A few days ago I had the honor of interviewing Wisconsin Gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong. She is a wonderful advocate for public education. As a former school teacher, I think this is one of the most critical ways we can spend our tax dollars.

Strong education means a strong society. Educated people are a lot more difficult to control. America has forgotten that.

In my years as a teacher, I learned that the second you speak to your students with authenticity, they stop messing around and pay attention. Children know when they’re being deceived. They know when they’re being lied to. They know when they’re being fed a load of authoritarian garbage that is toxic for them to consume.

Children know this.

That’s why children often go to their parents and ask questions about the injustices in our society. When parents say, “You’ll understand when you’re older,” children know that’s another load of authoritarian nonsense.

I never felt that kids were “unruly” or “difficult to manage.” If you want kids to pay attention, all you have to do is speak truthfully. The amazing thing is that you don’t even have to say a single word. If you stop and think the words, “Okay, I’m going to be real with my kids,” just the act of thinking it will get them to stop whatever they’re doing and pay attention.

It’s a miraculous thing.

Your demeanor changes. The way you stand changes. All of these are clues the students can read. These are clues that say, “Okay, I’ve made a decision to stop lying to you.”

One of the main problems in the United States of America is that lying has been normalized on such a scale that most of our representatives don’t even try to tell the truth. I recently saw an interview with Hakeem Jeffries where he refused to say he wouldn’t take AIPAC money. Instead, he started to brag about the low average donation he receives.

Does he think we don’t understand math? Your “average” donation might be low, but that just means a couple huge donations were offset by thousands of small ones. That doesn’t mean anything. Even though he got away with saying it doesn’t mean he managed to convince us.

We’re all still the “unruly” classroom that’s tired of being manipulated.

It all starts in school. When I was talking to Fran (which is what she prefers to be called), I said, “We teach US history like it’s the Epstein files. All the atrocities are redacted.”

She gave me a look of such approval that I think this line might turn up on the campaign trail. I hope it does.

Often, people write and ask if they can use my phrases on demonstration signs and whatnot. Let me save you all some time. The answer is always yes. It’s yes, yes, yes! Please make those signs. Please take pictures of them and send them to me so I can share them! Please tell people about me.

Also, please use the line about how we redact US history to protect predators. This would be a nice letter you could send to your child’s teachers.

“Thanks for not teaching a redacted US version of history that’s designed to protect abusers. Thank you for telling the truth about horrible people and the crimes they commit. Thank you for having respect for the survivors.”

In my discussions with Natasha K., she often talks about our “collective brainwashing” or “mind control.” That’s what this is. We don’t have to sit back and allow our children to be indoctrinated with false praise for men who committed terrible acts.

Let’s tell the truth about them.

If respecting them means covering up all their terrible crimes, then maybe they aren’t worthy of “respect.”

I don’t care if it makes people “not feel good about themselves.” I’m worried about the marginalized and the oppressed. Protecting the well-being of abusive men is not one of my objectives. I want to see them locked up where they can’t hurt people ever again.

We get there by demanding accountability for crimes.

Redacting the crimes of the Epstein files or of American history is the opposite of accountability. We also have to fight back against the tidal wave of dishonest arguments that have been deployed to protect these uber abusers.

These days, “we can’t make awful people feel bad” is all anyone ever talks about.

But here’s another thing that they used to lecture to me when I was in school: TELL THE TRUTH!

How about that for a new message to take us forward into a better future?

Tell the truth.

Don’t sugar coat it. Don’t hide it. Don’t redact it. Don’t burn it. Don’t try to erase it.

All of that is futile. The truth can’t be destroyed. There are witnesses who remember. There are echoes that resonate through time.

We need to learn how to be humble. We need to learn how to be responsible. We need to learn how to be accountable.

That starts with telling the truth.

Stop enabling the massive cover-up of all the crimes of American history. The only real reason people want to hide these atrocities, is because they want to subject your own children to the same mechanism of exploitation, oppression, and death.

The truth will set us free.

You all make this newsletter happen! Thanks for your sponsorship! I have payment tiers starting at as little as twenty dollars a year.

Upgrade at 30% off

Upgrade at 40% off

Upgrade at 50% off

Upgrade at 60% off

I’m so happy you’re here, and I’m looking forward to sharing more thoughts with you tomorrow.

My CoSchedule referral link

Here’s my referral link to my preferred headline analyzer tool. If you sign up through this, it’s another way to support this newsletter (thank you).

I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe