It’s Worth Pointing Out

There are a lot of clips like this recently and there's a similar logic in all the speeches: The school boards aren't doing what the angry people want, and therefore what the school boards are doing is illegal and can be removed by mobs. https://t.co/DpFdjQbPrk

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) August 30, 2021

While I’ve seen this video posted as an absolute example of fascism, it’s really just empty prating.

For one thing, if angry mobs descended on any school board and tried to "remove" the members, that would be a criminal act (or several) under the laws of any state of the union.  Second, of course, "removing" the members could only mean removing them from the meeting room; no mob can remove members from their official positions.

And frankly, if they tried, if they declared the school district under "mob" control, I imagine most states have provisions in law like Texas does.  In Texas, such an action would probably end with the TEA taking over the district and appointing a board to run things in accordance with Texas law.  Some of the more unruly board meetings lately, with just board members yelling at each other, have led TEA to threatent to take over those districts (it didn't happen; just the threat made everybody calm down, which is what TEA wanted).

This is clownshow stuff, in other words.  I wouldn't want to be a school board member if a mob came into the room and demanded my removal.  But the risk of this happening is probably lower than the risk of a "breakthrough" case of covid.  While the latter is something to be taken seriously, the former is not worth giving serious attention to.

As the insurrectionists found out, despite having a fool for a POTUS, we still have a system of laws, and most of us still respect them.  Those laws protect us from fools like Lynch, too.  Sadly, they don't protect us from fools like Lynch achieving elected office.  Preventing that is entirely up to we, the people.  Maybe we're learning that lesson again.