Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, is back on the media circuit, promoting her new book, “Why Fascists Fear Teachers.” And while she steadfastly maintains that her book is not classifying any specific person as a fascist, it’s pretty clear she’s talking about people who disagree with her politically, or who disagree with the agenda of the teachers unions. 

In other words, she’s talking about me, and maybe you. 

And Weingarten does appear to believe that the American education system is under fascist occupation. She’s even wearing a paperclip!  

I thought we all agreed that our political rhetoric was getting too unhinged, too overheated, too emotional, too exaggerated, and that it might be making desperate people do bad things. And now you’re telling me that the nation’s top teacher wrote a book implicitly referring to her opponents as fascists? Maybe the sequel should be called, “Why Everyone Who Disagrees with Me is Hitler.” 

Perhaps Weingarten is just trying to distract from the fact that many, many Americans are profoundly dissatisfied with the state of public education in this country. And it’s not because teachers have too little power, but because the union that represents them is doing us all harm. Indeed, there is no single figure more responsible for keeping schools closed during COVID for so long than Randi Weingarten: The teachers unions were the main driver, the main political force, engaged in the work of pressuring relevant authorities and lawmakers to keep school closed until we had reached zero COVID cases. They’d still be closed if those people had their way. 

But now Weingarten doesn’t want to blame the education crisis in American schools on that fateful decision to keep schools closed. She thinks plummeting test scores are the result of smartphones.  

Now look, I’m happy to talk about updating the kinds of instruction that take place in schools — whether project-based learning is better for some kids, whether new technology can be better incorporated, and yes, of course kids should not be using their smartphones while they’re supposed to be paying attention in class. It’s cold comfort to me that school leaders have taken 10 years to realize it. Shouldn’t you have told the kids they have to leave their phones in their lockers on like, Day 2 of smartphones being everywhere? 

But I digress. The real issue is that Weingarten is portraying herself and the teachers she represents as the opposition faction during an attempted fascist takeover of the U.S. education system. This just isn’t the lived experience of most Americans. The teachers union is the No.1 most powerful, relevant decision-maker here! Their fingerprints are all over these failing policies! That doesn’t make them fascists, of course. But it does make them — makes Weingarten — responsible for the mess we’re dealing with now. 

I don’t know if fascists fear teachers, but I know that families shouldn’t fear teachers unions. The solution is not to direct more funding, more resources, and more power to the likes of Randi Weingarten. The solution is school choice: more options for parents, so that families can make decisions that best fit their kids. 

Robby Soave is co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising” and a senior editor for Reason Magazine. This column is an edited transcription of his daily commentary.