Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY), leaders of their respective caucuses, normally don’t agree on much. But they are of one mind when it comes to Donald Trump’s last-ditch attempt to stop Congress from certifying the victory of President-elect Joe Biden and the insurrection fueled by Trump’s seditious rhetoric. Totally unacceptable.
January 6 “will live forever in infamy,” Schumer said. “This temple to democracy was desecrated, its windows smashed, our offices vandalized.”
“The voters, the courts, and the states have all spoken,” McConnell said. “If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral.”
To protect our democracy, NEA is joining Democratic, Republican, business, and civil rights leaders in calling for Trump’s immediate removal from office.
“Our nation is based on a promise that every single person—Black, Latino/a/x, Asian, Native, White, regardless of wealth—can pursue a better tomorrow. That promise is in jeopardy because President Donald Trump and his allies refuse to accept the will of the people and have endangered Americans and American democracy,” said NEA President Becky Pringle.
In government and social studies classes, NEA members teach students about the Constitution and the duties of citizenship. They teach that our elections depend not only on citizens to exercise the right to vote, but also on our willingness to accept the results of elections. They teach that interested parties can and often do challenge election results. But once the challenges have been examined, those on the losing side concede defeat because they prize our democratic traditions over any single Election Day win or loss.
More fundamentally, we teach our children—even before they begin formal schooling—this basic concept of fair play: In any competition, someone wins and someone loses. Conveying this concept is challenging when our children are getting a lesson from some elected “leaders” in what NOT to do: Throw a temper tantrum, discredit the process, attempt to delay the inevitable, and if none of that works, sow as much discord as possible before you exit the field.
NEA has developed materials to help you talk to kids about the violent attempt to stop Congress from certifying that President-elect Joe Biden won the election. Check them out!