This is the second in a series that examines the faults and failings of Republican Party as it attempts to destroy Democracy as we currently know it by abandoning their Constitutional oaths and swearing fealty to the very person bent on causing its destruction.
Republicans are a party that thrives on always being in crisis mode. And when no crisis is apparent, they will create one. Even when a crisis is resolved, they find a way to start a new one. It appears they don’t understand that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.
Despite losing the White House, they followed the same playbook for the midterms. It cost them control of the Senate and now they have a slim majority in the House, which requires them to cater to the lunatic fringe of the party. And what a collection of crazies it is.
You have Lauren GED Boebert trying to challenge a law professor, George Santos releasing a video in ethics over the proposed censure of Adam Schiff for investigating Donald Trump, and Marjorie Taylor Greene banging the gavel and demanding members show some decorum as the committee she was temporarily chairing ran amok.
In so many instances, Republicans have either caused or manufactured crisis after crisis to appeal to their base. Despite most having very little factual evidence to support them, they continue, rolling out the next fabrication after the previous one fizzles out, or the public moves on.
No matter the issue, they will create controversies where none existed before. Often, the result is getting egg on their faces, but this doesn’t stop them from making up a new set of baseless accusations.
They never seem to learn.
Sex Sells
What do Joe Biden, educators and drag queens have in common? Republicans have accused each of illicit sexual relationships with minors. It’s as heinous a crime as anyone can imagine, but Republicans feel comfortable lobbing these accusations at those who have an agenda or lifestyle that they don’t agree with.
Mudslinging, the long used political practice of creating a negative impression of your opponent, has been part of the American political process since our nation’s founding. Nasty, sometimes salacious, and often unsubstantiated accusations have been leveled by one side or the other for years. Yet, Republicans have taken it to new lows. Donald Trump’s penchant for creating childish, demeaning nicknames for his opponents harkens back to the schoolyard bully, but even this wasn’t enough.
Abuse of children, particularly sexual abuse, is the vilest criminal act anyone can commit, so of course Republicans have tagged President Biden with the disgusting moniker “Pedo Joe”. While this has zero basis in fact, they take perverse delight in angering Democrats with their immature efforts to “own the Libs” when they attempt to counter these heinous insinuations.
But smearing Biden isn’t enough for some MAGA Republicans. There are those like Marjorie Taylor Greene who insist that ALL Democrats are pedophiles. While anyone with even an ounce of common sense, which obviously excludes Greene, can truthfully say is that this is blatantly false, it hasn’t stopped her and others from making this baseless accusation. Because they know that politically, sex sells.
Teachers, particularly elementary school teachers, are often viewed as heroes to their young charges. They open young eyes to being able to read, write and even develop rudimentary reasoning. As a result, it’s not uncommon for a child to rush home eager to share all the wonderful new information they’ve discovered through the guidance of a professional educator.
Some parents might feel insecure in seeing their role as their child’s role model being supplanted by a well-meaning teacher. That’s why it’s possible that these parents seek to try to regain their place as the only heroes in their child’s life by hurling baseless accusations at teachers.
When COVID lockdowns led to remote learning and home schooling, parents quickly realized how hard a teacher’s job actually was. And they were dealing with individuals. Throw in the group dynamics and it’s a whole different ballgame. They praised teachers and the incredible efforts they made in educating their children.
That didn’t last long.
Weary parents, eager to get back to work, began slamming the very teachers they were previously praising. They demanded that schools reopen, with many anti-vaxx Republicans who believed the falsehood that COVID was a hoax, insisting that no safety protocols be enacted. They used the distorted logic that, since the number of children contracting COVID was relatively low, there was no need for these restrictions. They ignored the fact the numbers were lower due the isolation these children experienced due to the lockdowns and instead compared mask mandates to child abuse.
Many teachers refused to return to the classroom. They resigned rather than risk their health, and the health of their families, due to the intransigence of certain ignorant parents. Some of them who did go back to teaching contracted the virus, and some even died. They were aware that young children are human Petri dishes, and that illnesses often can rapidly ravage a school within days. The prospect of catching a potentially deadly virus was too much for many educators to risk.
As COVID restrictions eased, with case dropping dramatically, parents who opposed the previous restrictions sought another avenue of attack on educators. In the brief time they were forced to become more engaged with their child’s education they discovered that there were concepts that either went contrary to what they understood or went beyond their level of understanding.
They began questioning what was being taught, accusing teachers of indoctrinating their children with a “woke Liberal agenda”. They latched on to a topic that had only been discussed on the collegiate level, Critical Race Theory, as a prime example of this so-called indoctrination. They dumbed down this complicated concept to mean it was teaching their children to be ashamed of their race due the inclusion of lessons about slavery, the Trail of Tears and the Civil Rights Movement.
Republican politicians saw this as a means to energize their base. They began running in the platform of eliminating the teaching of Critical Race Theory in the classroom, which was an easy promise because it never existed in the first place. This led to the banning of many books they deemed inappropriate, or those that were pushing a woke agenda. Parental choice became the buzzwords for many right wing campaigns.
Still, that wasn’t enough to completely demonize educators. Parents and politicians understood that controlling young minds was the key to the long-term success of their vision of America. Their brief exposure to the pitfalls of being a teacher had these parents questioning why anyone would want to become one in the first place.
They found their reasoning in the darkest reaches of the internet. They latched onto the unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that the only reason someone became a teacher was to groom children to be sexually abused. They further claimed that if they weren’t the groomers, they were the abusers. It isn’t uncommon for those who embrace these twisted ideas to greet an educator with the derogatory “Hey Groomer!”, such is the warped mind of those who espouse these wild ideas.
The flawed association of teachers with sexual predators has led to the resurrection of the homophobic trope that being gay automatically makes you a sexual abuser of young children. Florida led the charge in banning the discussion of sexual orientation in the classroom by passing its “Don’t Say Gay” law. So, if a child is being raised by gay parents, the teacher is prohibited from discussing family issues with them.
As many educators know, they become trusted confidants of their students.They are mandated to report any suspicion of abuse, so getting to know their students is an essential part of their job. It also makes it easier for them to teach when they have the trust of their students. But what some see as trust, others see as indoctrination, grooming or even worse.
So, while they may want teachers to assume the role previously occupied by parents, while claiming they want to have greater opportunities for decisions on what can and cannot be taught in schools, they’ve created this atmosphere of distrust, yet are now concerned that there is a nationwide shortage of teachers. It is an atmosphere of their own creation.