Myself, I am a "left of center libertarian". I believe there is a place for liberalism, I believe there is a place for government in our lives, I do believe government can make things better, but I hate overreach, both in politics and government.

Our, mine and my brother's, grandfather was a neighborhood captain for Tammany Hall back in the day. He would register voters in the cemeteries, vote several times on election day, leave turkeys at the doorsteps of the poor (With a note "Happy Thanksgiving from the Democrats") and somehow got my parents to the top of the waiting list in 1962 for Peter Cooper Village.

Reality is my great-uncle Jack was a Communist. He went to Cal-Berkley in the late 1920's and was met there by a distant cousin, actor Howard DaSilva. Jack went on to work for the State Department and after WWII got caught up in the Alger Hiss crap and moved to China. When Mao took over he was kicked out, along with other Americans, of the country and lived the rest of his live in Rome never to return to the US.

Every month or so Jack used to write my dad and for the first page or so inquire how we were doing, how I had gotten big, etc... and then for the next how many pages or whatever discuss how Marxism, or Leninism, or Communism, or whatever was going to take over the world and all that stuff. When he died he had about $1 million in stocks. Go figure.

So I guess that is why I am the way I am. But as I have grown older, and more so being a father, things change. I still believe in the core of what Jack and my grandfather believed in. Both Jack and my grandfather believed in the same thing but from opposite ends of the spectrum. But without some of the rough edges. To me extremism on either the left or the right is anathema to me.

I look at the Democrats and see why they lost in 2016. Not just because of a shitty candidate in Hilary, but the Democrats were concentrating more on voters like Jack than voters like my grandfather.

I came to this epiphany when my son and I traveled to Ithaca College in February. Driving through the small towns of Broome and Tompkins Counties, driving though the desolation in Owego NY, stopping on the way home in Hancock NY thinking of all the small towns that I love visiting upstate got me thinking. As I was driving I said to a friend of mine who came along that in these small towns that I believe the vast majority of the people in these forgotten corners of New York have have the same needs and wants, hurt, as well as anger, as those in the inner cities. They do want justice, they do want health care, a safety net, jobs, an opportunity, but they are constantly being talked down to. They are taken for granted and see the Democrats ignoring and bypassing them. The want the social justice but want to go about it differently.

What they want, and care mot about is where and how is that next pay check coming from. What will happen to me if I or my family get sick? What about my farm? My business? What about the opioids?? But these issues are either ignored or just brushed over. They see the Democrats not talking about or attempting to solve bread and butter issues. They see Democrats getting into bed with every crackpot who cries, "SAFE SPACE!!" "TRIGGER!!!" Being told that there concerns are not the Democrats concerns.

Drive through Hancock, drive through Owego, the towns are dead. Closed up storefronts with plywood. Dollar stores. Instead of Crack Dens there are Meth Labs. Where and when do the people of these communities get heard? The want safe streets, they want responsible policing, They want good schools. Well financed schools. They want the same thing as those in the South Bronx but want to take a different path.

My wife and I love to visit Hudson NY. There are many art galleries along the main drag Warren St. which runs east-west from the Hudson River. A block in either direction of Warren St you see the poverty which the weekenders ignore or try to turn away from.

You can not have a party, a group, a class and claim you are are are for change, claim you are there to help without opening your eyes and not just listening to the other half, but embracing the other half's different ways of seeing the same thing as you.

This is what the Democrats need to embrace. This is what the people of the Democratic party need to be party of.

So yesterday the "Bear Whisperer" Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos had her hearing share
her "credentials" on why she should be Secretary of Education. Naturally, there would be a lot of talk radio talk (On both the left and right) concerning this scary, scary woman.

On my way home I turned on SiriusXM channel 127 to listen to Michelangelo Signorile (@MSignorile on Twitter) . The timing could not have been better. He was talking about the DeVos nomination as well and that Randi Weingarten was to call in about 4:30. The moment was perfect for me to call in.

So about 4:15 PM I called and I got the screener. I told him that as a teacher in NYC I (And I am sure quite a few others!) feel that DeVos is going to be just a continuation of the eight dreadful years of Obama-Duncan-King and that this war on education had been aided, abetted, and enabled by the famed troika we have had to deal with all these many years. Screener said good points and told me to hold on.

At about 4:20 Signorile took my call and I basically said what I told the screener, but I added;

"Obama and Duncan have done much damage to education in this country."

At this point Signorile yelled;

"YOU'RE A FAKE CALLER!"

And he hung up on me. I listened to the rest of his tirade on the radio has he shouted;

"Obama and Duncan have done more for LGBQT students and opening access for all students in the country than any other have."

This is where his ignorance slip is showing.

By the way, I have always voted Democrat. Except in 2012 and 2014. Just couldn't bring myself to vote for Obama or Cuomo. My whole family, immediate and extended, are Democrats. My grandfather was part of the Tweed machine. So there!

Yes, DeVos is an abomination that will make life miserable for both LGBQT students and teachers, and even parents.  Yes, Obama has been wonderful for the LGBQT community. But that is not the point I was making and if any other teacher had called in I don't think that would be the point they would be making either.

Now one thing gets me wondering, Signorile's quote about opening access for all students. Because that sounds like code for "school choice." Which just happens to be something that Herr Trump and DeVos seem to want. And guess who else wanted it Michelangelo? Yeah, Arne and Barack did too!

Signorile needs to understand that thanks to Obama/Duncan that we are inundated with charter schools supported by the 1% so that the 1% can get their tax write-offs and photo ops or that are a cash cow for them and their buddies.

We have testing, testing, that has betrayed families and children across the country of being properly educated.

We have cuts in financial aid to school districts nation wide thanks to Obama/Duncan.

We have over crowded classrooms thanks to Obama/Duncan.

We have sham graduation rates thanks to Obama/Duncan.

We have the Common Core thanks to Obama/Duncan.

We have states being held hostage to federal monies and forced to implement inane, obtuse curricula thanks to Obama/Duncan.

We have a teacher shortage in New York State thanks to Obama/Duncan.

SUNY schools are experiencing a enrollment drop in education programs of up to 40% the last five years because of Obama/Duncan.

Teachers unions across the country are under attack thanks to Obama/Duncan.

Teachers are under attack across the country thanks to Obama/Duncan.

Parents are fighting back finally thanks to Obama/Duncan.

Corporations have profited quite handsomely on the backs of children thanks to Obama/Duncan.

Dang, I can go on and on and on and on. I know I am leaving a lot of things out. But suffice it to say, Obama/Duncan have destroyed public education in this country and they were enabled by DEMOCRATS. Yeah, starting with Ted Kennedy and chumming up to George W. back in 2001.

So maybe it is time that Mr Signorile speak and listen to teachers and find out what is really going on. Go and fight DeVos Mike but 95% of the policies that she will be advocating are basically just regurgitated from Obama/Duncan.

I guess I need to go back to listening to Francessa on the way home. 

It used to be that on my way home I would turn on WFAN and listen to the bloviating of His
Popeness, Mike Francesa. Hasn't been that way for a few months now.

I have found a new voice to listen to, that of Michelangelo Signorile on SiriusXM Progressive Channel 127. I have to tell you, I am hooked. Heck, I don't even listen to Sternthology in the afternoon.

Michelangelo has had me mesmerized with his take on the entire 2016 election and it's aftermath. The way he has deconstructed Trump's petty excuse of living has me on the edge of my seat as I drive up the Major Deegan in the afternoon. His progressive agenda, his realistic look at the world has let know that I, and others who feel the same, or not alone in the screwed up, messed up, crazy country we live in nowadays.

Michelangelo is a true defender of those who need defending. Whether they be of the LGBTQ community, African-American, Hispanic, Asian-Americans, Jews, women, or just anyone in need, and anyone being shat upon by those with the privilege to be in power. Death

Listening to him mock Steve Bannon, the Alt-Right, Trump, Christie, Palin, Guiliani, and all the other Trump hangers on and sycophants have left me in stitches so often I have almost driven off the Sprain!

But, and I say this with a heavy heart, Michelangelo has disappointed me in one regard. His silence and lack of understanding on Herr Trump's stance on education.

Right after the election I got a phone call from a friend of The Crack Team who happened to be in a panic. She was convinced that Reichsführer Trump will annihilate education in this country, sending billions of dollars away from public education and in the process putting the final nail in the coffin of teachers unions and urban education.

I did my best to reassure her that it won't happen, that Trump is all talk and he will never shut down the Department of Education and besides she, as well as myself, have just over 4 years till retirement and hopefully we'll be out before the proverbial doody hits the proverbial fan.

So back on November 10 I decided to call into Michelangelo's show and share with him what teachers are thinking and how horrible a Trump presidency will be to education in this country. I felt the need to do this due to the fact that of all the things that Trump is for not once had I heard Michelangelo bring up Trump's threat to education.

So Mike, I hope you are reading this. You took my call during the 5 o'clock hour. I told you I was Pete from White Plains and that I am a NYC teacher. I told you about Trump's plan and how teachers are scared. I told you how he will be wanting to take monies away from public education and put those monies into charter schools and vouchers for parochial and private schools as well as into homeschooling. Oh, and I shared how with being able to fill Scalia's seat teachers run the risk of Friedrich's being reheard and losing our right to organize. I will give you credit. You heard me. But you did not listen.

All I got from you Mike was, and I am paraphrasing, "Don't worry, your unions are too strong to allow this to happen." Say what? I tried to get in a word but you just kept talking over me.

Guess what? Our unions are not strong enough to fight back. Have you seen what has happened alone in New York State with education? With the testing, the BS evaluations, junk science, etc...? Who do we have to thank for this? The United Federation of Teachers. OUR UNION!!! That of course acts this way due to the directing of the AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS!!!

Have you noticed a trend across the country? In Wisconsin, North Carolina, California? Where have you been?

Where were you when Eva Moskowitz's name was being floated as Education Secretary? Do you know about Eva? Just in case you don't, check this out! Were you appalled that Princess Trump visited her Success Academy 1 School to tout her as an innovative educator  whilst ignoring the GREAT WORK of the teachers in the same building who teach our most needy students?

Where were you when Michelle Rhee was floated as Education Secretary? Yeah, that Michelle Rhee who I wrote about on the Huff Post in 2010, you know, about duct taping her student's mouths shut.

And guess who enabled the Moskowitz's, the Rhees, and the countless education deformers of the world? The DEMOCRATS! Yeah, without the Democrats, we never get NCLB and Race to the Top. If Democrats can't stop Republicans, or at the very least roll over for the Republicans, how can Trump be stopped?

How can Trump and the Republican controlled Congress be stopped when our unions have been rolling over, throwing teachers under the bus for 15 years?

Hey Mike, how about putting up that same fight for our children, the communities, our unions, and teachers that you put up for everyone else?

I know you can, and I know you are a good person that can make a change.