Great News: More Power For Parents in Florida

Via Libertarian Republican, big news from Florida:

The latest buzz-phrase at the capitol in Tallahassee is "Educational Savings Accounts."

Libertarian Republican Governor-elect Rick Scott is hinting at a major overhaul of Florida's education system. The liberal-leaning St. Pete Times is calling his plan one of the "most radical... ever considered."

What's so radical? Let a bed-wetting liberal explain:

It is clearer than ever that Republicans intend to mount a frontal assault next year on Florida's public schools. Legislators show no interest in building consensus...

In Scott's fuzzy vision, every parent would be given public education money to spend on "whatever education system they believe in, whether it's this public school or that public school or this private school or that private school…''

Blum, BLUM, BLUMMMMM! Letting parents take back their tax dollars to educate their own children as they see fit ― what an insidiously diabolical idea!

Seriously ... its time for America to catch up. Socialists in Europe embraced marked-based reforms in education long ago:

Take the case of Swedish school vouchers and pensions. School vouchers were enacted by a conservative-led government in 1992. Initially, every Swedish student had the option of using a private school voucher equivalent to 85 percent of per-pupil spending at the local public school. When the Social Democrats took power in 1994, they could have repealed this law. Instead, they chose to increase the amount of the voucher to 100 percent of public school expenditures...

Let the money follow the students. There's no reason why government-run schools should have a monopoly.

X-posted

Questions for My Liberal Friends

Are there any intelligent, rational liberals in the world? If so, I'd like to ask a few questions:

• Liberals asked Americans to hand the keys of government over to the Democrats in order to end the "Culture of Corruption." In light of the recent antics of Rod Blagojevich, William "Cold Cash" Jefferson, Charlie Rangel and other luminaries, what are liberals saying about the culture of corruption now?

• Liberals do not seem to be bothered by Obama's associations with the likes of Tony Rezko, Rod Bagojevich, William Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, and Rhashid Khalidi.  Why not?

• What do you think about gun control in India as it relates to recent events in Mumbai?

• As part of their strategy to deal with international Islamist terrorism, liberals want to address the grievances of the terrorists.  Are you familiar with the concept of operant conditioning?

• Most Americans (70% of Republicans, 62% of independents and 55% of Democrats) oppose the auto industry bailout plan, yet Democrats in Congress are poised to pass a bailout bill anyway. Why?

• How high will the price of energy have to go before you are willing to support drilling in ANWR or expanding the use of nuclear energy and coal?

• What kind of economy would be best for America?  
  

                A.  Socialist.
                B.  Communist.
                C.  Fascist.
                D.  Capitalist.

• Obama has stated that he is in favor of tax increases (for reasons of "fairness") even when they result in DECREASES in revenue for the government.  Do you support Obama's thinking on this issue?  What do you know about the Laffer Curve?

• Do you still believe that Obama will increase the tax burden only for individuals making $250,000  or more per year?  Are you going to hold him to that promise?

• Liberals support progressive taxation for redistribution of wealth.  With which other Marxist principles do you agree? With which Marxist principles do you disagree?

• Obama has outlined a intentionally vague health care agenda.  His health care czar, Tom Daschle wants to push a bare-bones health care bill through congress as soon as possible after Obama is elected.  A Federal Health Board would be charged with establishing the system's framework and filling in most of the details. This independent board would be insulated from political pressure.  Does this in any way strike you as undemocratic?

• Liberals have consistently opposed voter identification laws aimed at reducing voter fraud.  Why?

• Many Americans (particularly minorities) say that their children are trapped in failing schools.  Nationwide, 52 percent of parents, and 59 percent of public school parents, support school choice.  87 percent of black parents aged 26-35 and 66.4 percent of blacks aged 18-25 support vouchers.  Liberals consistently oppose school choice.  Why?

• Obama was asked, "At what point does a baby get human rights?" His response: "...answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade." Based on his leadership in opposition to the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act, Obama has demonstrated that he believes that a baby gets human rights at an unspecified time AFTER he or she is born.  My question to liberals: is infanticide acceptable?

• Is there anything Obama could do to lose your support?  If so, what?

More

Funny Video: Comedians vs. Blago 

1st Vietnamese-American elected to US Congress.

Voters Oust Indicted Congressman in Louisiana.

Seven Blago questions for Obama

Barack Obama campaign raised nearly $1 billion, shattering records.

Barack Obama plans to reach out to Muslim world.

Is school choice popular?

Six in 10 oppose auto bailout, poll shows.

A nation too ignorant to be free?

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."  Thomas Jefferson

Do we live in a nation that is too ignorant for the responsibilities of freedom? Consider these staggering facts:

• Seventy-one percent of Americans failed a 33-question multiple choice civic-literacy survey conducted by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Among 2,508 respondents ISI randomly selected, 1,791 failed this test of U.S. historical, political, and economic basics. The average score was 49%, a solid "F". 
  
• Fewer than half of all Americans could name all three branches of government.
  
• Forty percent of college graduates did no not know that corporate profits equal revenues minus expenses. 
  
• Only 24% of college grads knew that the First Amendment forbids the establishment of an official U.S. religion.
  
• Officeholders have less civic knowledge than the general public. On average, they scored 44%, five percentage points lower than non-officeholders.  
• Thirty percent of elected officials did not know that “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are the inalienable rights referred to in the Declaration of Independence.
  
• Only 21% of respondents correctly identified Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address as the source of the words “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” But 56% properly named Paula Abdul as a judge on American Idol.
  
• Republicans scored 52%; Democrats scored 45%.
  

A post-election Zogby Poll showed that Obama voters were especially ill-informed. Just 2% of voters who supported Barack Obama on Election Day obtained perfect or near-perfect scores on a post election test which gauged their knowledge of statements and scandals associated with the presidential tickets during the campaign.

• 57% of Obama voters were unable to correctly answer that Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate.
  
• Nearly half (47%) did not know that Joe Biden was the one who predicted Obama would be tested by a generated international crisis during his first six months as President.
  
• Most (56%) were also not able to correctly answer that Obama started his political career at the home of two former members of the Weather Underground.
  
• 86% correctly identified Palin as the candidate associated with a $150,000 wardrobe purchased by her political party
  
• 81% correctly chose McCain as the candidate who was unable to identify the number of houses he owned.
  

Why is America so poorly educated and so poorly informed?  The public education system bears most of the blame.  Public schools "educate" most of the children in this country and set the bar for private schools.  "The reality of private school education in America is that, with some outstanding exceptions, most seek to stay just one notch or two ahead of public schools. Too many private schools follow the lead of the public schools in low achievement expectations, unproven teaching methodologies and curricula, and social engineering, such as sex ed, counseling, and mandatory community service."  

What can we do to improve education in America almost immediately?  Implement a voucher system to give parents school choice.  When parents have the the power to choose, schools are forced to compete and improve.  Unfortunately, this simple solution is one that will be very difficult to implement.  Neal Boortz describes the problem very well:

"[Public school] teachers go to sleep at night worrying about vouchers...  You do understand why these teachers fear vouchers as they do, don't you?  These teachers are unionized.  Their jobs are all but guaranteed.  It's terribly difficult to fire them.  Generally speaking, there is no requirement that they do their job!  They have a monopoly!  The government provides them with a place to work, pays their salaries, and works hard to prevent competition!"  

Destroy the education monopoly with school choice, and job security for poorly performing teachers and administrators will evaporate.  Therefore, unless Americans force the issue, the extremely powerful teachers unions aren't going to allow school choice to become reality.

To better appreciate the absurdity of our public education system and why our education resources are misused, consider Boortz's grocery store analogy:

"...Let's say that about 100 years ago someone came up with the brilliant idea of establishing a system of government-run grocery stores.  To make sure that every American got enough to eat, local governments created a nutrition tax.  All property owners had to pay a nutrition tax every year amounting to thousands of dollars.  Under this great government plan you are assigned to a grocery store when you move into a neighborhood.  Every year the local government creates a credit for you at this grocery store; an account in your name.  When you want to buy groceries you have to go to this store and no other.  

"Would your assigned grocery store feel any pressure to make sure that you get the best quality foods?  Would this grocery store work hard to determine what its customers want?  Would you be assured of the latest technology and products?  The answer to all of these questions is, of course, no!  Competition? There IS no competition! The citizen's money is taken away from him by force and put into an account at one particular grocery store, and no other store.  If you want to go to a private, non-government-operated grocery store you are going to have to dig into your own pockets and spend even more money!  You're trapped, and the grocery store managers and employees know it."  

This is the joke that is the public education system in the U.S.

Voters need basic knowledge in order to choose their leaders wisely.  Leaders need basic knowledge in order to perform their jobs.  Because of widespread ignorance, the United States is a nation at risk.  To introduce competition that will save money, provide better education, and prepare our children for the responsibilities freedom, support school choice.

"Promote then as an object of primary importance, Institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened."  George Washington

America's Report Card

Government Education and Government Grocery Stores

A Nation Held Back By (Lack of) Education

Universal Publicly-Funded School Choice  (An excellent video)

The cost of a voucher system

Zogby Poll: Almost No Obama Voters Ace Election Test

Low IQ alert!  Interviews with Obama Voters

Mein Kampus

The voters are not symetrically ignorant.

Civics Quiz

Are you more knowledgeable than the average citizen? The average score for all 2,508 Americans taking the following test was 49%; college educators scored 55%. Can you do better?