2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumAFT Endorsement Of Clinton Shows Lack Of Democratic Process
The Trouble with Clinton
As her husband did during his two terms in the White House, Hillary has a long history of talking progressive but triangulating when she thinks it will win votes or campaign contributions. Triangulating is a fancy way to say supporting conservative policies with either liberal rhetoric or the excuse that it will win over centrists and independents to the Democratic side. Bill Clinton did it with welfare reform and NAFTA, and Hillary has done it with hawkish foreign policy and education reform. She pays lip service to the idea that students are more than a test score, but she supported No Child Left Behind and now says that it saddens her when she hears parents and teachers criticizing and attacking the Common Core standards which have led to an ever-increasing emphasis on testing and punishing teachers based on test scores. Her education PAC similarly talks about pro teacher policy but uses the oft-repeated conservative slogan that students are trapped in failing schools and that by implication these schools are packed with bad teachers who must be punished into stepping it up or fired. There are all sorts of problems with the argument that teachers are solely to blame for student performance and that teaching is the only matter to focus on, not poverty and the whole childs well being. Given that Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase make up three of Hillarys top five campaign donors and that she has a close relationship with billionaire reform pushers like Bill Gates, it seems extremely likely that she will push privatizing and high stakes testing while using her shiny new AFT endorsement to show that she has the support of classroom teachers and is working on their behalf.
The Problem with the AFTs Process
The American Federation of Teachers most powerful local is the United Federation of Teachers in New York City since New York has the largest school system with a million students and since AFT President Randi Weingarten (who had one year in a Brooklyn classroom before working for the union) started out as President of the UFT. From the very beginning, New York City teachers saw Weingarten as an opportunist seeking to advance her own political career rather than a genuine labor leader who would organize and fight to protect teachers. Multibillionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg even introduced Weingarten at DC conferences as an example of what can be accomplished when unions and government cooperate rather than conflict, which sounds a lot like a Wall Street CEO saying that an SEC regulator is doing a good job of cooperating with investment bankers. Her job was to fight for teachers and students, not to make nice with the mayor.
http://reverbpress.com/politics/aft-endorsement-clinton-shows-lack-democratic-process/
NanceGreggs
(27,825 posts)... been beaten enough?
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)NanceGreggs
(27,825 posts)... he's just pinin' for the fiords.
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)Agschmid
(28,749 posts)It's likely many of us have never met a AFT member.
George II
(67,782 posts)...and about 1.1 million did. Those that did chose Hillary Clinton by a margin of 3-1!
It's over.
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)I am saying the "anecdotal" of my friends didn't get to vote, are bull.
On this issue we are on the same side, no need to push back against me.
George II
(67,782 posts)....I've done this three times tonight, many are still saying they didn't get to participate. Like you said, bull.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)Agschmid
(28,749 posts)LWolf
(46,179 posts)I'm not AFT; I'm NEA. We DO talk to each other across our associations, though.
NanceGreggs
(27,825 posts)The AFT did.
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)It's not a poor, dead horse. Teachers aren't forgetting it.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)Which will be forever, apparently.
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)NanceGreggs
(27,825 posts)... will be followed by a truly fabulous conspiracy theory as to the nefarious goings-on that led to it.
It's going to be a very amusing summer.
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)LWolf
(46,179 posts)as long as the endorsers aren't already working for Clinton.
George II
(67,782 posts)onehandle
(51,122 posts)Classy.
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Agschmid
(28,749 posts)Did you see those photos though! They are WICKED unnerving!
Smarmie Doofus
(14,498 posts)And the key passage would be here:
>>>>You might ask why teachers union members dont just vote out the union leaders that are making decisions without asking their members and refusing to support the rank and file. The same dynamic that exists in national politics also plays out in union elections: the parties that are run by well-funded opportunists have an easier time getting out the vote than the opposition. For example, in New York City the ruling Unity caucus which has controlled the UFT for six decades has rigged elections with a winner take all system which allows them to keep all delegates to the AFT convention as long as they get the majority of the vote. They keep their people loyal through patronage, handing out jobs and perks to people who sign up with them, and require all who accept a position as a delegate or union employee to sign a loyalty oath stating that the member will never criticize Unity Caucus. If a country in the Middle East ran the way Unity Caucus runs the New York City teachers union, our Congress would be debating whether to bomb them. New York City teachers are so demoralized about their unions lack of accountability that only 18% of working teachers voted in the last union election.>>>>
And the key terms there are "perks", "patronage", "loyalty oath" and "18% " ( i.e. ) voter participation.
K and R
LWolf
(46,179 posts)martigras
(151 posts)Teacher's are well educated and independent enough to make up their own minds. They are also critical thinkers who can see Hillary's inability to separate from Wall St. and her big donors as a good reason not to vote for her. The notion that any union would endorse without consulting it's members is silly.
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)LWolf
(46,179 posts)and, based on the reaction so far, a very large number won't be backing that endorsement.
It's the AFT members complaining about being left out of the loop, plus Weingarten's relationship with HRC, that is at issue.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)To think otherwise is woo territory.
LWolf
(46,179 posts)is to be a teacher connected with many, many other teachers, both locally, across my state, and across the nation.
uponit7771
(90,420 posts)LWolf
(46,179 posts)SoapBox
(18,791 posts)HRC has a cozy relationship with What's Her Name that is at the head of this, so, eh...just another Head Of Something, flexing their connections.
Given the chance I'm sure we will hear and see more Power and Control Banksters types waving at HRC yelling, Don't Forget About Me!
I'll side with the candidate that doesn't want $250,000 to give a speech.