Culture war issues continue to be used to divert our attention from the economic forces at the heart of the country’s turmoil.

The excellent piece regarding the Gardiner School District uproar over a proposed school-based health clinic that would serve basic heath needs of children without access to care left me wondering why Leonard Leo and other wealthy contributors to these battles care that much about what happens in Gardiner schools?  

Trans athletes are once again at the center of the controversy, never mind that the number in Maine can probably be counted on one hand with fingers left over, and the science regarding any advantage gained in athletics is inconclusive at best.  

The money behind these efforts would like nothing better than to undermine support for public education and build support for private school voucher programs that have the potential to be lucrative investments with little oversight regarding quality of education and wide latitude to discriminate along religious and other grounds.  

And private schools will be free to further the goal of unquestioning support for the unregulated capitalism that’s enabled the deep-pocketed donors to hoard wealth and power while millions of Americans struggle just to survive. 

I hope Gardiner parents, whose sincerity I don’t question, will pause and question the forces driving these divisive campaigns.  

Mary Ann Larson
Bangor