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Trump’s presidency, tracing protests involving labor union members and highlighting attacks on constitutional norms. Argues that teachers unions should revive democratic cultures through a “social justice unionism” that fights for public schooling, civil rights, and trade unionism beyond wage bargaining. Describes the crisis through examples targeting religion freedoms, press protections, judicial independence, and scapegoating of minorities and women.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/resisting-the-threat-to-democracy-with-union-activism/590583/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/resisting-the-threat-to-democracy-with-union-activism/590583.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Stanley","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":34},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What events does the article reference to illustrate the political climate since Trump took office?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It references protests involving labor union members, including the Women’s March on Washington, the March for Science, and airport protests against Trump’s proposed Muslim ban.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What does the article say democracy supporters need from teachers and unions now?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It calls for a “social justice unionism” that goes beyond narrow bargaining to engage in fights for public schooling, trade unionism, and civil rights at home and abroad.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Which democratic norms does the article highlight as being challenged during Trump’s campaign and early presidency?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It highlights threats to freedom of religion, freedom of the press, undermining press accountability, an independent judiciary, and broader scapegoating tactics targeting minorities and women.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},590583,1792074199,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":34,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},2336477405376,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0","Resisting the Threat to Democracy with Union Activism  \nThe photos here and on the following pages show protests that have occurred since the beginning of Donald Trump’s presidency. Many labor union members have participated in these events, including the Women’s March on Washington in January and the March for Science in April, as well as protests at various airports against Trump’s proposed Muslim ban.  \nBy Richard D. Kahlenberg  \nD  \nemocracy is in crisis across the globe. For years, polling in the United States and Europe has suggested an alarming rise in the number of young people who believe democracy is a bad way to run a society.1  \nDemocracy is in retreat in Russia, Hungary, India, Venezuela,  \nRichard D. Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, is the author of Tough Liberal: Albert Shanker and the Battles Over Schools, Unions, Race, and Democracy (2007), a coauthor of Why Labor Organizing Should Be a Civil Right (2012), and a coauthor of A Smarter Charter: Finding What Works for Charter Schools and Public Education (2014) . This article draws upon three Century Foundation reports—“Putting Democracy Back into Public Education,” “America Needs Public School Choice, Not Private School Vouchers,” and “How Defunding Public Sector Unions Will Diminish Our Democracy”—as well as “Labor at a Crossroads: Can Broadened Civil Rights Law Offer Workers a True Right to Organize?,” The American Prospect, and “How to Protect Diversity during Trump’s Presidency,” New Republic.  \nand the Philippines. And in November, the unthinkable happened, as nearly half of American voters elected a president who has consistently disregarded democratic constitutional norms such as freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and the independence of the judiciary—norms that until now had been broadly accepted by members of both major political parties. That president, Donald J. Trump, is now seeking to weaken other pillars of our democracy, including public education and free trade unions.  \nHistorically, teachers unions have played a special role in strengthening democratic cultures, and they are urgently called on to do so again. What is needed now more than ever is a “social justice unionism” that goes beyond the narrow self-interest of members in bargaining for better wages and benefits to also engage in critical fights for public schooling, trade unionism, and civil rights at home and abroad. This movement needs to not only fiercely resist bad ideas but also offer a new, vibrant, inclusive vision that can be a model for people who champion democratic values across the globe.  \n6 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | SUMMER 2017  \nThe Crisis in American Democracy  \nWhile opposing parties have often chided presidential candidates for watering down constitutional norms, Trump’s candidacy was different. Fellow Republicans repeatedly had to distance themselves from their own standard-bearer for flouting essential democratic values. Michael Gerson, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, said that, in Trump,“we have reached the culmination of the founders’ fears: Democracy is producing a genuine threat to the American form of self-government.”2 Peter Wehner, another veteran Republican official, wrote of Trump’s candidacy: “The founders, knowing history and human nature, took great care to devise a system that would prevent demagogues and those with authoritarian tendencies from rising up in America. That system has been extraordinarily successful. We have never before faced the prospect of a political strongman becoming president. Until now.”3 (To understand how tyranny in European history can inform our country’s current political climate, see page 17.)  \nConsider how, once elected, Trump has continued to challenge democratic values with alarming frequency:  \n• Freedom of religion. The First Amendment provides for the free exercise of religion, yet during the campaign, Trump proposed a religious test on immigration, calling for “a total and co","cbCaiq449Epu2e6I","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiq449Epu2e6I","pdf",604304,13,"English","# Resisting the Threat to Democracy with Union Activism\n## Protests and democratic crisis\n## The crisis in American democracy\n## Freedom of religion, press, judiciary and minority scapegoating","[{\"question\":\"What events does the article reference to illustrate the political climate since Trump took office?\",\"answer\":\"It references protests involving labor union members, including the Women’s March on Washington, the March for Science, and airport protests against Trump’s proposed Muslim ban.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the article say democracy supporters need from teachers and unions now?\",\"answer\":\"It calls for a “social justice unionism” that goes beyond narrow bargaining to engage in fights for public schooling, trade unionism, and civil rights at home and abroad.\"},{\"question\":\"Which democratic norms does the article highlight as being challenged during Trump’s campaign and early presidency?\",\"answer\":\"It highlights threats to freedom of religion, freedom of the press, undermining press accountability, an independent judiciary, and broader scapegoating tactics targeting minorities and women.\"}]","Resisting the Threat to Democracy with Union Activism | PDF",1792069957,33]