Did Public Schools Elect Trump? Will They Re-elect Him?
Our democratic republic is at risk, and I think our public schools are partially responsible. Its elaborate sorting system has turned out too many adults who resent rather than value our nation and our struggle to create a more perfect union.
While many of these adults voted for Donald Trump in 2016, I believe that many more did not bother to vote at all….and may in fact not even be registered to vote.
This is not new. If “Not Voting” were looked upon as a choice (candidate), it would have won the popular vote in every Presidential election since at least 1916. Only three times in the 15 Presidential elections since 1960 have more than 60% of the voting age population gone to the polls. The turnout in what we like to believe is the world’s greatest democracy generally hovers around 53-54%. It has dipped below 50% three times since 1916, most recently in 1996, when only 49.1% of the voting age population bothered to vote.
Who are these non-voters? Should we scorn them for their indifference? Don’t they understand how many of their fellow Americans have died protecting their freedom and their right to vote? Surely we can agree that not voting is deplorable behavior?
Not so fast. I have come to believe that most non-voters are behaving rationally. They do not feel that they have a stake in our government, so why should they vote? They were schooled to see themselves as insignificant, and so, as adults, they keep CONTINUE READING: Did Public Schools Elect Trump? Will They Re-elect Him? | The Merrow Report