Cruz Launches Homeschool Coalition Led By 'Christian Patriarchy' Adherent
Ted Cruz made an effort to win over an influential subgroup of conservative evangelicals this week, announcing the formation of a “Homeschoolers For Cruz” coalition. While an estimated 1.8 million children in the U.S. are homeschooled, Cruz is aiming at a very specific segment of these: the politically powerful Christian conservative homeschooling movement.
Signaling this, one of the three co-chairs of the new coalition is William Estrada, an official with the influential Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). Another is Vicki Crawford, a homeschooling mom and conservative activist who used to work at the Iowa conservative group The Family Leader and has helped to mobilize homeschoolers in her state to back Mike Huckabee, Michele Bachmann and the effort to oust state supreme court judges who ruled in favor of marriage equality. As of November, Crawford was also a paid Cruz campaign staffer.
Another important faction in the conservative homeschooling movement is also represented in Cruz’s coalition by the final co-chair, Marlin Bontrager, whose family singing group performed at the Iowa event where the coalition was announced.
A hint at Bontrager’s ideology can be found in his statement in the Cruz campaign’s press release, in which he notes that he is “a homeschooling father of ten and the leader in my home.” Homeschoolers Anonymous reports that, as his “leader” comment hints, Bontrager is indeed an adherent of the “Christian Patriarchy” movement, which has been rocked by a number of scandals in recent years:
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/cruz-launches-homeschool-coalition-led-christian-patriarchy-adherent
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