Equal Time

Fifth Grade Teacher

So let’s say a public school district is looking to hire a fifth grade teacher.  Sure, they want the best teacher than can get.  And since teaching jobs, despite the relatively low pay and benefits, are still at a premium, there are dozens of applications, dozens of resumes to read.  The personnel department starts the “process” by reading, and setting up two piles.  Pile one:  those rejected out of hand, just on the “qualifications” or lack thereof.  Pile two:  those that make the cut, and might be called in for interviews.

Who doesn’t make the cut?  Let’s start with the basics:  do they have a criminal record (deal-breaker), do they have a history of multiple bankruptcies (not always a deal-breaker), do they have any hint of sexual misconduct with minors (always a deal-breaker).  

And then there’s the “search”, a Google and social media search of the candidates.  What comes up?  Is the candidate an extremist, or publicly uses profane or lewd language?  Would the school district be embarrassed by anything that comes up in the search?  If so, no reason to continue; another addition to pile one.  

Public Persona

Some might ask, why look at the “public persona” of a teacher candidate?  Privacy rights advocates might say it’s “NOYB” (none of your business).  As long as the candidate can do the job, in the classroom, then what happens outside the workplace isn’t a concern.

But the candidate is being hired as a “public” official, in a true sense.  They are going to be entrusted with as many as thirty kids, for seven hours, day in and day out.  Those kids (and their parents) can run the same Google searches.  What happens when they find out that the teacher is also a stripper (that happened), or arrested for drug dealing (that happened too), or has pictures of drunk and disorderly behavior (yep – that one too).  Are those parents willing to entrust their child to that person?  Would you entrust yours?

Imperfect Vessel

Thans goodness Donald Trump isn’t a stripper (there’s a vision you’ll never get out of your head – Hah!!) .  And he doesn’t deal drugs, and supposedly, doesn’t drink.  But he should never had made it to pile two in any public service job, much less on the ballot for President.

Donald Trump is a convicted felon, a documented liar, a businessman who went bankrupt six times, a man who committed sexual battery and consorted with a known child molester.  There are pages of reasons, not even political, why Donald Trump should not be hired as a fifth grade teacher, much less as President of the United States.  And yet, he’s still on the ballot.

I know, I know.  There are a huge number of Americans, over 40%, who give Trump a “pass”.  They see him as the “imperfect vessel”, the damaged goods that still represents their views of how America should be governed.  They have “forgiven him his trespasses”.  As the Trump folks said: all of the “trespasses”, from Stormy Daniels and Access Hollywood, to business bankruptcies and fraudulent college classes; were “absolved” by the 2016 election.  By winning the Presidency, Trump got a “clean slate” according to them.  

Too Busy

2020 was a referendum on Trump’s term in the White House:  he failed.  And since then:  the litany of Trump’s failures, indictments, convictions and “improper behaviors” is even longer than it was before 2016.   The “imperfect vessel” is now leaking like a sieve.  And the question remains, where is the outcry to “get him off the ballot”?

Wait a minute; there’s the media:  The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, all the mainstream news organizations.   Are they leading the way in calling out the complete fallacy in letting this man run for President?  No, they are too busy deciding that the other candidate, one of the most successful Presidents in modern history, is too old for the job.  (This just in, the New York Times editorial board must have read my mind, they are calling out Trump – about time!!).  

Geese

My London-born Mom used to use an old English expression:  “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander”.  Here in America we say it a little different, “What’s fair is fair”.  I watched the Trump-Biden debate a couple of weeks ago.  I think there is plenty of room for question about President Biden’s fitness.  But for sure, Trump’s performance also raised a lot of questions.  

And with his record, there needs to be another old American concept – equal time.  With all of the scrutiny of Biden, where’s all the outrage about Trump?  Just because he’s been “absolved” by his MAGA following, it doesn’t mean that his record, and his actions, are now just “forgiven trespasses”.  

So worry about Biden, talk about Biden, even do those ugly things some of my Democratic compatriots are doing:  hand wringing, bed wetting, pearl clutching (I hate all of those terms).

But sure as Hell, don’t let Trump off the hook.  He couldn’t get a job as a teacher, or, even nearer to my heart, a dog catcher.  That headline on the Front Page needs to be just as big as Biden’s.