The NEA didn't fare too well in the elections on Tuesday. This article chronicles the losses the NEA backed candidates suffered, and the major losses were in the House. The union also lost on many initiatives it had backed.
An interesting map is listed here, showing Republican gains in governor positions. Elected state education commissioners listed as partisan saw six out of seven positions being filled by Republicans. Based on the NEA's past endorsements, I would be highly suspect if the NEA threw any significant financial support to these Republican candidates.
Perhaps more and more voters are suspect of NEA backed candidates these days. Could it possibly be because of the "tools" listed on its website for its new teachers and recruits includes reading Saul Alinsky? I would be concerned if my children were around union members who read Alinsky as a training tool and whose "formula for success" was:
Agitate + Aggravate + Educate + Organize
This formula espoused by union leaders to teachers who transmit values to children doesn't sit well with me and apparently other voters. This training information provided to new union members only confirms parents' nagging concerns of the unions not focusing on students' needs and achievements, but rather, on their own power and goals.
As we noted in the previous post on the St. Louis NEA, the union promotes this Alinsky idea, among others:
Society has good reason to fear the Radical. Every shaking advance of mankind toward equality and justice has come from the Radical. He hits, he hurts, he is dangerous. Conservative interests know while Liberals are most adept at breaking their own necks with their tongues, Radicals are most adept at breaking the necks of Conservatives".
And, as we pointed out previously, if you are conservative, you better watch your neck. Good luck to the new Republican governors and education commissioners. You've been warned by the NEA-it hits, it hurts, it is dangerous.
However, the voters have flipped the roles on the NEA this election cycle. The power restored to conservative politicians and educators may be the most radical event to occur in this election. The NEA's power has been muted and with Republican governors and commissioners in control, it may find its agenda slowed and its own neck on the chopping block. How's that for irony?
Maybe Society has good reason to fear the Radical...the American voter.
Part of the solution to dismantling the power-hungry NEA is to educate its members. I would say at least half of my colleagues belong to the NEA simply for the insurance and have no clue what their money is going towards. We live in a society in which money speaks (which is both good and bad). Citizens need to realize that their money given to organizations like this often do harm on the larger scale, despite the fact that it does good for them (ie getting insurance). We need to help educate teachers that there are other options. As a teacher I have never belonged to the NEA and have recently discovered the Association of American Educators, an organization that does not donate to politicians (and they actively speak out against unions). Another thought...the NEA at our local level does some good, despite their corrupt national level. However, this good can be accomplished without having unions.
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