Democrats Would Rather Kids Die Than Stand Up To Teachers Unions

For years, Democrats have accused Republicans of wanting to kill the elderly over various policy disagreements. The claim was famously made in 2012 when Republicans, led by then-Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, had the audacity to suggest the retirement age be raised by two years to help social security and other entitlement funds continue to exist past their insolvency dates. The increase in the retirement age wouldn’t have even applied to anyone who was set to meet the original age requirement in the next five years, yet Democrats and their media supporters insisted that Ryan and Republicans’ suggestion would literally kill grandma. They even made an ad visualizing a man who looked kind of like Ryan pushing an elderly woman in a wheelchair off a cliff.

Last year, Democrats revived the attacks when people of all political stripes protested against the endless coronavirus lockdowns that led to a massive increase of unemployment after state and local governments decided some people’s jobs were no longer “essential.”

These protests were alleged to be “super spreader” events that would increase the number of cases of COVID-19 among the general population. Of course, such accusations were not lodged against the Black Lives Matter protests and riots that plagued major U.S. cities all summer, causing destruction in their wake.

If Republicans wanted to “kill grandma” because they wanted to increase the retirement age or go back to work, then surely it can be alleged that Democrats are trying to kill children by keeping schools closed.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has repeatedly stated that schools are at a low risk for spreading COVID-19. In November, then-CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said K-12 schools should remain open because the risk of infection was so low.

“Today, there’s extensive data that we have — we’ve gathered over the last two to three months — that confirm that K-12 schools can operate with face-to-face learning and they can do it safely and they can do it responsibly,” Redfield said at the time. “The infections that we’ve identified in schools when they’ve been evaluated were not acquired in schools. They were actually acquired in the community and in the household.”

He added that K-12 schools are “one of the safest places” kids can be.

We also have disturbing data to suggest suicides and mental health problems have increased drastically among school-age kids due to the lack of socialization caused by school lockdowns. In Las Vegas, a “surge” in student suicides led Clark County, Nevada to return students to in-person learning. San Francisco City is suing its own school board for refusing to reopen schools, citing rising suicide attempts. The Associated Press reported that the University of California-San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital “has seen a 66 percent increase in the number of suicidal children in the emergency room and a 75 percent increase in youth who required hospitalization for mental health services, the lawsuit says, quoting pediatricians, child psychiatrists and emergency room doctors.”

The CDC even noted that mental health problems are now a larger part of children’s visits to hospital emergency rooms. The Washington Post noted that from “March, when the pandemic was declared, to October, the figure was up 31 percent for those 12 to 17 years old and 24 percent for children ages 5 to 11 compared with the same period in 2019.”

Newsday also reported that some school districts are considering hiring full-time counselors for students who have been struggling with isolation or difficulty in adapting to the new education environment.

Students who appear to be suffering more than expected are athletes who have lost the ability to train with their teams. In Maine, a high school football player committed suicide after feeling isolated due to distance learning and the end of the high school football team. In Texas, a 12-year-old boy committed suicide apparently for similar reasons.

Yet despite all this evidence, the Biden administration and Democrats continue to side with Teachers Unions, which have insisted that going back to work would mean teachers’ deaths. Again, the CDC noted schools were not a high risk for infection. Further, health care and grocery store workers have been working throughout the pandemic and haven’t accused their employers of signing their death warrants.

While Biden has kowtowed to the teachers unions – a sector that contributes heavily to Democratic politicians – other Democrats have struggled as well. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has wavered between challenging the unions and caving to their demands. In January, Lightfoot threatened to lock Chicago Public School teachers out of remote learning, The Daily Wire reported. She quickly walked back that threat after teachers threatened to strike. Days later, she publicly chided the teachers unions for refusing to come to the table.

The CDC has recently changed its tune regarding schools under the Biden administration, admitting last week that science isn’t the only factor in guiding schools about reopening.

“I recognize that the decision, on when and how to begin in-person learning is one that must be based on a thorough review of what the science tells us works and an understanding of the lived experiences, challenges, and perspectives, of teachers and school staff, parents, and students,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Biden’s CDC director. “We have conducted an in-depth review of the available science and evidence base to guide our recommendations, and we have also engaged with many education and public-health partners, to hear firsthand from parents and teachers, directly, about their experiences and concerns.”

Get that? The “party of science” – that uses only studies that adhere to its preferred narrative – is now setting science aside to listen to one of its largest donors. For 2019-2020, teachers unions donated more than $43 million to political causes. Of that, a whopping total of $100,000 went to Republicans, according to Open Secrets.

Top Democrats continuing to bend the knee to teachers unions do so at the risk of our nation’s children. Teachers can try to paint themselves as the victims, but the science says otherwise. Kids need to go back to school.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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