Welcome to what is the 1285th original profile here at “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”, where we’ll be profiling Indiana State Senator Scott Baldwin, who has served District 20 of that body since first winning election in 2020. And sure, we could point out that in his voting record, this guy has sponsored a bill to allow school teachers to bring their own guns into classrooms, he voted to ban abortion in Indiana in 2023, and he’s been another one of those Republicans assessed with bullying transgender teens by banning them from playing school sports unless it’s as the gender of their birth.
But no, we’re giving Baldwin the spotlight because in January of 2022, in the middle of a hearing on a bill to ban Critical Race Theory (which wasn’t being taught anyway), during testimony from Nate Bockenfeld, a public school teacher, Baldwin asked history teachers to consider teaching about Nazism and Marxism from an “impartial” point of view.
Bockenfeld: “For example, it’s the second semester of U.S. history, so we're learning about the rise of fascism and the rise of Nazism right now. And I'm just not neutral on the political ideology of fascism. We condemn it, and we condemn it in full, and I tell my students the purpose, in a democracy, of understanding the traits of fascism is so that we can recognize it and we can combat itOf course, we're neutral on political issues of the day. We don't stand up and say who we voted for or anything like that. But we're not neutral on Nazism. We take a stand in the classroom against it, and it matters that we do.”
Baldwin: “I have no problem with the education system providing instruction on the existence of those isms. I believe that we've gone too far when we take a position on those isms ... We need to be impartial.”
Impartial… to Nazis.
Nuh huh. Everyone needs to be taught proper Nazi protocol, and that is to punch them in the face like Indiana Jones taught us, Scotty.
It bears watching of if being indifferent to the worst of humanity and trying to teach a “neutral” perspective on Nazis will allow Scott Baldwin to be booted from office in 2024, but we have to hope so. His commitment to white nationalism is a little too overt, even for a red state like Indiana.
One Year Ago, January 22nd, 2023: Richard Martin (SC)
Two Years Ago, January 22nd, 2022: Joe Collins (CA)
Three Years Ago, January 22nd, 2021: Patrice Kimbler (CA)
Four Years Ago, January 22nd, 2020: Jeffrey Pierce (ME)
Five Years Ago, January 22nd, 2019: Josh Moore (NH)… 2019 Update
Six Years Ago, January 22nd, 2018: Josh Moore (NH)… 2018 Update
Seven Years Ago, January 22nd, 2017: Josh Moore (NH)… Original Profile
Eight Years Ago, January 22nd, 2016: Steve Martin (VA)… 2016 Update
Nine Years Ago, January 22nd, 2015: Steve Martin (VA)… Original Profile