Grading Texas

If there is anything that Donald Trump says that you can believe it is his statement, initially made several months ago, that “I love the poorly educated.” That’s because then – and now – a major source of his support comes from people without college educations, as well as, of course, Hillary-haters of all educational levels and pedigrees.

With supporters like those, it is small wonder that Trump apparently thinks he can utter just about any whopper and get away with it, such as his claim, made again this week, that Hillary Clinton wants to “abolish” the Second Amendment, the right to own and bear arms.

In the interest of education, I would point out the president of the United States cannot repeal the Second Amendment or any other amendment to the Constitution. Neither can a judge appointed by the president.

There are two ways to formally propose amendments to the Constitution. Congress can propose an amendment, which must be approved on a two-thirds vote of both the House and the Senate, or Congress can call a national constitutional convention if two-thirds of the states request one. And that’s just the first step.

Amendments approved either by Congress or by a constitutional convention must then be approved by a majority vote in the legislatures of three-fourths of the states or by special conventions in three-fourths of the states.

Now, this civics lesson won’t change the thinking of must Trump supporters. But if you bothered to read all this, you will know much more about the constitutional revision process than Trump does. That’s a pretty low standard though, isn’t it?

Donald Trump knows only slightly more about education than my pet puppy does, and he is less well-behaved. Trump demonstrates just about every bad character trait that educators warn their students against. He’s a bully, a bigot and a liar, and now he has suggested to any number of mentally unstable fools out there that it would be OK to physically assault his opponent, Hillary Clinton.

The political climate in Texas is such, however, that Trump is still likely to carry the Lone Star State even while, we better hope, he loses big time in most of the country.

This is mainly because of Texas’ partisan tradition and the animosity that many Texans, including educators, have toward Clinton, even though she has a strong public record of advocating for educators, school children and their families.

Another factor is Trump’s continued support by state leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Land Commissioner George P. Bush, all of whom represent a disaster for public education but who also were elected with the votes of many educators.

Abbott, Patrick and Bush all should withdraw their support of Trump, but they won’t, because they fear being seen as disloyal to the ideological zealots who have taken over their party.

They all should be ashamed of themselves, especially Bush, whose father, former presidential candidate Jeb Bush, was mercilessly ridiculed and bullied by Trump during the GOP primaries.

Abbott, Patrick and Bush aren’t on the ballot this year, but remember their cowardice when they come up for re-election in 2018. Also, remember that Abbott and Patrick are two of the main reasons that Texas public schools remain woefully under-funded while students are still being over-tested.