Josh Stewart

Love has never been a popular movement. And no one's ever wanted, really, to be free. The world is held together, really it is held together, by the love and the passion of a very few people. Otherwise, of course, you can despair. Walk down the street of any city, any afternoon, and look around you. What you've got to remember is what you're looking at is also you. Everyone you're looking at is also you. You could be that person. You could be that monster, you could be that cop.

At the Minnesota capitol in St. Paul, hundreds of people–parents, children, educators, community leaders and elected officials–came together this week to insist their schools embrace the science of reading. After decades of inaction, the READ Act would provide schools across the state with a menu of approved, evidence-based reading curriculums and funding to implement them, coupled with accountability to ensure all young children are reading on level by the end of third grade.

This week, 75 parent activists from the National Parents Union, representing dozens of states, descended on Capitol Hill. They came to tell lawmakers the real deal about H.R. 5, dubbed the “Parents Bill of Rights Act.”  Their presence sent a strong message that the bill left out the voices of the majority of public school parents. Nonetheless, the bill passed the House today with a 213 to 208 vote. Five Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the bill.