Those Wacky Texas Education Board Members

The Associated Press reports, with this glaring headline "TX ED Board Vote Reflects Far-Right Influences", the outcome of a highly-debated textbook content standards summit. That certainly got my attention. Far-Right Influences. What could that mean? KKK? Nazis? Brotherhood of Aryan Nation? Imagine my shock as I read the article and found out exactly what those crazed Texans approved that so alarmed the AP. Are you sitting down? I warn you, it's pretty scary. They want public school textbooks in Texas to:

1. Cover the Judeo-Christian influences of our nation's Founding Fathers.
2. Describe U.S. as a constitutional republic instead of democratic
3. Applaud the U.S. free enterprise system
4. Discuss the Bill of Rights including the 2nd Amendment

I had to read the article twice because I was sure I missed some far-right conspiracy and far-right influences. But no, other than the refusal to include references to hip-hop or add discussion of Tejans involvement at the Alamo, I found  nothing that could cause the Democratic members to flee the scene in outrage.

So that leaves me wondering, who gets to decide what is far-right? The reporter, who obviously has sympathies with the Democrat minority? The Associated Press itself, using its very powerful distribution network to twist public perception? Because if the above 4 items are now considered far-right extreme views, America, we've got bigger problems than I can cover here in this little blog.