I have now been teaching American Government for over twenty years. I have been paying attention to politics for longer than that. I have lived through some interesting moments in politics. In doing so I have been wrestling with these discipline attempts to push back that /1

such instruction should be done from some “unbiased” neutral perspective so I do not make students feel uncomfortable in the classroom. I have always chosen another way. I rely upon my superpower/burden to be a Truthteller. The burden for Political Science Professors is to 2/

tell the truth in a world of post-truth politics. We understand things deeper and more complex. What that means is I could see this exact moment of an insurrectionary coup developing within the Republican Party since at least 1994. I have been exhausted in my anxiety since /3

that time. I have gently been trying to educate my students for a long time and gently steer them to a better politics. This helps with my anxiety and also to create that comfort in the classroom; my students can experience an anxious political scientist even when they are /4

feeling defensive themselves. I had hoped to do my small part to steer the nation away from what we political scientists could all foresee. I feel that sometimes I have been successful to a small degree. Now I see I needed to do more. I am saddened beyond measure what I am /5

witnessing. I feel like I could have done more. Hopefully I have done enough that the new generation I have helped nurture to have grown into a place to help rebuild our broken sense of commonality. I love my students, I fight their tribal pulls, I remind them they are /6

Americans and not a partisan, I read them George Washington’s Farewell Address warning against “the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally.” I know they will come through but today I weep for/with them.