March 3, 2006
I got an e-mail from a disgruntled listener recently. He was a Californian who was disturbed at my diatribe about liberal indoctrination of our kids at school. He said he thought he was listening to Joe McCarthy. Ironically, I received that e-mail the day the story broke about a Colorado high school teacher caught on tape bashing Bush, America, capitalism and democracies, in general. Jay Bennish is supposedly a geography teacher. Instead of teaching his students to locate countries on the map, he launches into harangues of hatred against the evil empire – the United States of America. Unfortunately for him, one of his students caught it all on tape.
My e-mailer told me I was a reactionary. That's what they love to call those of us sounding the alarm. He suggested I apologize for saying there was a concerted effort on the part of some educators to influence and indoctrinate our kids – brainwash them, if you will. Before I could respond, the taped teacher story was all over talk radio.
It's not so much that this teacher was criticizing President Bush in a school environment. Although it was probably inappropriate in this setting, criticism of our elected officials is often necessary. What was really troublesome about this particular teacher was his decidedly anti-American rhetoric. It wasn't that he hated the president; he hated everything this country stands for.
While instructing his students to write down the definition of capitalism, Bennish added, “Do you see how this economic system is at odds with humanity, at odds with caring and compassion?” Any system motivated by profit, in his judgment, must be evil. He called “blind, naive faith in democracy” our efforts at democratization in Iraq. “Who is probably the single most violent nation on planet Earth?” he asked. “The United States of America.” Not China, a brutal communist regime that has killed millions of its own people? Not North Korea or Cuba? No, you see, we are the terrorists in the eyes of the America-haters. America has been a terrorist nation “since 1492,” Bennish told his students. Now we're the ones exporting our brand of government and forcing it on the rest of the world. Forget that we actually liberate millions of people then give the duly elected government its country back.
Everything about capitalism and democracy is evil to people like Bennish, and too many of them have the ears of our kids. We, according to these America haters, are the force of evil in the world. He even suggested that it would be justifiable for countries to invade North Carolina and firebomb the tobacco crops since we were destroying the coca crop in Columbia. I'm not making this up. Again, he ignores reality. Although you may not be a fan of tobacco, it's a legal product exported legally and sold legally in other nations around the world. Coca, on the other hand, is illegal in many of the countries where it is grown and the United States assists countries like Columbia and Peru in eradicating the crop. We don't invade their countries. We come in as invited guests, working alongside these governments to curtail the cocaine trade.
Mr. Bennish was suspended from teaching pending a hearing on his conduct. He has hired a lawyer who argues his First Amendment rights were violated. He actually maintains this teacher has the right to say anything he wants to in class, even if it has nothing to do with his job or the subject he's teaching. Ironic, isn't it. Jay Bennish is now hiding behind the Constitution from the very country he loathes.