August 21, 2025 • 23 mins
American hypocrisy takes center stage as Virginia Beach teachers sue their own school system over a shocking healthcare bait-and-switch that threatens both current educators and retirees. After signing their contracts and beginning the school year, teachers were blindsided with premium increases reaching $211 per paycheck, while some retirees face staggering monthly hikes up to $455. This isn't just about money—it's about respect, honesty, and the fundamental contradiction between how we claim to value education and how we actually treat educators.
The timing of this announcement reveals a calculated strategy to trap teachers after they've committed to the school year. When healthcare is weaponized against the very people shaping our children's futures, we send a destructive message: teaching isn't worth fair compensation or basic transparency. As these educators fight back through the courts, their struggle highlights America's broader failure to properly value education while exposing the dangerous leverage employers hold when healthcare is tied to employment.
The podcast also examines the complex legacy of James Dobson, who passed away at 89 after transforming American evangelicalism into a potent political force. From his bestselling parenting advice to his enormous influence on presidential politics, Dobson's shadow will linger in American cultural debates for generations. Meanwhile, the passing of Judge Frank Caprio at 88 offers a counterpoint—a man whose compassion in the courtroom demonstrated how systems can serve humanity with heart. These stories ultimately converge on a profound question: What will you leave behind? When your time runs out, will anyone's burden be lighter because you were here? Listen now to explore these vital issues that affect our communities, our values, and our shared future.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Darrell McLean Show.
I'm your host, darrell McLean.
Independent media that won'treinforce tribalism.
We have one planet Nobody isleaving.
Let us reason together.
We are at episode 471, fastly,fastly approaching that 500th
episode.
I'm going to start off the showtoday with some Virginia-based
(00:21):
news that happened to catch myeye, and so we have to talk
about Virginia Beach City PublicSchools and the latest gift
they decided to give theteachers and the staff.
And no, it's not appreciation,it's not resources and it's
definitely not higher pay.
What they handed out insteadwas a double digit increase in
(00:44):
health care premium, so steepthat it sparked an actual
lawsuit.
That's right.
Teachers and staff in VirginiaBeach are suing their own school
system over what they'recalling a bait and switch.
1st of 2026, school employeesare going to see their health
(01:07):
insurance premium drop fromanywhere from $2.04 to $210.97
per paycheck, and retireesthey'll get it even harder, with
monthly increases ranging from$52 to $455.
Now imagine being retired, aretired teacher, and we assume
you're living on a fixed incomeand then suddenly having almost
(01:29):
a $500 bill that you have to pay, and it's now going to be
siphoned out of your monthlybudget.
And this is not something youknow needed.
This is health care.
That's not just aninconvenience, that is a crisis.
(01:52):
And here's the kicker the staffwas actually told about the
increase after they alreadysigned their contracts and after
in-service weeks had alreadystarted, which means in plain
english, they were trapped noopportunity to reconsider, no
ability to shop for alternatives.
(02:12):
Just surprise pay up or loseyour coverage.
Now over 100 teachers and staffhave filed the suit.
Their claim is that thedistrict's leadership,
specifically the superintendent,don Robertson, intentionally
concealed the timing of anincrease to present what they
call or prevent what they call amass exodus.
In other words, the teachersare accusing their boss of
(02:34):
pulling a bait and switch.
Sign a contract, commit to theschool year and then will tell
you that your bills have nowgone up, and that's the kind of
thing you'd expect from a shadyapartment landlord, not a public
school system.
So the Roberson, for his part,says the district wasn't hiding
anything.
His excuse is that they werewaiting to finalize numbers and
(02:56):
access health care costs beforemaking any announcement.
Now he admits the timing looksbad, but insists that this is
just for one year and theteachers still have to October
to make new choices during openenrollment.
Now that sounds nice in theory.
But let's not kid ourselves.
When you're already committedto a school year, uprooting your
health insurance plan isn'tsome painless choice.
(03:18):
That's paperwork, that's stress, that's making sure your kids
and spouses don't lose coveragein the middle of flu season.
So let's zoom in here and getthe details.
Let's get the bigger picture, Iguess I should say.
The United States of Americaloves to talk about supporting
teachers.
(03:38):
Politicians, both Democrats andRepublicans, run on it every
election.
Both Democrats and Republicansrun on it every election.
(03:59):
Every August you seecommercials about back to school
season showing smiling kidswith backpacks and smiling
teachers with, with with thesupplies in their hands or
standing next to a chalkboardwith a student the road.
When the budgets are set andthe dollars are allocated,
teachers are treated like theyare expendable.
Teachers in Virginia Beach andacross America aren't making
Wall Street money.
They are not padding stockportfolios.
They're already underpaid,already under pressure, already
(04:19):
buying classroom supplies withtheir own paychecks, and now
they're expected to just swallowa massive hike in health
insurance, as if the cost ofbeing noble is a part of their
job.
It's not noble, it'sexploitative.
This is Story isn't just aboutone school district.
(04:39):
It is a mirror of the largerAmerican problem, and I would
say that problem is how we tieour health care directly to our
employment.
When your health coveragedepends on your job, your boss
has an outsized amount ofleverage over your life.
Want to quit?
(05:00):
Want to protest?
Want to leave for a betterdistrict?
Good luck.
It just means you'll lose yourfamily doctor in the process.
That's why the timing herematters so much.
It wasn't just a financialdecision, it was a control
decision.
Announcing the hikes after thecontracts were signed
(05:21):
effectively weaponized healthcare against the very people who
teach our kids.
Now imagine the morale in thevirginia beach classrooms this
fall.
Teachers already jugglingoversized classrooms,
standardized test pressures andpolitical fights over what they
can or cannot teach are nowwalking into the door knowing
(05:42):
their paychecks are shrinkingand their employer played them
dirty.
And still we expect them to puton a smile, manage 30 kids at
once and inspire the nextgeneration.
How exactly do we expect tokeep quality educators when we
treat them like they are nothingmore than disposable labor?
Now, let's not forget theretirees in all of this, because
(06:06):
these are the people whoalready gave their time.
These are the people alreadygave decades of their lives to
the system.
They've already graded thepapers late into the night,
chalkboard filled map problems.
They've already chaperonedfield trips and poured into
generations of kids.
(06:26):
Now in retirement they're beinghit with a bill that in some
cases are larger than carpayments.
It's definitely larger than mycar payment.
Retirees aren't in a positionto just pick up side hustles.
They're not going back toteaching after 30 years already
in the classroom.
For them, this increaseprobably is a gut punch.
(06:53):
And here's the truth.
This lawsuit isn't just aboutinsurance premiums.
It's about respect.
It's about honesty.
It's about whether the peoplewe trust to educate our children
can trust the system thatemploys them.
And right now, virginia Beachteachers are sending a loud
message.
Trust is broken.
(07:14):
And let's be clear, lawsuitslike this don't come cheap.
Filing in a court is a lastresort.
Teachers don't want to sue.
They want to teach.
But when you're corneredfinancially and deceived
procedurally, the courtroombecomes the only place left to
be heard.
So here's the takeaway in all ofthis America has a very funny
(07:39):
way of saying one thing anddoing another.
We claim teachers are heroes,but then we shortchange them on
their paychecks and jack uptheir insurance.
We talk about valuing education, but when it's time to do a
budget, education is a firstline item to be slashed.
If we keep going down this road, the message is clear.
(08:00):
If we keep going down this road, the message is clear Don't go
to teaching unless you want tobe underpaid, underappreciated
and financially squeezed.
And that's if the message.
Then who's going to teach thenext generation?
The Virginia Beach lawsuit is aflare shot into the night sky.
(08:20):
It says enough.
Teachers and staff are drawinga line, and if districts and
policymakers don't listen, we'llsee more lawsuits, more
burnouts and more classroomswithout qualified educators.
My closing thought on this isthis Teachers should be spending
(08:46):
this time getting ready toinspire your kids, not figuring
out how to pay an unexpected$200 more per check.
If we can't even guaranteestable health coverage for the
people raising the nextgeneration, then our priorities
as a society are worse than anupside down.
They are activelyself-destructive.
Because here's the real truthyou can't build the future while
(09:07):
gutting the very people whohelp shape it.
We'll be right back with moreon the Darrell McClain show on
two significant deaths that Ithink we need to talk about.
The death of a culture warrior.
So James Dobson has died.
He was 89 years old, at home inColorado Springs, surrounded by
the institutions he built andthe movement he helped to find.
(09:30):
So for some listeners his namemight not ring as loudly as it
did, let's say, in the 80s andthe 90s, but make no mistake,
dobson was the most influentialarchitect of the modern
religious right in America.
This wasn't just a psychologistwho wrote books on parenting.
This was a man who leveragedchild discipline to a platform
(09:54):
that reshaped American politics,law and evangelical identity.
His death isn't just a passingof a man.
It is the end of an era.
Dobson started off as a childpsychologist.
He taught at the University ofSouthern California School of
Medicine.
He wasn't a preacher, not apastor, nor ordained.
(10:16):
He was a psychologist who foundhis breakthrough in a movement
in the 1970s when he published abook called Dare to Discipline.
Now the book was a bestsellerand its thesis was actually
pretty blunt Christian parentsshould spank their kids and keep
them in line.
Dobson framed discipline not asabuse but as God's mandate.
(10:38):
He claimed that spanking was anexpression of love, provided it
was done in control.
Now that message resonated in aculture already anxious about
the changes in the 60s the civilrights movement, the women's
rights movement, counterculture,rebellion, etc.
And Dobson's message wasbasically if you restore the
(11:04):
order in the home, you will, byextension, restore order in
society.
Now, by the late 70s, he hadtaken that message to the
airwaves.
He founded an organizationcalled Focus on the Family in
1977, which became one of themost powerful Christian media
empires of the 20th century.
Which became one of the mostpowerful Christian media empires
of the 20th century.
(11:24):
From a basement in California,dobson built a radio program
that went national by the 1980s.
Millions of families tuned indaily.
His program wasn't just aboutfamily advice.
It was a pipeline thatconnected suburban parents to a
larger conservative agenda.
Dobson used the language ofparenting and values to mobilize
(11:46):
evangelicals politically.
He wasn't just saying here'show to deal with your teenager.
He was saying the culture iscoming for your teenager.
The culture is coming for ourchildren.
Abortion is destroying families.
Gay rights are a threat tobiblical morality.
Hollywood is corrupting yourkids.
In fact, hollywood iscorrupting us all.
(12:06):
And this wasn't a fringe talkradio.
Politicians took him seriously.
Ronald Reagan courted Dobson.
George HW Bush sought hisblessing.
George W Bush had his support.
Even President Donald Trump,decades later, used Dobson as a
validator to reassure whiteevangelicals that the thrice
(12:28):
married casino mogul wasactually born again.
Dobson didn't just adviseparents, he advised presidents.
He built focus on the familyinto a political machine that
launched the family researchcattle and a state-level family
policy council designed to shapelegislation.
His groups lobbied againstabortion, against same-sex
(12:48):
marriage, against the lgbtq plusprotections.
They fought for abstinence onlyeducation, for school prayer
and for traditional gender roles.
At its height, focus on thefamily had a budget in the
hundreds of millionspublications reaching millions
of readers and a political armthat could make or break
candidates in conservativestates.
(13:08):
When Dobson spoke, politicianslistened because his listeners
were voters.
Now, of course, dobson wasn'tuniversally admired.
Critics In psychology and inchild development accused him of
promoting authoritarianparenting and dressing it up in
religious garb.
The LGBTQ advocate saw him as aman, as one of his architects
(13:32):
of cultural stigma, a man whospent decades using his
platforms to oppose their rights.
His advice to parents aboutdisciplining children caused a
genuine tears, was viewed bymany as just outdated and
harmful.
His campaigns against gayrights placed him firmly in the
camp of those who stood againstthe movement for equality.
(13:52):
Now Dobson was careful, though.
He was not seen as afire-breathing televangelist
shouting about hellfire.
He came across, when you heardhim as a calm, a calm
grandfatherly figure, and thatwas his power.
He normalized hardlineconservative stances by
delivering them in a tone of akindly counselor, and that's why
(14:14):
Dobson was so effective.
Now Dobson stepped down fromfocus of the family around 2010,
but he didn't retire.
He found that the Jamesamesdobson family institute and
launched a news program calledfamily talk.
Even in, even in his 80s, hekept broadcasting, still warning
about the decay of culture,still telling parents how to
resist.
His influence waned as newfigures mega church pastors,
(14:37):
social media influence, evenpoliticians themselves took up
his mantle.
But make no mistake, theinfrastructure that james Dobson
built still exists.
The Family Research Council,the state policy networks and
the broader evangelicalpolitical machine traces back
that to James Dobson's blueprint.
So what do we make of JamesDobson's death at 89?
(15:01):
On one hand, he was a man whoconvinced millions of parents to
take family life seriously.
He created support networks forpeople who felt adrift in a
changing world.
For some family, his adviceabout communication, faith and
stability was genuinely helpful.
On the other hand, he lockedAmerican evangelicalism into a
culture war posture.
(15:21):
He took issues like abortionand gay rights and made them
litmus tests for christian faith.
He blurred the line betweenpastoral care and political
activism, and in doing so, hehelped turn american churches
into a political voting blockrather than a spiritual
community.
Dobson's story of howconservative evangelicals were
(15:44):
for being a scattered religiouspopulation to becoming a
powerful political identity.
He wasn't a preacher, he wasn'ta politician, but in many ways
Dobson was more effective thanboth.
James Dobson is gone, but hisshadow lingers.
Every time you hear a politiciantalk about family values, every
time you see a bill restrictingreproductive rights or rolling
(16:05):
back LGBTQ protections, you arehearing echoes of a movement
James Dobson helped build.
The question for the rest of usis this do we continue down the
road Dobson paved, where faithis synonymous with politics,
where morality is reduced to ahandful of hot button issues,
where families are defined inour rigid categories, or do we
find another way to think aboutfaith and community, one that
(16:29):
doesn't require a culture war toexist?
Dobson lived 89 years and heleft behind an empire, but
empires eventually crumbled.
The ideas he planted, though,will keep shaping american
debates long after his namefades from the headlines,
because when a man spendsdecades telling people how to
raise their kids, how to voteand how to think about morality,
(16:51):
his voice doesn't justdisappear with his death.
It echoes in living rooms, itechoes in legislators and it
echoes in churches.
And whether you love him orloathe him, james Dobson's echo
will be with us for a very longtime.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
And finally, tonight, the judge with a heart of gold.
He was the compassionatecourtroom judge seen by millions
, whose rulings changed so manylives for the better.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
I think 959 is close enough to 10.
Matters dismissed.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Thank you For 40 years.
Judge Frank Caprio would hearcases from his Providence Rhode
Island bench, along the wayearning the reputation as
America's nicest judge.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
In that location it's like mad lights.
I was confused.
In your lane of traffic there'sa green light.
In the other lane of traffic,which is not your lane, there's
a red arrow.
See, I knew he had a greatargument.
He's came in well preparedtoday.
Guilty or not guilty, what doyou say?
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Guilty.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Guilty.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
In later years, his hit TV show Caught in Providence
put his humor and heart on fulldisplay.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
I was making a right-hand turn.
Did you ever read the driver'smanual?
Speaker 2 (18:03):
It was so long ago I don't even know what I had for
breakfast.
Late today his family sharingJudge Caprio passed away at the
age of 88, following acourageous battle with
pancreatic cancer.
Judge Caprio would often say hewasn't always so compassionate.
His first day on the bench, hisfather, proudly watching on the
young judge, was tough on amother of four who hadn't paid
(18:23):
her parking tickets and thatdidn't sit well with his father.
He said, frank, she had fourkids.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
I suppose she can't feed the kids tonight if she
paid those tickets.
She doesn't have a car.
She can't drive to school.
What are you doing?
You weren't brought up that way.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
The moment would change the course of his life
and so many others.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
My first day on the court set the tone of my
judgeship of over 30 years Afterthat.
I took everybody's personalsituation into consideration.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
The king of second chances.
Thank you for watching.
I'm Mary Bruce for David andall of us here.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
If you haven't done anything for humanity, you ought
to be ashamed to die Now.
Sit with that for a moment,because we all know death is
coming.
None of us is going to get outof it, and the only choices that
we've got is actually what youdecide to leave behind when you
(19:26):
go.
And too often in this countrywe measure life by the wrong
yardsticks by the size of yourhouse, by the length of your
resume, by how many toys youpiled up before the clock ran
out.
But when the dust actuallysettles, you'll find out that
(19:47):
none of that actually matters,not a single bit.
What matters is the dent youleft in the world for somebody
else.
So ask yourself did a childbreathe easier because you took
time to raise them with love andkindness?
Did a neighbor get through onemore night because you shared
(20:10):
what you had?
Did you stand up even once,when cruelty was being
normalized and silence was theeasier path?
Did you stand up and saysomething?
You don't have to be apresident, you don't have to be
a prophet, you don't have tomove mountains, but you have to
do something.
So when your day comes and Ibelieve me it will come the only
(20:35):
question that really counts isthis Did anyone's burden get
lighter because you were here?
Because you were here, and ifthe answer is no, then yes,
shame will follow you right toyour grave.
But if the answer is yes, evenin small ways, then you lived a
(20:55):
life worthy of the breath youwere given.
So live like the clock isticking, because it is, and when
it stops, make sure the worldcannot say you passed through
here without leaving a trace.
Thank you for tuning in andI'll see you on the next episode
.
Welcome to the Darrell McLean Show.
I'm your host, darrell McLean.
Independent media that won'treinforce tribalism.
We have one planet Nobody isleaving.
Let us reason together.
We are at episode 471, fastly,fastly approaching that 500th
episode.
I'm going to start off the showtoday with some Virginia-based
(00:21):
news that happened to catch myeye, and so we have to talk
about Virginia Beach City PublicSchools and the latest gift
they decided to give theteachers and the staff.
And no, it's not appreciation,it's not resources and it's
definitely not higher pay.
What they handed out insteadwas a double digit increase in
(00:44):
health care premium, so steepthat it sparked an actual
lawsuit.
That's right.
Teachers and staff in VirginiaBeach are suing their own school
system over what they'recalling a bait and switch.
1st of 2026, school employeesare going to see their health
(01:07):
insurance premium drop fromanywhere from $2.04 to $210.97
per paycheck, and retireesthey'll get it even harder, with
monthly increases ranging from$52 to $455.
Now imagine being retired, aretired teacher, and we assume
you're living on a fixed incomeand then suddenly having almost
(01:29):
a $500 bill that you have to pay, and it's now going to be
siphoned out of your monthlybudget.
And this is not something youknow needed.
This is health care.
That's not just aninconvenience, that is a crisis.
(01:52):
And here's the kicker the staffwas actually told about the
increase after they alreadysigned their contracts and after
in-service weeks had alreadystarted, which means in plain
english, they were trapped noopportunity to reconsider, no
ability to shop for alternatives.
(02:12):
Just surprise pay up or loseyour coverage.
Now over 100 teachers and staffhave filed the suit.
Their claim is that thedistrict's leadership,
specifically the superintendent,don Robertson, intentionally
concealed the timing of anincrease to present what they
call or prevent what they call amass exodus.
In other words, the teachersare accusing their boss of
(02:34):
pulling a bait and switch.
Sign a contract, commit to theschool year and then will tell
you that your bills have nowgone up, and that's the kind of
thing you'd expect from a shadyapartment landlord, not a public
school system.
So the Roberson, for his part,says the district wasn't hiding
anything.
His excuse is that they werewaiting to finalize numbers and
(02:56):
access health care costs beforemaking any announcement.
Now he admits the timing looksbad, but insists that this is
just for one year and theteachers still have to October
to make new choices during openenrollment.
Now that sounds nice in theory.
But let's not kid ourselves.
When you're already committedto a school year, uprooting your
health insurance plan isn'tsome painless choice.
(03:18):
That's paperwork, that's stress, that's making sure your kids
and spouses don't lose coveragein the middle of flu season.
So let's zoom in here and getthe details.
Let's get the bigger picture, Iguess I should say.
The United States of Americaloves to talk about supporting
teachers.
(03:38):
Politicians, both Democrats andRepublicans, run on it every
election.
Both Democrats and Republicansrun on it every election.
(03:59):
Every August you seecommercials about back to school
season showing smiling kidswith backpacks and smiling
teachers with, with with thesupplies in their hands or
standing next to a chalkboardwith a student the road.
When the budgets are set andthe dollars are allocated,
teachers are treated like theyare expendable.
Teachers in Virginia Beach andacross America aren't making
Wall Street money.
They are not padding stockportfolios.
They're already underpaid,already under pressure, already
(04:19):
buying classroom supplies withtheir own paychecks, and now
they're expected to just swallowa massive hike in health
insurance, as if the cost ofbeing noble is a part of their
job.
It's not noble, it'sexploitative.
This is Story isn't just aboutone school district.
(04:39):
It is a mirror of the largerAmerican problem, and I would
say that problem is how we tieour health care directly to our
employment.
When your health coveragedepends on your job, your boss
has an outsized amount ofleverage over your life.
Want to quit?
(05:00):
Want to protest?
Want to leave for a betterdistrict?
Good luck.
It just means you'll lose yourfamily doctor in the process.
That's why the timing herematters so much.
It wasn't just a financialdecision, it was a control
decision.
Announcing the hikes after thecontracts were signed
(05:21):
effectively weaponized healthcare against the very people who
teach our kids.
Now imagine the morale in thevirginia beach classrooms this
fall.
Teachers already jugglingoversized classrooms,
standardized test pressures andpolitical fights over what they
can or cannot teach are nowwalking into the door knowing
(05:42):
their paychecks are shrinkingand their employer played them
dirty.
And still we expect them to puton a smile, manage 30 kids at
once and inspire the nextgeneration.
How exactly do we expect tokeep quality educators when we
treat them like they are nothingmore than disposable labor?
Now, let's not forget theretirees in all of this, because
(06:06):
these are the people whoalready gave their time.
These are the people alreadygave decades of their lives to
the system.
They've already graded thepapers late into the night,
chalkboard filled map problems.
They've already chaperonedfield trips and poured into
generations of kids.
(06:26):
Now in retirement they're beinghit with a bill that in some
cases are larger than carpayments.
It's definitely larger than mycar payment.
Retirees aren't in a positionto just pick up side hustles.
They're not going back toteaching after 30 years already
in the classroom.
For them, this increaseprobably is a gut punch.
(06:53):
And here's the truth.
This lawsuit isn't just aboutinsurance premiums.
It's about respect.
It's about honesty.
It's about whether the peoplewe trust to educate our children
can trust the system thatemploys them.
And right now, virginia Beachteachers are sending a loud
message.
Trust is broken.
(07:14):
And let's be clear, lawsuitslike this don't come cheap.
Filing in a court is a lastresort.
Teachers don't want to sue.
They want to teach.
But when you're corneredfinancially and deceived
procedurally, the courtroombecomes the only place left to
be heard.
So here's the takeaway in all ofthis America has a very funny
(07:39):
way of saying one thing anddoing another.
We claim teachers are heroes,but then we shortchange them on
their paychecks and jack uptheir insurance.
We talk about valuing education, but when it's time to do a
budget, education is a firstline item to be slashed.
If we keep going down this road, the message is clear.
(08:00):
If we keep going down this road, the message is clear Don't go
to teaching unless you want tobe underpaid, underappreciated
and financially squeezed.
And that's if the message.
Then who's going to teach thenext generation?
The Virginia Beach lawsuit is aflare shot into the night sky.
(08:20):
It says enough.
Teachers and staff are drawinga line, and if districts and
policymakers don't listen, we'llsee more lawsuits, more
burnouts and more classroomswithout qualified educators.
My closing thought on this isthis Teachers should be spending
(08:46):
this time getting ready toinspire your kids, not figuring
out how to pay an unexpected$200 more per check.
If we can't even guaranteestable health coverage for the
people raising the nextgeneration, then our priorities
as a society are worse than anupside down.
They are activelyself-destructive.
Because here's the real truthyou can't build the future while
(09:07):
gutting the very people whohelp shape it.
We'll be right back with moreon the Darrell McClain show on
two significant deaths that Ithink we need to talk about.
The death of a culture warrior.
So James Dobson has died.
He was 89 years old, at home inColorado Springs, surrounded by
the institutions he built andthe movement he helped to find.
(09:30):
So for some listeners his namemight not ring as loudly as it
did, let's say, in the 80s andthe 90s, but make no mistake,
dobson was the most influentialarchitect of the modern
religious right in America.
This wasn't just a psychologistwho wrote books on parenting.
This was a man who leveragedchild discipline to a platform
(09:54):
that reshaped American politics,law and evangelical identity.
His death isn't just a passingof a man.
It is the end of an era.
Dobson started off as a childpsychologist.
He taught at the University ofSouthern California School of
Medicine.
He wasn't a preacher, not apastor, nor ordained.
(10:16):
He was a psychologist who foundhis breakthrough in a movement
in the 1970s when he published abook called Dare to Discipline.
Now the book was a bestsellerand its thesis was actually
pretty blunt Christian parentsshould spank their kids and keep
them in line.
Dobson framed discipline not asabuse but as God's mandate.
(10:38):
He claimed that spanking was anexpression of love, provided it
was done in control.
Now that message resonated in aculture already anxious about
the changes in the 60s the civilrights movement, the women's
rights movement, counterculture,rebellion, etc.
And Dobson's message wasbasically if you restore the
(11:04):
order in the home, you will, byextension, restore order in
society.
Now, by the late 70s, he hadtaken that message to the
airwaves.
He founded an organizationcalled Focus on the Family in
1977, which became one of themost powerful Christian media
empires of the 20th century.
Which became one of the mostpowerful Christian media empires
of the 20th century.
(11:24):
From a basement in California,dobson built a radio program
that went national by the 1980s.
Millions of families tuned indaily.
His program wasn't just aboutfamily advice.
It was a pipeline thatconnected suburban parents to a
larger conservative agenda.
Dobson used the language ofparenting and values to mobilize
(11:46):
evangelicals politically.
He wasn't just saying here'show to deal with your teenager.
He was saying the culture iscoming for your teenager.
The culture is coming for ourchildren.
Abortion is destroying families.
Gay rights are a threat tobiblical morality.
Hollywood is corrupting yourkids.
In fact, hollywood iscorrupting us all.
(12:06):
And this wasn't a fringe talkradio.
Politicians took him seriously.
Ronald Reagan courted Dobson.
George HW Bush sought hisblessing.
George W Bush had his support.
Even President Donald Trump,decades later, used Dobson as a
validator to reassure whiteevangelicals that the thrice
(12:28):
married casino mogul wasactually born again.
Dobson didn't just adviseparents, he advised presidents.
He built focus on the familyinto a political machine that
launched the family researchcattle and a state-level family
policy council designed to shapelegislation.
His groups lobbied againstabortion, against same-sex
(12:48):
marriage, against the lgbtq plusprotections.
They fought for abstinence onlyeducation, for school prayer
and for traditional gender roles.
At its height, focus on thefamily had a budget in the
hundreds of millionspublications reaching millions
of readers and a political armthat could make or break
candidates in conservativestates.
(13:08):
When Dobson spoke, politicianslistened because his listeners
were voters.
Now, of course, dobson wasn'tuniversally admired.
Critics In psychology and inchild development accused him of
promoting authoritarianparenting and dressing it up in
religious garb.
The LGBTQ advocate saw him as aman, as one of his architects
(13:32):
of cultural stigma, a man whospent decades using his
platforms to oppose their rights.
His advice to parents aboutdisciplining children caused a
genuine tears, was viewed bymany as just outdated and
harmful.
His campaigns against gayrights placed him firmly in the
camp of those who stood againstthe movement for equality.
(13:52):
Now Dobson was careful, though.
He was not seen as afire-breathing televangelist
shouting about hellfire.
He came across, when you heardhim as a calm, a calm
grandfatherly figure, and thatwas his power.
He normalized hardlineconservative stances by
delivering them in a tone of akindly counselor, and that's why
(14:14):
Dobson was so effective.
Now Dobson stepped down fromfocus of the family around 2010,
but he didn't retire.
He found that the Jamesamesdobson family institute and
launched a news program calledfamily talk.
Even in, even in his 80s, hekept broadcasting, still warning
about the decay of culture,still telling parents how to
resist.
His influence waned as newfigures mega church pastors,
(14:37):
social media influence, evenpoliticians themselves took up
his mantle.
But make no mistake, theinfrastructure that james Dobson
built still exists.
The Family Research Council,the state policy networks and
the broader evangelicalpolitical machine traces back
that to James Dobson's blueprint.
So what do we make of JamesDobson's death at 89?
(15:01):
On one hand, he was a man whoconvinced millions of parents to
take family life seriously.
He created support networks forpeople who felt adrift in a
changing world.
For some family, his adviceabout communication, faith and
stability was genuinely helpful.
On the other hand, he lockedAmerican evangelicalism into a
culture war posture.
(15:21):
He took issues like abortionand gay rights and made them
litmus tests for christian faith.
He blurred the line betweenpastoral care and political
activism, and in doing so, hehelped turn american churches
into a political voting blockrather than a spiritual
community.
Dobson's story of howconservative evangelicals were
(15:44):
for being a scattered religiouspopulation to becoming a
powerful political identity.
He wasn't a preacher, he wasn'ta politician, but in many ways
Dobson was more effective thanboth.
James Dobson is gone, but hisshadow lingers.
Every time you hear a politiciantalk about family values, every
time you see a bill restrictingreproductive rights or rolling
(16:05):
back LGBTQ protections, you arehearing echoes of a movement
James Dobson helped build.
The question for the rest of usis this do we continue down the
road Dobson paved, where faithis synonymous with politics,
where morality is reduced to ahandful of hot button issues,
where families are defined inour rigid categories, or do we
find another way to think aboutfaith and community, one that
(16:29):
doesn't require a culture war toexist?
Dobson lived 89 years and heleft behind an empire, but
empires eventually crumbled.
The ideas he planted, though,will keep shaping american
debates long after his namefades from the headlines,
because when a man spendsdecades telling people how to
raise their kids, how to voteand how to think about morality,
(16:51):
his voice doesn't justdisappear with his death.
It echoes in living rooms, itechoes in legislators and it
echoes in churches.
And whether you love him orloathe him, james Dobson's echo
will be with us for a very longtime.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
And finally, tonight, the judge with a heart of gold.
He was the compassionatecourtroom judge seen by millions
, whose rulings changed so manylives for the better.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
I think 959 is close enough to 10.
Matters dismissed.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Thank you For 40 years.
Judge Frank Caprio would hearcases from his Providence Rhode
Island bench, along the wayearning the reputation as
America's nicest judge.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
In that location it's like mad lights.
I was confused.
In your lane of traffic there'sa green light.
In the other lane of traffic,which is not your lane, there's
a red arrow.
See, I knew he had a greatargument.
He's came in well preparedtoday.
Guilty or not guilty, what doyou say?
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Guilty.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Guilty.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
In later years, his hit TV show Caught in Providence
put his humor and heart on fulldisplay.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
I was making a right-hand turn.
Did you ever read the driver'smanual?
Speaker 2 (18:03):
It was so long ago I don't even know what I had for
breakfast.
Late today his family sharingJudge Caprio passed away at the
age of 88, following acourageous battle with
pancreatic cancer.
Judge Caprio would often say hewasn't always so compassionate.
His first day on the bench, hisfather, proudly watching on the
young judge, was tough on amother of four who hadn't paid
(18:23):
her parking tickets and thatdidn't sit well with his father.
He said, frank, she had fourkids.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
I suppose she can't feed the kids tonight if she
paid those tickets.
She doesn't have a car.
She can't drive to school.
What are you doing?
You weren't brought up that way.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
The moment would change the course of his life
and so many others.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
My first day on the court set the tone of my
judgeship of over 30 years Afterthat.
I took everybody's personalsituation into consideration.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
The king of second chances.
Thank you for watching.
I'm Mary Bruce for David andall of us here.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
If you haven't done anything for humanity, you ought
to be ashamed to die Now.
Sit with that for a moment,because we all know death is
coming.
None of us is going to get outof it, and the only choices that
we've got is actually what youdecide to leave behind when you
(19:26):
go.
And too often in this countrywe measure life by the wrong
yardsticks by the size of yourhouse, by the length of your
resume, by how many toys youpiled up before the clock ran
out.
But when the dust actuallysettles, you'll find out that
(19:47):
none of that actually matters,not a single bit.
What matters is the dent youleft in the world for somebody
else.
So ask yourself did a childbreathe easier because you took
time to raise them with love andkindness?
Did a neighbor get through onemore night because you shared
(20:10):
what you had?
Did you stand up even once,when cruelty was being
normalized and silence was theeasier path?
Did you stand up and saysomething?
You don't have to be apresident, you don't have to be
a prophet, you don't have tomove mountains, but you have to
do something.
So when your day comes and Ibelieve me it will come the only
(20:35):
question that really counts isthis Did anyone's burden get
lighter because you were here?
Because you were here, and ifthe answer is no, then yes,
shame will follow you right toyour grave.
But if the answer is yes, evenin small ways, then you lived a
(20:55):
life worthy of the breath youwere given.
So live like the clock isticking, because it is, and when
it stops, make sure the worldcannot say you passed through
here without leaving a trace.
Thank you for tuning in andI'll see you on the next episode
.
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