I taught my students the Constitution would protect us. Now I realize it was a lie | Opinion

Dear kids,

I lied to you.

Every single one of you.

From 1974 through 2017.

And now I feel terrible about it.

I used to tell you what made the United States unique and special among all the other countries of the world. Class after class, year after year, grade after grade. I told you all that the United States of America would always be strong and safe because our country had a constitution with something so special, so unique and so important. (Do you remember me teaching this to you?) I’m talking about the three branches of government, and the checks and balances that guaranteed that we would always be secure.

I always told you no bad, dangerous person could get elected president because the Congress and the Supreme Court would get them out of office before they could do much damage. (Remember when I taught you about Nixon? It worked!)

There have always been some really awful people elected to Congress, but even if they passed a very harmful law, the president and the Supreme Court would get rid of it to protect us. I told you that the court system (and the Supreme Court most of all) would be further protection for all of us and that we did not need to be worried about the Supreme Court because the president would only pick the best lawyers in our country to serve on that court and that the Congress would carefully check out who the president picked before they even got on the Supreme Court.

When I was teaching you about this, I made it seem so simple because I thought it was simple. And, looking back, I feel quite certain that most of you believed me.

I swear to you: I believed me!

I was not intentionally lying to you, my dear grown-up kids. I loved you too much to do that. But now, it is clear to me I was lying to you, and I beg your forgiveness.

I lied to you because I never could have imagined one person as evil and dangerous as Trump could ever be elected president. I never dreamed a Congress with so many frightened and ignorant members could all be elected at the same time and would band together to do whatever it took to keep Trump in office.

It never crossed my mind how corrupt and off-the-rails the Supreme Court could become, or how wrong their judgments would be in the time of Trump. I said these things could not happen, but I lied.

And now I know I lied to you because — right here in front of you and me — these things are all happening.

Can you ever forgive me?

Love aways,

Mr. McSweeney