Two great quotes

Both of these are in today’s Federalist Patriot:

“I personally believe there is no place in the federal government for a Department of Education. It is not in the Constitution. There is no mention anywhere in the Constitution that the federal government has any role in education. I believe that the federal government doesn’t have a role in education. I have several members of my family, including my wife, who are teachers, who are not at all happy with the so-called No Child Left Behind bill, which I think has gone far astray from what it was even intended to do. And I would like to hope that at some point we could get the federal government out of the business of education altogether, and acknowledge that this is policy that should be decided at the state level.” —Rep. John Shadegg

This man is in the race to succeed Rep. Tom DeLay as the House Majority Leader. And with an attitude like that, it’s no wonder many in the conservative camp are pulling for him over Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri and Rep. John Boehner of my native state of Ohio.

The GOP majority in the House was elected 12 years ago under the banner of the “Contract with America.” Unfortunately, the power of the purse with the ability to steer other people’s money to favored constituents has eroded the Republicans’ desire to continue pursuing some of the items that they wanted to accomplish in the mid-90’s. (Those were a lot of the reasons I became politically active in that period.)

Education is properly a state issue. And while the cabinet-level federal Department of Education is a relatively new creation, established in 1980 under the Carter administration, its roots trace back to Reconstruction days. Slowly but surely, the federal government expanded its role in children’s education. And while they provide only 10 cents of every education dollar spent in this country, it’s the vast array of federal laws and regulations that force districts to spend much more than they receive in federal funds (which, in turn, are also contingent on school districts following certain regulations.)

Properly, money should follow the child, and parents should be allowed to determine what education is best for their child. Most parents do care. It’s why houses in certain school districts are worth far more than similar houses in less desirable areas. It’s why some parents forgo Disney World vacations and keep the old beater for another year in order to save up for private school tuition, meanwhile paying an ever-increasing local property tax to a local public school district where expenditures increase but test scores decline. Some parents even go farther, forgoing the opportunity to work outside the home and enhance their income for the opportunity to teach their children in their own way by homeschooling them.

“One of the things that drives Republicans crazy is the media’s enormous double-standard in how they cover various scandals… Skeptics can go to the Web site of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, popularly known as the House ethics committee. Click on ‘historical documents,’ and go to a publication called ‘Historical Summary of Conduct Cases in the House of Representatives.’… By my count, there have been 70 different members of the House who have been investigated for serious offenses over the last 30 years, including many involving actual criminality and jail time. Of these, only 15 involved Republicans, with the remaining 55 involving Democrats.” —Bruce Bartlett

Still 15 too many as far as the GOP is concerned. (Doesn’t surprise me about the Democrats.) And I actually did look at the summary – almost all of them involve allegations of improper personal gain. When he was Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich was the target of several different investigations, almost always brought by members of the minority party (that would be the Democrats.) Same thing has happened to Tom DeLay on a couple occasions.

Back in the 1980’s when the Democrats were running the Congress, many in that party fell by the wayside for ethics violations. The Democrat dominance of the House ended in 1994, partly due to the “Contract with America” (see above), but also in part to two large scandals that showed members of Congress taking advantage of perks from the House Bank and House Post Office.

Neither party has a monopoly on honest government – thus I renew my call for getting as much taxpayer loot out of the hands of Congress as possible. Sure, dishonest politicians are found at every level, from President to the local dogcatcher. But it’s so much easier to hold a local politician to account for his misdeeds.

And, finally, here’s a reason I don’t subscribe to the Daily Times.

With the exception of Iraq and national security, each of the bullet points cited in the editorial has a solution much better handled in the private sector or by allowing more control by citizens in their lives than by expanded government.

And there’s a couple things that I think President Bush needs to touch on that aren’t cited in this editorial, probably because liberals like those at the Daily Times editorial board know that the best solution is that proposed by conservatives: Social Security and border security/illegal immigration. Actually, I see that border security is strangely absent from the other national security points cited in the editorial.

To show leadership in this election year, I think President Bush needs to tackle Social Security again, get tougher about border security, and admit he made a mistake: pare down the Medicare prescription drug program to just those seniors in need or scrap it altogether.

(No, moonbats, Iraq/Afghanistan does NOT appear on my list of Bush mistakes.)

I generally do not watch the State of the Union address, since I can read it afterward much faster than I can hear it and, as an aside, I don’t have to be subjected to the Democrat response unless I want to read it for a good laugh – we all know their sole purpose in life right now is to stop whatever President Bush and the Republicans want to do. They sure don’t have a lot of unique solutions and aren’t doing much looking for common ground.

Maybe that’s why, even with the Abramoff scandal on the front pages, it’s widely considered that the GOP majority in Congress will remain for another term. While it’s a good thing, there does need to be new blood at the top and fresh leadership on important issues. That brings me full circle on this post, as I’m among those hoping for a victory by Rep. Shadegg.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.