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| courtesy of Pixabay CC0 Public Domain |
July is the one whole month most teachers around the United
States have off from teaching. At least here in North Carolina, teachers go
back to work at the start of the third week of August and work through the
second week of June. This year - especially this year - while we won’t be
teaching this month, teachers - especially History, Social Studies, Political
Science, and Civics teachers – certainly need to be paying attention to what is
going on with politics here in the US and around the world.
Here in the US, we are heading for what promises to be one of
the most interesting party nominating conventions in decades. Here is a small
sample of the headlines related to the upcoming Republican National Convention
that indicated it will be anything but business as usual.
List
of Republicans Supporting Clinton Grows from the WASHINGTON POST
Donald
Trump starts a trade war – with the Republican Party from the WASHINGTON
POST
‘Never
Trump’ plots its last stand from THE HILL
A sign of just what level of trouble some Trump supporters are
expecting was highlighted in a USA
TODAY article describing a Pennsylvania delegate’s plan to carry a
concealed weapon with him while attending functions outside the main convention
hall in Cleveland. Based on the violence perpetrated against Trump supporters
in other cities by liberal left-wing groups, the delegate feels it necessary to
be prepared to defend himself.
Add to all this the recent act by the City of Cleveland to
relax its rules on protests near the site of the Republican National
Convention, as reported in THE
NEW YORK TIMES, and the stage is truly set for some non-Independence-Day
related fireworks.
Within days of the close of the Republican National Convention
in Cleveland, the Democratic National Convention will be gaveled into session
in Philadelphia. The Democrats have to be wondering if their front runner will
be able to attend or if she might be in FBI custody by then over her email
debacle. Conspiracy theorists are already circling to claim that the recent
meeting, on Attorney General Lynch’s plane between Bill Clinton and AG Lynch
was part of an underhanded deal to have Lynch quash any possible indictment of
Hillary in exchange for the promise of some magnanimous quid pro quo should
Hillary become President – a Supreme Court nomination perhaps.
But that is only speculation on the part of pundits and politicians.
A story in THE
NEW YORK TIMES today indicates that Attorney General Lynch has, since the
meeting with Bill Clinton in her plane, recused herself from being part of the
process to decide whether Hillary Clinton is to be indicted or not.
And with this year’s Democratic Party Convention there is
always the question of what Bernie Sanders supporters will do. After calling
Mrs. Clinton every dirty name in the book, accusing her of every kind of
skullduggery short of outright treason and murder, and insisting she is not
qualified to be President, Bernie has suddenly undergone a change of heart and
realized Hillary is the salvation of America.
Is it any wonder so many people these days look upon politicians
with scorn and skepticism? We know you cannot believe a single thing a
politician says while he or she is campaigning. The challenge for teachers in
the various Social Studies classes is how to explain that to students without
causing them to lose faith in the whole political system. Then again, perhaps
it is time to abandon our faith in the current crop of politicians and vote
them all out. Perhaps that is the lesson we should be teaching our students –
Never Re-elect Anyone.
As always, I remain,
The Exhausted Educator
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