In Mason County, there has been a couple significant instances in recent times when young children were shamelessly exploited by adults for political purposes.  The first occurred in early 2019 when the Splash Pad Committee marched crying and confused children in front of the Ludington City Council to gather support for a splash pad in Copeyon Park.   Shortly thereafter, the Ludington schools practiced similar child exploitive tactics in order to get the $101 million millage passed.  

Five to 15 years in the future, these same kids in the Ludington Area School District will wonder why they cannot find affordable houses or rents in the area.  Maybe a frank and earnest realtor or landlord will tell them that a large part of the reason is that a bunch of cute schoolchildren made enough people vote to send $101 million to GR and Lansing contractors five to 15 years ago so that schools could be moved out of neighborhoods and into a forest.

This May, those in Mason, Lake and Oceana County saw a renewal millage election for the local ESD for special education programs in the counties which effectively raises about $3.4 million each year it is in place.  This ballot measure did not feature any measurable exploitation of the special education children it would help by those campaigning for a 'yes' vote.   It passed easily with over 80% of the vote in Mason County and had  similar numbers in Lake and Oceana Counties.

Oceana County also had a very significant school issue on the ballot in Shelby.  The measure sought approval of those in the Shelby School District to approve a debt of $33 million to build a new elementary school and improve the other buildings-- in other words, it was much like the LASD bond issue in 2019 but at about a third of the scale.  Had you passed by the school the afternoon of the vote on this issue you are likely to have seen a group of kids hoisting political signs on school grounds advocating for major tax increases on their parents and neighbors:

These kids are likely old enough to understand what sales taxes are, but not old enough to realize that their parents or guardians will need to buy less stuff for them in order to keep up with the tax hike imposed.  Some of those below might not even understand sales tax yet, they are so young, but one can guess that the tall guy keeping them in line has an interest in a 'yes' vote that transcends the extra taxes in his future.  One can see Shelby's main street (State Street) immediately in the kids' background offering an additional danger for those prone to drive poorly when distracted trying to read poorly contrasted signs:

More kids and a couple of unmasked adults form another 'yes' bloc on the front lawn of Thomas read Elementary below.  These pictures were all originally posted on the "Yes for Shelby Public Schools" page on Facebook the very afternoon of the vote.  These pictures all appear to be taken before the buses picked kids up from school, they appear to be orchestrated by school staff to project one message to the public:  Vote Yes on the Shelby bond issue.  And even though the ESD vote was also up before the Shelby voters too, one cannot find a sign anywhere advocating for the special education millage renewal.  

Such use of school children by school staff during school hours is likely against election law, public schools are prohibited from using taxpayer dollars and school resources to promote votes to increase property taxes.  It's definitely against general ethics considerations.  An international group concerned with what should be the rules when using children as political props, pawns, or patsies for political goals suggest these 14 reasonable protections for children, the first seven seem to apply in this case:

1. A child cannot be a tool to achieve political goals.


2. The participation of children cannot be decided by adults.


3. An active involvement of a child supposes that they are a certain age and of adequate maturity, so children under the age of 14 are not to be involved in political communications under any circumstances.


4.  Do not use children as decorations: children are considered to be a decoration if they are not present because of their knowledge or opinion, but merely because they are children, and this fact in the given situation is making the event or the actions of the politician appear in a positive light.


5. Children are not the target audience of political campaigns.


6. The manipulation of children is forbidden. The direct – by the school or parents – and indirect influence of children in order to reach political goals, such as winning votes, is strictly forbidden.


7. Kindergartens and schools are no place for party politics.


8. Politicians should not visit educational establishments during campaign periods; at other times they should only accept invitations if it is for the support of public education, and if they do not use this to propagate their political actions.


9. Politicians should not send any gifts to children, their parents, workers in public education or offer any other advantages, except if it is anonymous and cannot be connected to them.


10. Politicians should not accept gifts or greetings from children, educational or public care organisations, parents or public educational institutions.

11.Politicians should not take photos with children, and should not support the public use of these images. Every occasion when a politician meets a child and is publicly photographed, it is considered a campaign action and entails the imposition of a fine.


12. Do not use children’s personal data or image. Do not make and share recordings where the children involved have not given their consent. This is not allowed in cases where the child is under the age of 14, even if the child or their legal guardian has consented to it. They also cannot use the images of children from picture sharing sites, especially if the child in the photo is supposedly under the age of 16.

13. Respect the civil rights of children: children have the right to participate in local and public matters that concern them.

14.  Avoid displaying children in a negative light and refrain from using hostile language or language that could result in incitement to hatred, and the visual representation of said things. Under any circumstances, do not communicate anything regarding children that might violate their dignity or their right to private life, disclosure of information or freedom of expression.

Do not condone or reward those who would violate these rules by accepting their political policy or politician, it only feeds the immoral use of our minors for political ends.  Actively work to spread awareness of this problem and point it out boldly when it occurs.

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Well done X. You make an excellent point and one that's difficult to argue against. Of course we all know that leftists control the educational system and that's why it's so important to vote for conservative candidates for school boards who will make sure the truth is taught which especially includes history. I agree completely X. Indoctrinating kids for political gains of any kind is wrong. What's next for these poor brain washed children?

If you've seen the movie, They Live, the heroes had these sunglasses that allowed people to 'see' beyond the illusions that an invading alien race were using to take over Earth.  Willy's reworking of the 'Vote Yes" signs to similar left-inspired signs reminds me of that.  The man in the original photo is likely a school employee posing with some of the kids in his purview; can you imagine somebody who works for the school (and wants to continue working) coming out against a major school bond proposal like this?  In today's world it would be career suicide, there's just too much to be gained by school districts exploiting taxpayers fully.

Close margins and low turnout at 25%. I hope they have to vote again because of the illegality of taking children out of class to wave signs.

Unfortunately, I don't see a revote happening since election law is not very specific about child exploitation being unlawful for school millage/bond votes.  FS, you likely know that almost all school millage/bond votes take place in May elections, often in odd years.  The reason for that is clear:  by having it as the only thing on the ballot in an odd time of the year for elections, very few electors come out.  That is by design as the school and their unions can muster an awful lot of votes, and there rarely is an organized resistance to the tax hikes.

So when your friend in the teacher's union or similar liberal group complains about voter ID and other election reforms being considered by rational people being acts of voter suppression, just point out the turnout for the last five school bond/millage issues and the time of the year they were held (which will almost assuredly be February or May).  Ask them why didn't they put the vote on an even-year November ballot where the turnout would almost guarantee to be tripled?

If they were honest they would tell you that their measure would be more apt to fail since they couldn't rely on the strength of their base.

[quote] "Yes for Shelby Public Schools" page on Facebook the very afternoon of the vote.  These pictures all appear to be taken before the buses picked kids up from school, they appear to be orchestrated by school staff to project one message to the public:  Vote Yes on the Shelby bond issue.  And even though the ESD vote was also up before the Shelby voters too, one cannot find a sign anywhere advocating for the special education millage renewal.  

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Such use of school children by school staff during school hours is likely against election law, public schools are prohibited from using taxpayer dollars and school resources to promote votes to increase property taxes.  It's definitely against general ethics considerations.  An international group concerned with what should be the rules when using children as political props, pawns, or patsies for political goals suggest these 14 reasonable protections for children, the first seven seem to apply in this case:

1. A child cannot be a tool to achieve political goals.


2. The participation of children cannot be decided by adults.


3. An active involvement of a child supposes that they are a certain age and of adequate maturity, so children under the age of 14 are not to be involved in political communications under any circumstances.


4.  Do not use children as decorations: children are considered to be a decoration if they are not present because of their knowledge or opinion, but merely because they are children, and this fact in the given situation is making the event or the actions of the politician appear in a positive light.


5. Children are not the target audience of political campaigns.


6. The manipulation of children is forbidden. The direct – by the school or parents – and indirect influence of children in order to reach political goals, such as winning votes, is strictly forbidden.


7. Kindergartens and schools are no place for party politics.


8. Politicians should not visit educational establishments during campaign periods; at other times they should only accept invitations if it is for the support of public education, and if they do not use this to propagate their political actions.


9. Politicians should not send any gifts to children, their parents, workers in public education or offer any other advantages, except if it is anonymous and cannot be connected to them.


10. Politicians should not accept gifts or greetings from children, educational or public care organisations, parents or public educational institutions.

11.Politicians should not take photos with children, and should not support the public use of these images. Every occasion when a politician meets a child and is publicly photographed, it is considered a campaign action and entails the imposition of a fine.


12. Do not use children’s personal data or image. Do not make and share recordings where the children involved have not given their consent. This is not allowed in cases where the child is under the age of 14, even if the child or their legal guardian has consented to it. They also cannot use the images of children from picture sharing sites, especially if the child in the photo is supposedly under the age of 16.

13. Respect the civil rights of children: children have the right to participate in local and public matters that concern them.

14.  Avoid displaying children in a negative light and refrain from using hostile language or language that could result in incitement to hatred, and the visual representation of said things. Under any circumstances, do not communicate anything regarding children that might violate their dignity or their right to private life, disclosure of information or freedom of expression.

Do not condone or reward those who would violate these rules by accepting their political policy or politician, it only feeds the immoral use of our minors for political ends.  Actively work to spread awareness of this problem and point it out boldly when it occurs.[/quote]

Hello I totally agree with you, the photos are sacred, in addition they can be found in an instant on social networks without us realizing it

Florencelagier. Your first paragraph is very revealing regarding the bias shown by school employees and administrators and makes a very good point on how Government agencies spread their propaganda to benefit themselves. Just curious what your link "Regroupement de prêt immobilier" is about and how it concerns itself with this topic. Also I don't understand why you re-posted X's comments without an explanation as to your reasoning to duplicate his comments. 

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