostly taught in law school or graduate school. The right-wing idea that it pervades K-12 classrooms is pretty far-fetched.

To make critical race theory seem threatening, the GOP has dumped any current flash points about race into a new and vague definition. If you hear Republicans complaining that our children and teenagers are being indoctrinated by critical race theory, you can be fairly sure these politicians cannot accurately define CRT. If you wish to criticize Critical Race Theory, that’s fine. But do your homework first. Get your information from books by Derrick Bell and other legal scholars, not from Tucker Carlson.

RICK SHALE

Boardman