Rock on Faygo!
I'm 59 years old, white, straight and worked as a teacher for the same district for 22 years until I was laid off due to "budgetary constraints". So, by most accounts, I should be furious at Obama for ruining the economy, and raising budget deficits. I should be in line for one of those twelve million jobs that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are going to create...right? I'm certainly not as well off as I was four years ago. I should be one of those angry white males that the Republicans need to put Romney over the top in November.
Yeah, right, when Hell freezes over.
I'm legally blind and have been teaching for over thirty years. I have an Ed.D. in Education and Learning and I loved the students, families and colleagues I worked with and they loved me. About five years ago, my district hired a business type as Superintendent. He began to implement a "business model" for running the district which included keeping over 65 million in reserve, while systematically eliminating the teachers with high salaries in order to replace them with two young teachers at the low end of the salary scale. Of course this had effects on both student performance and staff morale. My union watched all of this go down and were kind enough to hand me a pretty blue bag from the Unemployment Dept.
Was I disappointed with the union? Sure. Do I think that they could have done more? Yeah I do. But listening to Chris Christie and the other Republican liars drone on last week about teachers and teacher unions made my blood boil. Teacher unions are about more than working conditions for teachers. They are about trying to construct the best schools we can in order to meet the educational needs of the students they serve. Am I supposed to favor a system of education where corporate wonks run private chains of schools, staffed by low paid teachers without unions, teaching creationism alongside science, teaching "don't say gay" and Shiria law is a threat to our liberty in social studies? I don't think so. Let's get real here. The only reason that the Republicans hate the teacher unions so much is that the unions are a huge source of financial support for the Democratic party.
Like Faygo, I am much more concerned about my pregnant kids, their families, the unemployed, our senior and disabled citizens, our veterans, our real "small business" owners, our scores of imprisoned youth, and all of the other people in this country who are beginning to lose hope of rising above their circumstances. I know that my family and I will see better times and yes, I still believe in hope and change for all of us.
So fuck you Mitt Romney. Fuck you and your empty suits, your empty chairs, and your empty promises. I will NEVER be a part of your demographic, or your cynical, selfish and mean spirited view of this country. Thank you Faygo for making me think and hope, and for wanting to pick up my Les Paul and crank my amp. Long live rock and roll and peace to all.
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