Are You Effing Kidding Me?
I pondered hard on the title of this piece, maybe a more profound, prolific educated title would be suitable, more astute. Then again I thought, well if Betsy DeVos is this close to being our Education Secretary then this title might be more fitting to the cause. While Betsy DeVos is scary in her own right, let’s really talk about who is backing her. Let’s talk about how we got into this mess; And for god’s sake let us stop voting in incumbents just because their name brings a false sense of comfort on the ballot because we were too lazy to do research before voting.
Namely incumbents like Senator Richard Burr…
So before I “go off” on Senator Burr’s biased decision, I’ll be fair. Betsy DeVos seems like a sensible, likable, experienced, educated prospect. I mean that she does not have a degree in Education, that she has never taught in a public school, that she nor her children have ever attended a public school, that she has never volunteered at a public school, that she has never applied for FAFSA, that her children has “fortunately” never had to apply for financial aid, that she has never overseen a big budget loan, that she could not in good conscience state that she agreed with policies for children with developmental disabilities and the Disabilities Education Act, all seem to point to a well-rounded person ready to fulfill the needs of EVERY student in America.
I mean Betsy DeVos appears that she is a woman who pulled herself up by her “boot straps”, made it through public school and worked her way to the top with no silver spoon. She understand the needs of the American people. DeVos is the epitome of “draining the swamp”, heck I mean she has never even had any political ties before now, she was too busy putting her kids through college, making ends meet and other important middle to lower class struggles. Duh. This is clear by her education at Holland Christian High School (which is private), her college education at Calvin College (a private college which costs a low price of $41,450 a year after fees), that her family is one of the wealthiest in Michigan, because well her father is a billionaire industrialist, her husband is a multi-billion dollar heir to Amway and her father-in-law even owns the NBA team Orlando Magic.
As I said, noo political ties before now, just a regular old joe. Unless you include the fact that her husband was the 2006 Republican nominee for Governor of Michigan, or the fact that DeVos has participated in the Michigan Republican Party since 1982, or that she served as a local precinct delegate; DeVos was a Republican National Committeewoman for Michigan between 1992 and 1997,[35] and served as chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party from 1996 to 2000. Well at least we can say she cared about her party, at least she never used her financial power to give exorbitant amounts of money to candidates and their campaigns. Well, except for that time DeVos stated that it was “possible” that her family gave $200 million to Republicans, specifically Trump and Burr.
Now, before I go any further. If my clear sarcasm backed by facts that debunked the obvious sarcasm, went over your head, then please pause and re-read. Alright, let’s continue.
According to Charlotte Observer: Senator Richard Burr received $43,200 from the family Betsy Devos in his campaign against Democrat Deborah Ross. It also gave $2.25 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, which spent $13.7 million on the N.C. race.
Okay, so it is apparent that Senator Burr received donations from the very person he is now backing despite his many constituents that have vocalized their concerns. Hmm, sounds kind-of like a conflict-of-interest or a debt he has to repay now doesn’t it? Now, yes “many” constituents can be a subjective term, how many is many? Well it was so many that citizens “jammed” the phone lines, filled his voicemail inbox to capacity and other senators recommended that constituents email because of the heavy call volume they were experiencing.
The public feedback has been so intense some North Carolinians say they ran into full voicemail boxes or their messages went unreturned when they contacted U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, both N.C. Republicans. Both Burr and Tillis’ offices said they have alternative methods of communication for constituents when phone lines are jammed.
Yes, other senators were so taken aback on the response that this was a topic on the floor and even Twitter:
Other Republican lawmakers experienced heavy call volumes. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, in a tweet, advised his constituents to email him instead of calling his office.
Murkowski said it was a personal decision and, in a speech on the Senate floor, added she’d been overwhelmed with calls from constituents against DeVos.
Now, one would think that Senator Burr would take this public outcry as a sign, a huge sign that maybe the people he was elected to SERVE had major concerns and a unified disagreement over Betsy DeVos. Nope. He instead decided to attack his citizens based on political party affiliation and dismissed his role as a public servant for ALL, not just one political party. Especially the political party in his big fat donation wallet that DeVos has funded.
Burr, the senior Republican senator from North Carolina and a member of the committee that approved sending DeVos’ nomination to the Senate floor, described the phone lobbying effort during a hearing Tuesday. He criticized Democrats, specifically Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, for early plotting against DeVos’ nomination and said they didn’t give her qualifications full consideration before coming out against her.
“This was a strategy that was hatched some time ago. . . . That’s why I got all the calls. That’s why my wife gets calls. My son gets calls . . . to deliver a message to me,” Burr said.
Sen. Burr clearly stated that it was an attack on DeVos. It was not an attack on her lack of experience, not on her job proficiency, not on her endless money stream to candidates’ campaigns, not her biased views on private and charter schools, not on her inability to answer questions with transparency and coherency during her hearings, but an “attack” solely on her character. Because somehow us knowing her personally is more important than how well she can do the job that affects the lives of millions of youth… Are you Effing Kidding Me?
Character assassination.
- U.S. Sen. Richard Burr on verbal attacks against Betsy DeVos
It is painfully obvious that Sen. Burr doesn’t care what his public thinks. He would rather lump every disagreeing citizens into one big bowl of Democrat sauce than be honest about being paid off by DeVos. Even when his constituents state that they are not apart of a party or a Devos witch hunting conspiracy:
Constituents interviewed by McClatchy this week said they’d called Burr and Tillis’ offices on their own, not part of broader, organized anti-DeVos campaign.
So now that we are here in this mess, what do we do?
I have seen a few petitions circulating with hundreds of signatures being signed by many DeVos opposing citizens. I love it, it is amazing, keep the signatures coming. One group that has been successfully collecting signatures is “Stronger NC Raleigh”, if you haven’t joined this group, I urge you to do so now.
If you are still attempting to make phone calls to your elected officials here are some amazing tips given by Mark Jahnke (former Capitol Hill assistant in charge of all the incoming phone calls):
1. Give your name, city, and zip code, and say “I don’t need a response.” That way, they can quickly confirm you are a constituent, and that they can tally you down without taking the time to input you into a response database.
2. PLEASE ONLY CALL YOUR OWN REPRESENTATIVES! Your tally will not be marked down unless you can rattle off a city and zip from the state, or are calling from an in-state area code. I know you really want to give other reps a piece of your mind, but your call will be ignored unless you can provide a zip from their district. And don’t try to make this up; I could often tell who was lying very quickly thanks to the knowledge of the state’s geography. Exceptions to this are things like Paul Ryan’s ACA poll which are national.
3. State the issue, state your position. “I am opposed to ________.” “I am in favor of _______.” “I am opposed to banning the import of phalanges.” I am in favor of a trade deal to lower the price of juice smoothies.” That’s it. That’s all we write down so we can get a tally of who is in favor, who is against. It doesn’t matter WHY you hold that opinion. The more people calling, the less detail they have time to write down. Help them out by being simple and direct. This keeps calls shorter, allowing more callers through.
4. Please be nice! The people answering the phones on Capitol Hill already had the hardest job in DC and some of the lowest pay as well, and for a month now their jobs have become absolute murder, with nonstop calls for 9 hours every day. Thank them for their hard work answering the phones, because without them our Senators could not represent us!
What does this sound like?
“Hi, my name is Mark, I’m a constituent from Seattle, zip code 98***, I don’t need a response. I am opposed to banning the sale of blueberries and I encourage the Senator to please oppose implementation of any such ban. Thanks for your hard work answering the phones!”
This is how I wish every caller had phrased their message. It makes it easier for the people answering the phones and takes less time and emotion than a long script. I know that you want to say why, but keeping it short and sweet helps the office answer more calls per hour, meaning more people get heard. The bigger the tally, the more powerful your voice.
Also, when you’re reading off the same script as 100 other callers that day… well…they know what you’re about to say, so you don’t need to use the whole script for your opinion to be heard!
Pick one issue each day, use this format (I am in favor of _____ or I oppose ______), and call your 2 Senators and 1 Representative on their DC and State Office lines, and you’ll be on your way to being heard.
Lastly, educate yourself on incumbents before election season. Call, write and bombard the official while they are in office; make your presence known and when it comes election time vote! I noticed how ridiculously difficult it is to simply find upcoming election dates for our U.S. Senate and other offices. So I found a lovely website that should help: Politics 1. Write down these important dates and don’t forget about the “in-between years”, the years when big-ticket campaigns such as the office of President are not happening. These are the years that matter, when politicians who do not represent ALL citizens slide by and become elected, these are the years we simply vote an incumbent in because their name is familiar and that somehow means he/she is doing a fantastic job. These election years are the very elections that we sometimes skip voting because it’s not “in our minds” or “popular”. Stop it. And if you are not in this list, Don’t stop it, keep doing what you’re doing.
Keep up the phone calls, the petitions, the unification, the movement. Stop voting for incumbents like Senator Richard Burr who continues to fill the swamp, stop voting for incumbents who are willing to place people like Betsy DeVos in charge of our children simply because it’s in their financial benefit, stop voting for incumbents who attack citizens based on a political party. Let’s change this, because I know you are sick and tired of looking at your computer, phone and television saying: “Are you effing kidding me?”
- Editor-in-Chief
