One of my goals as your representative is to protect and foster diversity and equality. I find it alarming that some are attacking the choices we are used to.
Pluralism allows people with various worldviews to live together in peace. Every household has its own needs, hopes and dreams. As Americans, we expect diverse choices to enable us to make our own way while respecting the choices of others.
Diversity in Private Charity
We Heart Seattle has its own niche in the private charity space. It offers help to people as a secular group. There are faith based private groups also helping the unhoused, addicted and others facing serious needs. While I respect and appreciate the service these religious groups provide, their message is not for me.
My point is; different people have their own needs and values and our pluralist social contract reflects this. Unfortunately, overbearing ideology is shrinking options for people.
Choices dwindling within public education.
The Seattle School District are closing option schools. These are public learning centers offering children a distinctive focus on education. For example, one school can focus on technology, while another immerses students in a language other than English.
The school district has decided to close the option schools and instead offer a uniform curriculum. This is being done in the name of diversity and inclusion! The Seattle Times quotes school officials: “Option schools disproportionately serve students who have traditionally had additional access to additional educational resources.” [sic]
There still are “additional” educational choices for parents in Seattle, as many private schools are available to those who can pay. Believe it or not, even this option is now under attack.
Party Purity
(Shaun Scott supporter & 43rd Democratic LD Chair Paul Chapman on social media.)
Our Democratic Party leaders hold extreme views. Do not believe party leadership when they accuse me of being a Republican. A local Democratic Party chair has actually stated that private schools should be banned. Neither state chair Shasti Conrad, nor my opponent Shaun Scott have commented on this shocking statement.
Private schools can teach worldviews many families hold dear. Conrad and Scott are offended by the notion of private schooling because of curricula offered. Party leaders resent groups who don’t agree with their narrow views; while Shaun Scott’s campaign rhetoric derides my personal work with a highly respected national community service group.
Radicals like Conrad and Scott don’t understand pluralism and only see things through their overbearing ideology. The Times editorial cited above says Seattle schools’ new approach to education is “cookie cutter”. The irony is how public school closures based on the ideology du jour reveal our society actually moving away from diversity.
As your representative in Olympia, I will work to protect you and your family’s privacy and freedom to make your own choices.
VOTE FOR ME ANDREA SUAREZ NOVEMBER 5th.
(Jorge Garrido / Alamy Stock Photo)