BATON ROUGE, La. – If Americans’ dislike of politicians has intensified the last few years, it’s partly because too many political leaders treat voters like empty-headed nincompoops who are to be endured, rather than the “bosses” for whom they work.

The latest example of this arrogance comes from Louisiana, where lawmakers are scheming of ways to keep Common Core in the state’s schools while tricking angry parents and taxpayers into thinking the math and English learning standards have been specially tailored for Louisiana standards and are no longer the nationalized ones being used in the other 40-plus Common Core states.

“We will probably do something really silly like changing the name of it to something else” to throw off Common Core opponents, Democratic state Rep. Walt Leger admitted during a recent legislative breakfast, according to NOLA.com.

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Democratic state Sen. J.P Morrell apparently thinks a simple name change should do the trick because “a lot of the Common Core debate is not about Common Core at all,” but only the Tea Party’s  “latest vehicle to bash the president,” according to NOLA.com.

If Louisiana officials do change the name of the state’s new learning standards, they’ll be following the lead of Florida, Iowa and Arizona officials who have re-cast the controversial, one-size-fits-all standards as unique, state-spun creations, The Washington Post reports.

According to the Post, Common Core in the Hawkeye State is now known as “The Iowa Core,” and in Florida, the new standards are called “the cheerier-sounding ‘Next Generation Sunshine State Standards.’”

Arizona leaders are apparently less clever. They simply stripped the words “Common Core” from their standards.

The Post reports states are “keeping the standards but slapping on fresh names they hope will have greater public appeal,” adding that any “tweaks” the states have made to the standards have been “largely superficial.”

If it seems like political leaders think their voters are dumb, it’s because they do.

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For example, Louisiana state Sen. Conrad Appel, a Republican, dismissed Common Core critics as being driven by “misinformation” and “hysteria.”

While it’s true that some of the criticism of Common Core has been over-the-top, the blame lies with the elitists who foisted this massive K-12 overhaul onto the American people in 45 states without any warning, explanation or chance for public input. It’s also worth noting that Common Core first appeared in 2010, a time when most citizens were preoccupied with the sinking economy and the health care overhaul that was also being foisted upon them by lawmakers in D.C.

It took a few years, but average Americans are finally waking up to Common Core because their kids are coming home from school in tears over impossible-to-understand math homework, and because their kids’ teachers are telling them horror stories about how the standards are wreaking havoc, confusion and tension in classrooms.

They’re also hearing from well-regarded scholars who say the nationalized learning standards aren’t nearly as “rigorous” as the Common Core purveyors are telling them, and that they could provide the federal government back-door access to what gets taught in their neighborhood schools.

So, like responsible citizens, Americans are finally demanding answers to these questions. If they had behaved honorably, Common Core supporters would have voluntarily addressed these concerns four years ago, before any officials voted to throw their state’s old school standards – and related curriculum – overboard.

But Common Core purveyors didn’t behave honorably, and now they’re doubling down on that by referring to concerned Americans as  “alarmists” and “reactionaries.” Even more sickening, state lawmakers are joining in this criticism of the very people they’re supposed to be representing in government.

Can there be any question as to why most opinion polls show record low approval ratings for politicians?

One branding expert tells The Washington Post that a simple name change will pacify Common Core critics.

“It’s something that might be politically expedient in the short term,” said branding expert Christopher Johnson. “They might succeed in bamboozling people who are opposed to the idea of nationwide standards by giving them local names … Bit I think it’s skirting around the issue.”

At least one Florida parent hasn’t been fooled by state officials’ re-branding effort.

“What they’re trying to do is pull the wool over the eyes of regular parents who are not engaged,” Debbie Higginbotham told the Post. “They’re trying to say these are Florida standards when they’re not.”

One last thought: Now that many parents and concerned citizens are onto the elitists’ national learning standards scheme, they’re standing in watch, ready to stop the one-size-fits-all science and socials standards that are slowly making their way down the pike.

The mistakes of 2010 will not be repeated again – at least not without one enormous legislative fight.