Candidate profile: Bethany Mandel

What's happening in my local school board election

Local news is dying. Citizen journalists like myself must fill in the gap. So, here is a candidate explainer for my local school board election, Montgomery County School District. This week I will be covering Bethany Mandel, Fox News contributor and culture warrior. Lets do it!

A Democrat?

Montgomery County is strongly Democratic region. So those identified as Republican would face an uphill battle. Luckily for Mandel, she is a Democrat!

Uh, ok. Democrat you say? Has anyone told Bethany Mandel, self-declared Republican?

School board elections here are nonpartisan, so candidates don’t have to say anything at all about their affiliation. This is a needless and blatant misdirection, especially since Mandel is promising to govern as an anti-woke, Moms-for-Liberty style Republican.

Relatable tendency to forget details of book report, even when she is the author of the book

Mandel’s expertise is anti-wokeness. She even wrote a book about it. She also, famously, could not define wokeness when asked to do so.

Concerned about school district legal fees; also suing the schools

On her campaign website, Mandel complains about the legal fees that the school district is facing.

Now, guess who is suing the school!

If you guessed Bethany Mandel, with help from Stephen Miller, the white nationalist who pushed the child separation policy, you would be correct! For good measure, Mandel is also suing a group Montgomery County teachers who blocked her on Twitter. She argues her first amendment rights were restricted because she, a person with access to multiple media platforms, was unable to argue for restricting what books are offered to students in a school meeting.

Mandel complaining about the legal costs of the school district she is suing is like an arsonist complaining about the rising costs of fire insurance.

Does not have kids in (any) school

There is no requirement to have kids in the school district to be on the Board. On the other hand, its a bit weird to have six kids that you have homeschooled, pointedly avoiding any school, while also seeking to control the experience of public school parents and kids. In general, public services work better when they are led by people who believe in the mission of the organization. Mandel does not.

Does not really get the whole social contract thing

Public services reflect a logic of collective action. We contribute collectively and are better off as a result. Mandel has a different view of the social contract. The support that the state offered in her times of need is just proof of her own independence from the state.

Questionable public health views

Vaccines did not use to be this weird partisan thing. But Covid broke some brains. As late as 2019, Mandel was defending vaccines. “The movement to avoid vaccines is one of the most glaring examples of privilege in the Western world” she wrote, denouncing the “anti-vaccine movement peddling false fears about vaccine ingredients and their side effects.”

Fast forward to the pandemic, and Mandel became anti-vax.

Just for the record, Covid became a leading cause of death among children in America. Yes, kids faced substantially lower risk than older adults, but hopefully it’s obvious why a lot of additional and unnecessary childhood deaths is worth preventing. The vaccines also made it feasible for kids to return to school and slow the spread of the disease to others. But consideration of others may be a bridge too far.

Its not just vaccines. I’m don’t want public health decisions governing my kids’ school made by someone who manages to misuse a mask this way.

Fine with indoctrination, if she is the one doing it

Mandel opposes Scholastic books, the dominant textbook provider, for what she argues is excessive wokeness. She also happens to be an editor and spokesperson for a rival book series, Heroes for Liberty, which promises to bring “magic, joy and laughter back to your child’s bedtime” with, biographies of, uh, Margaret Thatcher.

The heroes for liberty are not a very diverse bunch. They also include Elon Musk, Benjamin Netanyahu, Thomas Sowell, Rush Limbaugh, John Wayne and Amy Coney Barrett, figures widely known for bringing joy and laughter to children everywhere.

A limited capacity for tolerance

One way to understand people is look at where their empathy extends. Bethany Mandel wants us to befriend and forgive Neo-Nazis, who can’t be blamed for being attracted to or engaging with hateful ideas. (Nate Hochman was a DeSantis staffer who was fired for sharing Nazi memes). But she is a fountain of bile, calling for cancelation, when it comes to anyone just trying to live their lives in a way she disapproves of.

The thing about being an elected official, at least an effective one, especially at the local level, is that you have to engage with stakeholders who do not share your views. When you are the manager, you have to use techniques for leading an organization that involves something other than demanding to see the manager. I don’t think Mandel has the gear that allows her to listen or engage with others, to build coalitions, to find compromise, or to treat staff with a modicum of dignity (did I mention she sued individual school teachers she would oversee?) But that is what governing is about.

Based on this candidate review, I am afraid that the editorial team at “Can We Still Govern” must decline to endorse Bethany Mandel. The other candidates do not routinely post hateful screeds online, and so pass the lowest possible threshold for endorsement. School board elections tend to be low-profile affairs, and since Mandel’s name recognition, ability to raise outside money, and free promos from Fox News make her a serious candidate, I urge my neighbors to get out and vote.