The Akron Beacon Journal in an editorial, “Blackwellian Echo,” says Ohio’s Democratic governor, Ted Strickland, at a time when Ohio badly needs additional revenue to maintain its social safety net, is taking an unreasonable and heartless anti-tax stand worthy of the Republican ideologue, Ken Blackwell. Strickland trounced Blackwell in the 2006 governor’s race.
Strickland is proposing a budget with $2.4 billion in additional spending cuts on top of $2 billion already applied. The Journal says these budget cuts fall unfairly and disproportionately “on the needy and vulnerable.”
The Journal ridicules Strickland as saying, ”Some say a tax increase during a recession would help kick start the economy. I believe that tax increases during this recession would only kick Ohioans when they are down, undermining the recovery that we need.” The Journal says that Strickland’s budget does just that — kick poor Ohioans when they are down — by reducing state help to foodbanks, child care, libraries, and mental health services.
The Journal says that Strickland has failed to strike the right balance: “The governor wants to rely more heavily on the disadvantaged, those in need of state services for the essentials in their lives. He has asked practically nothing of the most fortunate Ohioans, who stand in the strongest position to weather the recession. Many wealthier Ohioans have enjoyed a string of tax reductions, first under George W. Bush, then under Gov. Bob Taft and finally, through the expanded homestead exemption of Ted Strickland.”
The Journal says, “The rigidity of Strickland’s stance echos Ken Blackwell.”
Bob Chanin, described as the top attorney for the National Education Association (NEA) for 41 years, is retiring from his NEA position. His farewell speech at the recent NEA convention in San Diego was interrupted repeatedly with standing ovations. Chanin in his speech (see you-tube below) emphasized that NEA is first of all a union and that NEA earns its respect because it has political power.
Chanin posed the question of why NEA is an effective advocate. Chanin said, “It is not because of creative ideas, it is not because of the merit of our position, it is not because we care about children, it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power and we have power because there are more than 3.2 million people who are willing to pay us hundreds of millions of dollars in dues each year because they believe we are the unions that can most effectively represent them, the unions that can protect their rights and advance their interests as education employees.” (standing ovation)
Wow. “Education employees.” In Chanin’s words, NEA’s success has nothing to do with the merit of its ideas, nor its concern for children. It all has to do with the power that hundreds of millions of dollars and the power that millions of voters can exert. This is a frank statement of truth I doubt that NEA will be posting in its PR releases any time soon. It’s not a compliment to teachers to view teachers in the same way a manufacturing union might view widget production employees.
According to Tampa injury attorneys, Chanin said that of course NEA and its affiliates want to do everything possible to close the achievement gap, reduce drop out rates and improve teacher quality. He warned, however, “These goals that guide the work we do they need not and must not be achieved at the cost of due process, employee rights and collective bargaining. That is simply too high a price to be paid.”
Amazing. “Too high a price to be paid.” According to Chanin what has the greatest value in public education is “education employee” rights. I can imagine a widget union leader saying essentially the same thing — shortly before the whole enterprise going bankrupt: “We want to to make a quality product in this factory, but more important than a quality product is the welfare of our workers.”
Chanin’s remarks point out the reality of our educational system that everyone can see here — its hierarchical, bureaucratic structure — has denigrated teacher professionalism. Our education system is structured to resemble a very antiquated industrial model, a horse and buggy system. It is not a structure that brings out the best potential of its members. It is a structure that hampers educational quality. Chanin’s remarks, to me, point out that a different education structure in needed.
The attorneys at https://www.barrydeaconlaw.com/ say that the influence of union thinking pervades the entire system of education. Schools in America are supposedly under local control. Federal and state mandates have actual control and so do teacher unions.
Chanin said, “When all is said and done NEA and its affiliates must never lose sight of the fact that they are unions and what unions do first and foremost is represent their members. If we do that and if we do it well then everything else will fall into place. NEA and its affiliates will remain powerful and that power will, in turn, help us achieve a great public school for every child.”
But, according to Chanin’s own words, achieving a great public school for every child is not NEA’s first objective, nor second objective, nor third objective. It’s after the needs of the “education employees” are addressed. The las vegas injury lawyer agrees with this.
Chanin said, “Why are conservative and right wing bastards picking on NEA and its affiliates? It is the price we pay for success. NEA and its affiliates have been singled out because they are the most effective unions in the United States and they are the nation’s leading advocates for public education and for the type of liberal social and economic agenda and social agenda that these (conservative) groups find unacceptable. NEA will continue to be attacked as long as we continue to be effective advocates for public education for education employees and for human and civil rights. ..”
The Michael Jackson funeral today included the song, “We Are the World.” It has a beautiful thought: We are the ones to make a better place.
It seems a lot of people want to make the world a better place, and have a lot of extra idealistic zeal and energy to direct somewhere. How can that energy be directed to make a better world is the question.
I’m stuck on the thought that we can make the world a better place by vitalizing our own democracy. I would imagine that if asked — “True or False: The stronger our democracy, the better our community will be?” — most people would say emphatically, “True.” It’s a question, I believe, that should be asked a lot, a question that should be emphasized in our media.
As it is, we are in the grips of this reality: The weaker our democracy has become the worse our country has become. We have a big problem in our country, not a Republican Party problem, not a Democratic Party problem. We have general system problem. Our system of democracy is simply not working. This fact should be a concern to everyone who is paying attention. This fact should be setting off warning bells, in Dennis Kucinich’s words: “Wake up, America. Wake up, America.”
But, how do we wake up, how do we make our democracy stronger? The problem is, it takes community to make democracy stronger. The stronger the democracy, the better the community. But, the catch is, you can’t have democracy without community. Community must come first. Before Roberts Rules of Order can be applied, there must be an authentic community that cares whether Robert’s Rules are applied or not, a community dedicated to democracy, dedicated to giving voice to all of its members. There must be a community whose members have shared aims.
Kettering, where I live, is scheduled to elect three board members this November. On its face, these elections seem like an action of democracy, an action of “local control” of Kettering’s public education. But, if, as in past school board elections, these board elections are not connected to authentic community in Kettering, these elections will continue to demonstrate the actions of a weak democracy, not a strong democracy. If the past is any indication, even in this most grassroots of elections, the great majority of voters going to the polls this November in Kettering will not know much about the candidates, nor the issues.
So, to make the world a better place, there is no place like home to start. For me, that’s Kettering, Ohio. The question is how can the excess “let’s make the world a better place” zeal that resides in Kettering be directed to grassroots purpose? Leadership is needed and I’m contemplating the ways that DaytonOS can provide leadership and the ways that the internet can be applied here in Kettering to build community and build democracy. I’m revising my plans, and I’m moving too slow on my 200 hour commitment. The time is right. More and more people are convinced: We are the world. We are the ones to make a better place.
