Randi Weingarten

Part of what happens in terms of fascistic behavior is they exacerbate the governments that believe in that, authoritarians, the rule of one.

They exacerbate fear.

They exacerbate problems.

They don't solve problems.

And what is clear to me from my life in education is that educators...

and frankly, I would argue a labor movement, they are part of the solutions to helping people have a better life.

And if we look at really truly what's going on in the country, and you could see it from the election,

People want a better life.

They want their government not to be retaliatory, not to take away their freedoms, not to be autocratic.

They want their government to solve problems like the cost of groceries, like the cost of housing, so that people can get ahead, so that our next generation can do better than our generation.

And so I wrote the book as a warning, but also as an antidote to what is ailing America right now.

And that is public school teachers are the hope of America.

They are the people who are creating the kind of habits of democracy.

So why do fascists fear teachers?

They fear teachers because teachers create safe and welcoming environments.

They create the kind of habits of democracy like pluralism.

And they help kids have the skills and knowledge, particularly critical thinking and problem solving, so that kids themselves have the agency to soar.

So that kids don't have to rely on the strongman leader to have a life.

That kids themselves...

in the tradition of America, can do better than their parents and can actually be the future of an American, a robust American democratic society.