I was not looking to run for office again. After serving as a City Councilman, as Mayor of my hometown, and as Chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party, I was content to advise other candidates, donate to them, and serve in volunteer roles — to take it easy for a while and enjoy time with family and friends. But, when I heard that our local school board intended to change the curriculum to indoctrinate our kids in Critical Race Theory (CRT) and other anti-American ideas, it was time to step up and lead the charge against CRT in our schools. We knew that if Southlake (Carroll ISD), one of the top public school districts in Texas, went all-in on CRT, that other school districts would soon follow suit. However, thanks to a herculean grassroots effort, CRT in Southlake was beaten back… for now.

While it was a tremendous victory for patriotic Americans in this little corner of Tarrant County, Texas, this piece is not meant to rehash the saga to save Southlake schools and students from CRT. You can read more about that in this excellent article from the National Review. Instead, I want to explain why I took a stand against CRT in the first place, and to detail just exactly what is at stake. In short, it is the duty of every God-fearing, freedom-loving American to push back against CRT at every level of government – from the White House to the School House. Our nation’s legacy and survival are at stake.

The intelligentsia and academic elite like to use big words and long-winded sentences to describe CRT. A textbook will usually give the definition of CRT as something like “CRT is a theory that race is a socially-constructed concept, and that racial bias and oppression are perpetuated by both individuals and societal institutions.” Sounds harmless at first, until you start getting into the details. For one thing, CRT is grounded in the Marxist idea of class conflict. Instead of framing history as “rich versus poor,” it’s “white versus non-whites.” This means that CRT explains society as it is today in terms of racial conflict, and that society can only be understood in terms of race. In that sense, CRT has more in common with segregationists of the past, insisting that race and race alone is determinative of a person’s place in the world, and that a person’s race represents the sum of their capabilities.

CRT insists that every institution in America – from the Constitution to the local bank — was designed to benefit white people over minorities. Moreover, CRT teaches that white people, through the power of “white privilege,” will forever be ahead of those considered minorities and that those in the minority can never achieve their full potential or even get a fair shake because all of society is structured against them. In essence, CRT preaches that it is the color of one’s skin, not character or work ethic, that will determine one’s path in life. This revisionist, divisive, and soul-destroying theory is hardly the recipe for prosperity we need to restore this country and heal the deep divide that exists.

Meanwhile, CRT in the classroom is meant to raise an entire generation to believe America is and always has been inherently evil, dating back to its founding. CRT proponents want kids who are just grasping how to read, write and think to take a critical look at race relations in America. Absurd. I’ve always believed that our kids were the future hope for America. Kids play, laugh, and learn together without regard to the color of their classmate’s skin. CRT tells kids to zero in on one race as the explanation for all societal woes. It creates victims or monsters of us all. It tells minority students that they will never get a fair shake in life, and it’s the fault of all the white kids, their white parents, and our country’s institutions.

We need to stop CRT because it seeks nothing less than the destruction of America. The liberal elite can hem and haw about how we are overreacting or trying to restrict free thought, but in truth, we simply don’t want our tax dollars used to teach children to hate their country and bring about its downfall.

Here’s a pop-quiz for you: what’s the logical and natural conclusion of a theory that says A) systemic racism must be removed to promote racial equity, and B) America’s institutions, including free markets, the police, and even the Constitution, are systemically racist? The answer: abolish the free market, abolish the police, and abolish the Constitution! This is exactly what leading CRT proponents are advocating. Even if mainstream liberals don’t want to admit it, the open secret of CRT is that it seeks the downfall of this country and her institutions. And as a husband, a father, and a patriotic American, I refuse to stand idly by and subject my kids or yours to such an evil, foolhardy philosophy.

The truth is this country remains the land of opportunity for everyone willing to live by the merit of their character and a strong work ethic to achieve their goals and dreams. Millions of people flock to this land every year because the promise of the American dream still exists — that people, no matter their circumstance or background, can rise above where they started out, despite all hardships. Indeed, it is because of America’s institutions, not despite them, that so much prosperity exists in this country. The founding principles of faith, family, liberty, justice, and opportunity rooted in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence are what have brought us this far. Ultimately, CRT has to be opposed because we must teach our children that all are created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights; not that some of us are incapable of succeeding because the whole system is unfair unless you are white. We must teach our children that everyone is their brother and sister: whether rich or poor, black, brown, or white, Republican or Democrat. Everyone is made in the image of God. Recognizing and teaching that fact is what is going to bring this country back together, not the Marxist drivel of Critical Race Theory.

Tim O’Hare was a City Councilman, Mayor and Chairman of the Tarrant County, Texas Republican Party. He is currently running for Tarrant County Judge.