REPUBLICAN STRATEGY IS WORKING

Democrats should be seriously concerned about what is happening in the political sphere in the United States. I see the same thing happening to my country that ruin my professional career as a teacher—a college professor verses the college administration. My purpose in life was being fulfilled by doing what I was doing. I was naive enough to think that all the professors in the college should have the same objective; which was to make the college the best college of veterinary medicine in the world. I was shocked to find that a minority, two or three of 60 faculty members, poisoned the well. They had their personal power as and end and not graduating well educated students in mind. I was badly beating. Now, many years after retirement, I in reflecting on my past I see not only the same thing happening to my country that I saw happen to my college but I see it happening as a result of the same political philosophy and using the same techniques. It is not an illusion therefore is not déjà vu. It actually happened to me before.

I was involved in teaching a rapidly advancing area of veterinary medicine, clinical pathology with an emphasis on physiological chemistry. Just reading the current literature an updating my lecture notes were consuming in terms of my time and attention. Teaching came first with college politics as a side issue. As the person responsible for overseeing laboratory medicine, I innocently tried to have the Department of Microbiology teach diagnostic microbiology as part of clinical medicine; there was a laboratory classroom, there was a technician available, there were supplies, and there was money in the budget for a teacher but no teacher—a slam-dunk. That department chair refuse to provide a teacher; his “reason” was the teaching position funded by the state for that purpose was doing diagnostic work for the economically powerful states poultry industry. Although being paid to be a professor, he was self-appointed administrator for that industry in the state. That chairperson was active in Republican Party politics in the State and active in the state professional organization; therefore, the Dean, a politically sensitive position, was reluctant to challenge him in the context of his college duties.

The professor and head of the horse and food animal clinic, a position achieved by an internal and premature appointment caused by a death and economic shortfall of funds, and equally nefarious individual used his position to placate practitioners who saw the school as producing competition for them. He manipulated the administration to support “free services” to area practitioners. He was quick to cater to the wishes of practitioners often at the expense of the college thus guaranteeing their political support in the powerful state professional organization. For example, he negotiated an agreement with a single horse practitioner that the veterinary hospital would not accept sick horse coming from within 50 miles of the school—essentially the entire state—, which dealt a death blow to our horse medicine and surgery teaching program. This same administrator used money appropriated by the legislature for faculty positions to fill diagnostic service positions, not teaching position. Also, he used funds to buy research equipment for the diagnostic area ignoring the needs of teachers. Of course, that faculty hired for the service program within the college supported him within the college.

I was struggling to promote interest in teaching; however, after losing battle after battle, my fellow teachers lost interest or gave up fighting. The more they gave up the more the school spiraled downward. The rogue department head and the head of the poultry department took over every committee. Once in charge of a committee they changed the rules by which the committee operated giving taking veto power over everything the committee did including changing the committee membership. In addition, they openly toured the State and the Nation trashing a Dean, who was sympathetic to the teaching mission of universities. Eventually they installed a puppet Dean.

What happened: I fled to the jungles of Belize and they named a street after the poultry professor.

  

The college still exists today as a “middle of the road” school in the research category. In veterinary medicine, here is no systematic rating system for colleges in respect to teaching, success of graduates, etc. Even the research category is suspect because a popular business oriented magazine, U.S. News and World Report, does the rating.

Am I wrong to think that I see people using exactly the same philosophy and techniques they used to trash the college to trash the United States of America? I was shocked to find that a minority in the Tea Party in Congress of the nation are poisoning the well of democracy. They are preventing the government from doing what governments are supposed to do. The have taken over “all committees” and many states that are operating our side the constitution. They brought in powerful people, meaning rich people, people from outside government to help them maintain power; they have taking over government appointments; they have doled out massive gifts as subsidies; and, they have suppressed the vote of those who oppose them. They are going around the country and the world trashing our elected President.

They tried to purchase the presidency but failed but never will give up until they are in complete control: Karl Rove’s dream of a Republican Dictatorship. Will they eventually wear down the American people to the point that they want only to be let along to do their “own little job” and hope for the best when Republicans take control and Trash America? If you think it can never happen, you had better pay attention to what is happening in the ex-great State of North Carolina. The signs of their victory are everywhere. Something Shakespeare wrote, “History is Prologue”, is rapidly becoming my favorite quote.   

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