In Texas, the members of the State Board of Education (SBOE) are elected in a partisan election. One of the duties of the State Board of Education is overseeing the writing of curriculum standards for the various content areas. A call went out to educators across the state, asking for volunteers to write the standards. Committees were formed for each elementary grade level and each secondary course with instructions to take the current standards and modify them as deemed necessary. The Texas Council for the Social Studies (CSS) submitted a blueprint based on a statewide survey of social studies educators and prepared by its members as a guide to the writing teams. Although the science teachers had followed a similar procedure during their standards revision, the Texas CSS was branded as a subversive organization trying to undermine the authority of the board. Based on recommendations from the SBOE members, six so-called experts were selected to examine the standards and offer commentary. The new drafts were presented to the SBOE in the fall of 2009. A series of public hearings followed, culminating on May 21 with the 9-5 vote to adopt the standards as amended. In this article, the author talks about the development of social studies standards in Texas and shares her experience in a public hearing concerning the rewriting of the social studies standards. The author argues that the biggest tragedy of the social studies standards adoption in Texas is the lack of respect directed at the very professional educators by SBOE members intent on their own agenda. She presents selected key terms or phrases that indicate the politicization evident in the standards. (Contains 1 note.)