Tag Archive: teachers

Another Republican narrative: Teachers Bad

Choose your favorite target of Republicans

We like to identify Republican narratives here, so that voters can see the Matrix that Republicans try to place over policy debates, in order to slant those discussions in their favor and even win them before they begin. Publicly identifying such GOP narratives (“Government Bad/Corporations Good,” “Scary Brown People,” “Oil Good/Clean Energy Bad,” etc.) thus takes much of their power away, as folks can point out that a Republican on Fox “News” or elsewhere is simply running the GOP playbook, rather than responding to their biased frame. With that in mind, here’s another Republican narrative we have heard a lot lately:

“Teachers Bad”

For example, here are two situations, both in the context of the COVID pandemic, where Republicans raised the “Teachers Bad” narrative:

Democratic campaign theme for the 2018 midterm elections

Knotted Gun sculpture, New York City

Last month, the Democratic Party announced that it would run an anti-corruption campaign against Donald Trump and his administration in the 2018 midterm elections. We suggested that the Democrats also campaign on what they stand for, and, a few days later, the Democrats did something ingenious along those lines when they proposed that the Trump/Republican tax cuts be rolled back and the proceeds be used to fund teacher raises and school improvements such as new textbooks. Since we’ve gone through numerous special elections and primaries already, it’s time for the Democratic Party to roll out a specific, national campaign for the midterms that ties these ideas and actions together. We have the following suggestions:

Democrats find way to bash Republicans, put forth positive proposals at same time

Science event at Fallston Middle School, Harford County, Maryland

A debate has been raging in the Democratic Party, over the best posture to take for the coming 2018 midterm elections. Some supporters advocate a sustained campaign of attacking Donald Trump and the Republicans, while others suggest focusing on positive Democratic proposals. Recently, the Democrats unveiled a midterm strategy of highlighting Trump and Republican “corruption.” We noted that such a focus may only be half the battle. Several days ago, however, Congressional Democrats came up with a rather novel approach that tied together both the positive and negative strategies and two separate issues: they seek to raise teacher salaries by rolling back the Trump tax cuts.