April 1, 2016

No. 16-5E

Republicans Are in the Way! Vote Them Out!

We Dont Have a Turnout Problem . . .

We Have a Civics Education Problem
We Must Resume Teaching Civics

Reading on a phone?
Do it this way.

By Richard Dreyfuss
What Happened to Civics?
The Democrats Turnout Problem I have tried for years to find
In Florida Is Serious
those words that could make
you feel the dread I feel about
And Could Get Worse
by Kartik Krishnaiyer
one fact of American life: we do
not teach civics in our public
The Florida Squeeze
Florida Democratic Turnout is Down schools anymore.
When you really think about
Democrats cast approximately
that sentence, you begin to un700,000 fewer ballots in Florida
derstand the selfishness, greed,
this
Presidential
Preference
denial, decay and the belief that the people are the
Primary (PPP) than Republicans
audience, not the performance of America.
did. This is despite the fact that
Florida has more registered Kartik Krishnaiyer We Dont Teach America America is a miracle
Democrats than Republicans and minority and the whole world knows it except Americans beturnout was impressive in Florida, with over half cause we don't teach it.
the ballots in the Democratic PPP being cast by We Dont Teach Our Kids Do you think that
persons of color. But while minority participation the rest of the 21st century will be some kind of cakeis up and thats a good thing for democracy, walk? No you don't. But our kids aren't taught to balDemocrats are lagging behind Republicans in ance a checkbook, how to hammer a nail, to cook or
creating enthusiasm and turnout mechanisms.
[Continued on page 2, CIVICS]

Minority Turnout Minority

voter turnout cannot be taken for
granted either as we learned in
2014 when Charlie Crist did not
win the Governorship, thanks
in large measure to President
Obama punting on immigration
reform. That decision done in
accord with the Democratic

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[Continued on page 2, TURNOUT]

Republicans Are in the Way! Vote Them

16-5E

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[TURNOUT, continued from page 1]

establishments desire to placate the conservative

electorate in Louisiana, Alaska and Arkansas was
major factor in why Hispanics in 2014 were only
13% of the Florida electorate as compared to 17%
in 2012. The Democrats lost all three Senate seats
the immigration punt was designed to save AND
got beat here in Florida, a state which would likely
have been won without it. This demonstrated
that sacrificing minority votes for whiter more
conservative ones does not work either.
Spin the Statistic In 2008, Republicans did
cast more ballots in their PPP than Democrats
but just 200,000 more and the GOP Primary was a
binding contest awarding delegates (half as many
as 2012 and 2016 it should be noted though due
to a violation of RNC rules) unlike the Democrats
where a prohibition on campaigning in Florida was
instituted and delegates were not counted based
on the primary, thus creating a disincentive for
voter turnout. So this election cycle the GOP more
than tripled the advantage in ballots cast vs. the
Democrats in a contest that WAS binding unlike
2008. Thats a stunning statistic that I would love
to hear Floridas Democrats try and spin.
An Enthusiasm Problem Democrats have an
enthusiasm problem and turnout problem on the
left. Hillary Clinton whether her die-hard backers
want to believe it or not generates little excitement
among the types of people that have been needed
to turn out to win Democratic elections in this
millennium. Bill Clinton, when he was elected,
benefited in many ways from a depressed turnout
and an electorate that was sick of the GOP
first for controlling the White House for too long
and second for the perceived excesses after the
Congressional takeover of 1994. While Donald
Trumps polarizing language might provide the
impetus for fear-based turnout in 2016, it cannot
be counted on. Chances are quite good that
Clinton as a nominee will not stimulate the type
of excitement President Obama did, and given the
massive dropoff in Democratic Primary turnout
relative to GOP turnout in the Florida PPP we have
empirical evidence now that enthusiasm is lower
among Democrats than among Republicans.
State of Denial A state of denial exists in some
quarters about this obvious reality. The country
has moved left on economic issues over the course
16-5E

of the last decade, but the Democratic Party

instead of embracing the themes of the Sanders
insurgency has opted to try and script the process
and play business as usual. Voters are showing
their dissatisfaction with the Democrats by not
turning out and even if Clinton wins because of
a weak GOP nominee the current malaise WILL
impact down ballot races. It is worth reminding
our readers at this point that the Democrats hold
a smaller percentage of state legislative seats
nationally today than any time since the 1920s.
I would love to hear from our readers and others
active on the left as to what needs to be done to
create excitement and turnout for 2016 other than
simply demonizing Donald Trump or Ted Cruz.
Were all ears!
Kartik Krishnayer
http://thefloridasqueeze.com/
featured-writers/kartik-krishnaiyer/
[CIVICS, continued from page 1]

sew, or what due process is or why we have it. So

how easy would it be to change it to selective due
process.
The Problem I am trying to save my country. My
line in the sand is refusing to think, There's nothing
I can do. I can see something that others don't: how
diminished we've become to one another.
We are raising up the cheap, the profit-only values.
We punish only the nickel and dimers, and we
never demand accountability.
There is 100 percent agreement today that when
a public official speaks, he or she is inauthentic.
You can fix Wall Street and the banks, and they
will come back with subtler thievery.
You can keep complaining about taxes too high or
low, instead of thinking about what we need. If you
do, you can watch potholes bloom and see heroes
cops, teachers and fireman living beneath the poverty line.
We want our kids to be devoted to the nation; what
reasons do we give them if we don't tell our tale?
That we're south of Canada?
I Rest My Case A few weeks ago I addressed the
Bar Association of the state of Maine. I asked, How
many people here judges, lawyers and professors
practice law in the courts of Maine without going to
law school? No one raised their hands. I said, I rest
my case. You all know the necessity of the bar exam.
[Continued on page 3, CIVICS]
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[CIVICS, continued from page 2]

You all know that you must learn the arcane rituals
of the courtroom. And yet, you cannot transfer that
sensibility to citizenship, which is far more complex
than lawyering. "
Dont Know the Difference We refuse to see
the 800-pound gorilla sitting in our living room: If
we don't teach who we are, why we are who we are
and why we came to be who we are, we can solve
every current political problem and it won't mean a
damn thing because we will still have no firm foundation to stand on and know what is right from
wrong. That's why good men do evil things, because
they don't know the difference.
We Get an F There are basics we must teach
our children, and we don't teach them.
We fail.
We are the first generation of Americans to get an
F in the most fundamental principle of our country: our future is more important than our past.
But We Are Bound We are a nation bound by
ideas only. We have no common ancestry or religion
or commonly-agreed-to caste or class system. We
are bound by those ideas born in the Enlightenment
and actualized in the Constitution, the Declaration
of Independence and the Bill of Rights: the protection of individual liberties and that the people have
the right to be protected by law, the same for all.

My Profession No Longer Exists

Increasingly teachers are speaking out against

school reforms that they believe are demeaning
their profession, and some are simply quitting because they have had enough.
Here is one resignation letter from a veteran
teacher, Gerald J. Conti, a social studies teacher at
Westhill High School in Syracuse, N.Y.:
[Emphasis and paragraph leads added ed.]

Mr. Casey Barduhn, Superintendent

Westhill Central School District
400 Walberta Park Road
Syracuse, New York 13219
Dear Mr. Barduhn and Board of Education
Members:

I Regret It is with the deepest regret that I

must retire at the close of this school year, ending my more than twenty-seven years of service at
Westhill on June 30, under the provisions of the
2012-15 contract. I assume that I will be eligible
If each new generation of Americans is not taught for any local or state incentives that may be ofthose ideas, and taught with rigor and pleasure, we fered prior to my date of actual retirement and I
are not bound.
trust that I may return to the high school at some
Whats Missing? What are the curricula that point as a substitute teacher.
are absent, without which we will die as a nation and As with Lincoln and Springfield, I have grown
certainly as a moral exemplar? They are the pre-par- from a young to an old man here; my brother died
tisan tools of civic expertise: reason, logic, clarity of while we were both employed here; my daughter
thought, critical analysis, raising up the values of was educated here, and I have been touched by
dissent, debate, context and civility. We must tell the and hope that I have touched hundreds of lives in
tale of the achievement of the Enlightenment which my time here. I know that I have been fortunate to
we alone actualized in our founding documents.
work with a small core of some of the finest stuWhy? We are not re-inventing the wheel here. dents and educators on the planet.
These ideas are 3,500 years old, taught by the
My Profession I came to teaching forty years
Greeks to their young. But of course we don't teach
ago this month and have been lucky enough
these inescapably necessary tools that allow us to
to work at a small liberal arts college, a major
maintain and comprehend this complex political
university, and this superior secondary school. To
process. That's because either
me, history has been so very much more than a
we've done pretty good so far,
mere job, it has truly been my life, always driving
there's not enough time in the day, or
my travel, guiding all of my reading and even
it's way too difficult for our kids.
dictating my television and movie viewing. Rarely
If any of what I've just said is true, then God save the
[Continued on page 4, I QUIT]
United States, because we're not.
###
16-5E

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[I QUIT, continued from page 3]

ceived policies will be telling and shall resound to

have I engaged in any of these activities without an the detriment of education for years to come.
eye to my classroom and what I might employ in a My profession is being demeaned by a
lesson, a lecture or a presentation.
pervasive atmosphere of distrust, dictating
With regard to my profession, I have truly that teachers cannot be permitted to develop
attempted to live John Deweys famous quotation and administer their own quizzes and tests (now
(now likely clich with me, Ive used it so very titled as generic assessments) or grade their own
often) that Education is not preparation for students examinations. The development of plans,
life, education is life itself. This type of total choice of lessons, and the materials to be employed
immersion is what I have always referred to as are increasingly expected to be common to all
teaching heavy, working hard, spending time teachers in a given subject. This approach not only
researching, attending to details, and never feeling strangles creativity, it smothers the development
of critical thinking in our students and assumes a
satisfied that I knew enough on any topic.
Devalued I now find that this approach to my one-size-fits-all mentality more appropriate to the
profession is not only devalued, but denigrated and assembly line than to the classroom.
perhaps, in some quarters despised. STEM rules
the day and data driven education seeks only
conformity, standardization, testing and a zombielike adherence to the shallow and generic Common
Core, along with a lockstep of oversimplified socalled Essential Learnings. Creativity, academic
freedom, teacher autonomy, experimentation and
innovation are being stifled in a misguided effort
to fix what is not broken in our system of public
education and particularly not at Westhill.

Our Leaders Have Failed Us A long train of

failures has brought us to this unfortunate pass. In
their pursuit of Federal tax dollars, our legislators
have failed us by selling children out to private
industries such as Pearson Education. The New
York State United Teachers union has let down its
membership by failing to mount a much more effective and vigorous campaign against this same
costly and dangerous debacle.
Finally, it is with sad reluctance that I say our own
administration has been both uncommunicative
and unresponsive to the concerns and needs of
our staff and students by establishing testing and
evaluation systems that are Byzantine at best and
at worst, draconian. This situation has been exacerbated by other actions of the administration, in
either refusing to call open forum meetings to discuss these pressing issues, or by so constraining
the time limits of such meetings that little more
than a conveying of information could take place.
Lack of Leadership This lack of leadership at
every level has only served to produce confusion, a
loss of confidence and a dramatic and rapid decaying of morale. The repercussions of these ill-con16-5E

Eroded Planning Time Teacher planning

time has also now been so greatly eroded by a constant need to prove up our worth to the tyranny
of APPR (through the submission of plans, materials and artifacts from our teaching) that there is
little time for us to carefully critique student work,
engage in informal intellectual discussions with
our students and colleagues, or conduct research
and seek personal improvement through independent study.

Evaluation Driven We have become increasingly evaluation and not knowledge driven. Process has become our most important product, to
twist a phrase from corporate America, which
seems doubly appropriate to this case.
My Profession Has Left Me After writing all
of this I realize that I am not leaving my profession, in truth, it has left me. It no longer exists. I
feel as though I have played some game halfway
through its fourth quarter, a timeout has been
called, my teammates hands have all been tied,
the goal posts moved, all previously scored points
and honors expunged and all of the rules altered.
For the last decade or so, I have had two signs
hanging above the blackboard at the front of my
classroom, they read, Words Matter and
Ideas Matter. While I still believe these simple
statements to be true, I dont feel that those currently driving public education have any inkling of
what they mean.
Sincerely and with regret,
Gerald J. Conti
Social Studies Department Leader
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Why We Must Try

comfortable with the way things are.

Theyd rather not rock the boat theyre
safely in.

Instead of Yes we can, many Democrats have adopted a new slogan this
election year: We shouldnt even
try.

I get it, but heres the problem.

Theres no way to reform the system
without rocking the boat. Theres no
way to get to where America should
be without aiming high.

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog

We shouldnt try for single-payer

system, they say. Well be lucky if we
prevent Republicans from repealing
Obamacare.
We shouldnt try for a $15 an hour
minimum wage. The best we can do
is $12 an hour.
We shouldnt try to restore the
Glass-Steagall Act that used to separate investment and commercial
banking, or bust up the biggest banks.
Well be lucky to stop Republicans
from repealing Dodd-Frank.
We shouldnt try for free public higher education. As it is, Republicans
are out to cut all federal education
spending.
We shouldnt try to tax carbon or
speculative trades on Wall Street, or
raise taxes on the wealthy. Well be
fortunate to just maintain the taxes
already in place.
Most of all, we shouldnt even try to
get big money out of politics. Well
be lucky to round up enough wealthy
people to back Democratic candidates.
We-shouldnt-even-try Democrats
think its foolish to aim for fundamental change - pie-in-the-sky, impractical, silly, nave, quixotic. Not in
the cards. No way we can.
I understand their defeatism. After
eight years of Republican intransigence and six years of congressional gridlock, many Democrats are
desperate just to hold on to what we
have.
And ever since the Supreme Courts
Citizens United decision opened
the political floodgates to big corporations, Wall Street, and right-wing
billionaires, many Democrats have
concluded that bold ideas are unachievable.
In addition, some establishment
Democrats - Washington lobbyists,
editorial
writers,
inside-thebeltway operatives, party leaders,
and big contributors have grown
16-5E

Thats because giant companies have

accumulated vast market power. Yet
the nations antitrust laws are barely
enforced.
Meanwhile, the biggest Wall Street
banks have more of the nations
banking assets than they did in 2008,
when they were judged too big to fail.

Progressive change has never happened without bold ideas championed by bold idealists.

Hedge-fund partners get tax loopholes, oil companies get tax subsidies, and big agriculture gets paid off.

Some thought it was quixotic to try

for civil rights and voting rights.
Some viewed it as nave to think we
could end the Vietnam War. Some
said it was unrealistic to push for the
Environmental Protection Act.

Bankruptcy laws protect the fortunes

of billionaires like Donald Trump but
not the homes of underwater homeowners or the savings of graduates
burdened with student loans.

But time and again weve learned

that important public goals can be
achieved - if the public is mobilized
behind them. And time and again
such mobilization has depended
on the energies and enthusiasm of
young people combined with the determination and tenacity of the rest.
If we dont aim high we have no
chance of hitting the target, and no
hope of mobilizing that enthusiasm
and determination.
"While many of you are working
multiple jobs to make ends meet, you
see the top 25 hedge fund managers
making more than all of Americas
(158,000) kindergarten teachers
combined (emphasis added) and,
often paying a lower tax rate.
Hillary Clinton. [Politifact rates
this as true.]

The situation were in now demands

such mobilization. Wealth and income are more concentrated at the
top than in over a century. And that
wealth has translated into political
power.
The result is an economy rigged in favor of those at the top - which further
compounds wealth and power at the
top, in a vicious cycle that will only
get worse unless reversed.
Americans pay more for pharmaceuticals than the citizens of any other
advanced nation, for example. We
also pay more for Internet service.
And far more for health care.
We pay high prices for airline tickets
even though fuel costs have tumbled.
And high prices for food even though
crop prices have declined.

A low minimum wage enhances

the profits of big-box retailers like
Walmart, but requires the rest of us
provide its employees and their families with food stamps and Medicaid
in order to avoid poverty - an indirect
subsidy of Walmart.
Trade treaties protect the assets and
intellectual property of big corporations but not the jobs and wages of
ordinary workers.
At the same time, countervailing
power is disappearing. Labor union
membership has plummeted from a
third of all private-sector workers in
the 1950s to fewer than 7 percent today. Small banks have been absorbed
into global financial behemoths.
Small retailers dont stand a chance
against Walmart and Amazon.
And the pay of top corporate executives continues to skyrocket, even as
most peoples real wages drop and
their job security vanishes.
This system is not sustainable.
We must get big money out of our democracy, end crony capitalism, and
make our economy and democracy
work for the many, not just the few.
But change on this scale requires political mobilization.
It wont be easy. It has never been
easy. As before, it will require the
energies and commitments of large
numbers of Americans.
Which is why you shouldnt listen
to the we-must-not-try brigade.
Theyve lost faith in the rest of us.
We must try. We have no choice. ###

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Results of Palm Beach County

March Presidential Primary and Municipal Elections

(R)

(D)

(R)

(NP)

(R)
(R)

(R)
(R)

(R)
(R)
(D)
(D)

(NP)

(R)

(R)

(D)

(D)

(D)

(R)

(NP)

(I)

Authority to appoint an internal auditor.

(R)
(D)

(NP)

Repeal of special act creating the civil service

code for City of Delray Beach employees.

(R)
(R)
(D)
(R)

(R)
(R)

(D)

(D)

(R)

(NP)
(R)
(R)
(D)
(D)

16-5E

(NP)

(NP)

(D)

(R)

(D)
(D)

(NP)
(D)

(D)
(D)

(R)
(NP)

(D)
(R)

(NP)
(R)
(D)
(R)
(D)
(D)

(R)

(D)

(NP)

(NP)
(NP)

(NP)
(D)

(D)

(D)

(NP)

(R)

(R)

Underground utility project general obligation bonds.

(D)

(R)
(R)

(D)

(D)
Inclusion of the equestrian preserve area
within the charter.
(R)
(D)
(NP)

Village canvassing board.

(D)
(R)
Certain land uses in the equestrian preserve are prohibited.
To address various housekeeping
and administrative issues.

(D)

Clarifying various personnel matters.

(D)
(R)
Property tax exemptions
to new businesses.

To address council terms, vacancies,

and meeting procedures.

(R)
(D)

Quote:
Really great issue Dan!!! I cant
wait to send to my precinct tomorrow. Precinct Leader J.C.

(D)
(D)
(D)
(NP)

16-5E

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Joe Public

2016 ELECTION DATES TO REMEMBER

Folksinger Rod Macdonald

Joe Public smokes two packs a day

drives home from work on the interstate highway
after drinking three beers, cell phone in hand
hes doing 80 in his oversized van
but Joe Publics not afraid of dying
from tobacco or drinking or even his driving
hes got the radio on, the reception is clear
hes hearing all the things he should fear.

Mark Your Calendar:

Early Voting Period:
Saturday, March 5 to Sunday, March 13
Book Closing Deadline
(New Registration and Party Changes):
Tuesday, February 16
Absentee Ballot Request
Mailing Deadline:
Wednesday, March 9

Joe Public is afraid of al-Qaeda

theyre coming to get him, sooner or later
Joe Public is afraid of terror
it keeps getting closer in the rear view mirror
and all those illegals crossing the border
crawling through the desert, coming for his
daughter
Joe Publics got a lot on his mind.

Primary Election:
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Presidential General Election:
Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Joe Public makes 35 thousand

has two kids in high school, trying for college
he walks in the door and their music is playing
he cant understand a thing
that its saying
but Joes not afraid that his
kids
will find the handgun where
he keeps it hid
hes afraid of the United
Nations
gun laws, gay rights and peace demonstrations
so he went to Home Depot bought duct tape and plastic
in case the real enemy does something drastic
like mailing him anthrax and causing a panic
or requiring everyone to learn to speak Spanish
Joes ready for freedom to happen
when the government comes to take away
his weapons
Joe Publics got a lot on his mind.

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Assistant Editors: Robert Terpstra, Staff: Erin Ernest, Olivia Povedano,
Nancy Morse, Geoff Kashdan
Edward Odette, Marie Isaacson,
Andres Marquez
Spanish Translation: Julia Cisneros Fitzpatrick CT, ATA

Copyright 2014-2015 The Voter Publications, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or
mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages embodied
in critical articles or in a review.

Joe Public got asthma at 40

his health insurance costs more than his mortgage
the state stopped testing cars for emissions
Joes glad cause he wouldve had to fix his
but Joes not afraid of pollution
thinks less regulation is the only solution
and don't get him started on health care
he says "everyone knows it's a socialist nightmare"
he's down with the troops, he supports every mission
that'll keep his gas under four bucks a gallon
but why do they hate us, I dont understand
when we never ever did nothing to them
Joe can't wait for the next election
to re-elect the guy who took away your
pension
Joe Public's got a lot on his mind

http://www.rodmacdonald.net/

Paid for by The Voter Publications, Inc. Not coordinated with any candidate.
16-5E

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