Walters Gets Worse
For a while there was a debate in the local community about whether to talk about Ryan Walters. Everyone I know was already talking, either laughing bitterly or swearing at the TV screen. How was it possible that, with its abundance of maladies, Oklahoma ended up with the Dark Prince of MAGA? It felt like a punishment from the depths of the universe, a rain of anvils from a midnight sky.
The fear was not talking among ourselves. That was, in any case, practically impossible. If you’re like me, you will recall that Walters came to power holding two full-time jobs at the self-same time: an appointment from the Governor as Secretary of Education, and the cushy directorship of a bogus not-for-profit. That raised some eyebrows, even among Republicans. You either perform as Secretary for $40,000 or do your bogus thing for $120,000. But unless you’re a shameless, self-promoting clown, you can’t do both unless you’re Congressman George Santos, who is currently in jail for a multitude of crimes. He is also the very definition of grift.
The question about Walters was whether to talk about him publicly, for fear of making him a symbol of Oklahoma or encouraging still more florid behavior. The problem is that he was simply too ripe, too zealous. He engineered the removal of a serious local superintendent and went on to order up Bibles for everyone. Not just Bibles, but Trump-branded Bibles, because nothing but Trump will do for a Bible. Against the rules and regulations of his position, he mandated a change in social studies teaching which required students to look sympathetically at the January 6 insurrection. Together with the “professionals” at so-called Prager U, he drafted standards for Blue State teachers who agreed to take positions in Oklahoma. The idea here was to root out ideological renegades who might not support tradwife Christian nationalism.
It’s tempting to say we could have nipped this in the bud, but it came at us quickly, like the President himself. One day he was praying publicly for Donald Trump. The next day he was encouraging open carry in schools. It was a never-ending parade of self-promotion and grandstanding, all shadowed by the cloud of rigid piety. God knows I’m all for pious religiosity. It just has to make room for all people, everywhere.
Now, of course, Walters is mired in scandal. During a recent Board of Education meeting, the television behind him suddenly switched on to broadcast a scene of naked women. Could there possibly be a more delicious irony. It must have seemed like a pornographic outtake from The Exorcist. I rush to say that part doesn’t phase me. Clearly, our vulnerable superintendent was hacked by someone who finds him loathsome. The problem is that he moved immediately to denial, calling the people who were with him in the very same room ideological enemies and dedicated liars.
The other problem, of course, is that he is a failed public servant. In the time he has been in office, nothing good has happened, at least in the domain of public education. Our scores are in the crapper, and we are last in the nation when it comes to all of the measures of educational achievement. While Ryan Walters auditions as our next MAGA president, he continues to strut and preen like a princeling, waiting for history to recognize his genius. I hope to have the privilege of voting for someone who will remove him and replace him with a civilized, serious office holder. We’ve been good. Don’t we all deserve that?