Backbone Campaign
Dear House Democrats,
Congratulations. Now that the celebrating has died down and you’re turning your attention to your new jobs, I want to share an observation about the business of governing.
I hear a lot of enthusiasm for Go After Trump, and it’s hard to argue with putting some pressure on the grifter-in-chief. I’m hoping that you can be selective: it would be impossible to go after every single shady thing he’s done and we should focus on what matters. Foreign nationals funneling money into his personal businesses to influence policy choices: important. Disregarding the intelligence community when it comes to matters of US security: important. Feeding cheeseburgers to football players: not important.
I also understand the urge to Go After Betsy. I’ve read about the committees chomping at the bit to haul in Secretary of Education DeVos. I imagine that it must be tempting to lambaste her while she sits there with that smug expression on her face, generating little YouTube clips that will appear under headlines with words like “slams” and “leaves DeVos speechless.”
I’m suggesting you don’t.
I’m not concerned about her tender sensitivities. She is well-insulated by wealth and her religious faith. You will never say a thing that will bother her in the slightest, and she will never feel a need to explain herself to you.
I’m suggesting that instead, you go after the premises by which she operates.
Most of what DeVos has done, particularly in her rollbacks of existing legislation, is based on a pretty clear principle—business men should be able to go about their business without any government interference, regulation, or general kibitzing. Whether they’re selling a for-profit college or handling allegations of rape, they should not have to conduct business with the government looking over their shoulders.
We know all too well that both parties can be against each other without either being for us.
As for groups that might suffer at the hands of unrestricted business, DeVos has expressed sympathy, but has never, when pressed, been able to envision a single situation in which the government should step in and say “You must shape up right now (e.g. stop discriminating), or you will face consequences.”
DeVos (and her boss) are perfectly in tune with the Republican idea that government should be rendered impotent. Shrunken and then, as the saying goes, drowned in the bathtub.
You could go after Trump and DeVos, but even if you somehow knocked them out, my biggest fear is that they will simply be replaced by a smarter version of Trump and a more politically adept version of DeVos, following the same policies as their predecessors.
For this voter, my hope is not that you will “Go After Trump & Betsy,” but that you will make a case for government. My hope is that you will work to protect people from predatory for-profit colleges, that you will make sure the rights of people who aren’t straight, white, and rich are protected, that you will find your voices to champion teacher (and other) unions, and that you will stand up for public schools against the various privatizers hoping to cash in on public tax dollars. I hope that you will show how government can protect the public against the misbehavior of corporations, and of the rich and powerful.
As a retired teacher still deeply invested in public education. I am desperately hoping that you will be the group of political leaders that finally stands up for public education. The U.S. public education system, and the teachers and educators who work in it, have been political orphans for far too long. We know all too well that both parties can be against each other without either being for us. Standing up against Betsy DeVos would not mean nearly as much as standing up for public education.
So I’m not looking for gotcha moments or public chastising of the Secretary, as much as I know those would provide a brief, immediate thrill. No, what I’m looking for is legislators who are vocal and energetic supporters of one of this nation’s most important public institutions—our public education system.