TEACHERS: Hardly 'union thugs'

Remember back to your school days when your teachers were held in high regard by everyone in the community. When did those dedicated public servant teachers turn into “union thugs?

Talk to anyone with children in school. Ask them if they respect and admire their child’s dedicated teacher. Their answer is universally, “Yes, of course; we love Mrs. Smith or Mr. Davis.” One parent at a time you can find “nothing” but praise for those “union thugs!”

Let’s face it; the Republicans are better at wordsmithing. One can envision a boiler room of right-wing English majors cranking out next week’s words. Emails go out to all right-wing talk shows and politicians. “It’s not the estate tax; it’s the death tax.” They are not liberal-minded citizens who care about the less fortunate; they are (God forbid) “socialist radicals.” They are not teachers; they are “union thugs.”

The radical right and their “what about me” Tea Party followers (America’s Taliban) learned their lessons well from historical figures like Hitler and other right wing demagogues. “It’s our way, or we burn the house down!” They know to be effective, “You have to give the population someone to hate. Someone to blame.” But did you ever, ever imagine that Jimmy’s teacher, Mrs. Thomas, could be demonized as “the problem,” the “union thug?!”

What’s next, a star of David on her arm?

And oh, by the way, the Boston Tea Party was not about “taxation;” it was about a monopoly of the distribution of tea. So it’s not the Tea Party, it’s the T-party. Your “T” stands for “terrible” for a better society.

HARLEY DUFF

Coeur d’Alene