Friday afternoon I did something I rarely do and that was watch "Oprah." The only other time I saw the whole show I was in the studio audience when my late husband, Peter Boyle, and the rest of the "Everybody Loves Raymond" cast were guests.
I watched this time because of all the hype about how Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg was going to announce his 100 million dollar challenge grant to Newark public schools. The media was already buzzing that this was a stunt because the Facebook movie was opening and didn't portray Zuckerberg in a favorable light. So I was curious. In the buildup to Zuckerberg's rather reluctant appearance, Oprah explained that he wanted to remain anonymous but she convinced him to go public to encourage other benefactors. Her guests, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO of the Harlem Children's Zone, Newark Mayor Cory Booker and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, discussed the dire state of education in this country and how our democracy would falter if this need weren't addressed immediately.
It looks to me as if our democracy is already staggering from the ignorant blasts of tea party rhetoric. Just maybe some of the right wing untruths and exaggerations flourish because our education system has failed too many people. And not necessarily in the major way it is failing school children in cities like Newark but in a way where children are not taught to love reading and thinking critically in order to get at the truth. So many things about the current political situation puzzle me and I am beginning to think that people are acting out their radical tea party agenda against government because a lot of them got inadequate educations. They don't seem to understand basic history and economics. Without government, there would be no military to protect us, no safety nets for the impoverished, no rule of law, no schools.
It makes no sense that conservatives want to continue to empower the very wealthy by extending the Bush tax cuts. They claim that those tax cuts spur investment in new business but the Bush tax cuts have been in effect for the past eight years while recession hit us hard. Voters do not listen when Democrats stress that middle class tax cuts won't be affected, just those of the super rich who aren't pulling their tax load in proportion to the rest of the population. There's a disconnect that perhaps comes from having no grasp of history, no inclination to read to find out the truth, no compassion for others less fortunate. In short, the right wing tea party ideology seems to be totally illogical with the have-nots wanting to empower the haves even more and not even realizing they are doing just that. They don't want to hear anything that doesn't support the conservative agenda. Logic can't prevail when people don't care about reading and learning about the other side of the argument.
When I was growing up in suburban Morristown, N.J., Newark was the big city we visited for its nice department stores like Orbach's and Bamberger's. It was a kind of mini New York City, but closer to home. It was a treat to go to Newark. My aunt got married at an elegant old hotel there. And as in Philip Roth's novels, Weequahic High was a top public high school in the state. But in the latter third of the last century, Newark went down the tubes big time. If Christie and Booker can meet the 100 million dollar challenge grant, the city ought to be on its way back up thanks to an educated citizenry.
The entire media tizzy about how Zuckerberg is giving the money to buy himself a good name is unfair. He sees that great schools got him where he is today and that the only way for the U.S.A. to move forward is to invest in the next generation.