I hate to pick on Tim Pawlenty since he has dropped out of the presidential race but something he said when he was in the area has been rumbling around in my head. When someone asked him about education he refused to use the term, "public education" or "public school" and instead insisted on using the term "government school." He said "if parents want to send their child to a private school they should be given that choice, if they want to home-school, why God-bless them for that, and if they need to, we should provide the best government school possible." Former Senator Santorum has used similar terms to describe public schools.
I teach at a private, faith based school, which is struggling with enrollment issues. I suggested we borrow from Pawlenty and Santorum and start referring to the local public schools as government schools and do it with the most sinister sounding sneer we can muster. My suggestion didn't meet with a positive response and I said it in jest. But when did public schools begin to be described as "government schools," or even as "indoctrination centers?" It doesn't take long on the internet to find references to both. Some might be considered to be fringe opinions but others such as Milton Friedman, wrote for the Cato Institute in 1995 that public schools should be abolished. (http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp-023.html)The blame is generally placed on teachers and the teachers unions. Sometimes government corruption and waste is mentioned. Rarely is poverty, the lack of resources, and poor parenting mentioned. The solution most suggested is to give family vouchers and letting them choose where to go. Never mind that the amount of the voucher would generally only cover 1/3 to 1/2 of the tuition most private schools charge. In other words, I don't think it would work.
One surprising line I ran across was from Milton Friedman, the supply-side economist who won a Nobel Prize back in the 90's. It goes as follows, "If the widening of the wage differential is allowed to proceed unchecked, it threatens to create within our own country a social problem of major proportions. We shall not be willing to see a group of our population move into Third World conditions at the same time that another group of our population becomes increasingly well off. Such stratification is a recipe for social disaster." Friedman wrote this in 1995. It now seems as some folks think it would be best if the difference in wealth was encouraged, or at least they don't see it as a problem. And in that context, it seems some, including Presidential candidates, think it is time to get rid of public schools, effectively consigning many citizens to a permanent underclass.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Iowa straw poll and political organizing
“The former Minnesota governor has a platoon of smart political operatives in his corner and is thought to have the best ground game in the state. But despite planting an early flag in Iowa and improving his performance on the stump in recent weeks, the Midwesterner remains stuck in single-digits in state polls.” CNN article
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/08/13/iowa.straw.poll/index.html
“In case I hadn’t sent this information to you, here is the specific information for our straw poll bus. I apologize for the time I’m sending this, but I sat down with my computer a few hours ago, and almost immediately fell asleep!!” excerpt from an email sent by the Pawlenty organizer at 1:30 am Saturday morning.
The Republican’s held their straw poll today in Ames to raise money. I was tempted to go, especially after the Pawlenty people called and offered me a free bus ride and a ticket (worth $30) to get into the event. But we start school Monday and I had some other things planned for the day, plus it would have ticked off the wife.
The line from the CNN article about the Pawlenty organization having “the best ground game in the state” made me chuckle. When I went to see him in Washington, there were less than 25 people present to hear him. Even Dennis Kucinich had more people than that show up to his events four years ago. At the event they asked if I wanted to go to the straw poll, to which I said “I hadn’t made up my mind yet.” This morning I got an email from one of his workers who make up “the best ground game in the state.” Frankly it was too late, but the offer of a Pawlenty t-shirt made me think twice.
Santorum was no better, with only 18 people present. That included the camera women and a newspaper reporter. I talked to his volunteer after the event who said he had driven over from Des Moines. I asked if they had anyone local and he wasn’t sure. He said one of the volunteers was originally from Keota but he was working out of Des Moines. Someone from Bachmann’s campaign called to ask if I would support her in the straw poll. I asked if she was going to be in Washington County any time soon because I would like to see her first He said, “I think she is going to be in Cedar Falls tomorrow. That should be close. Unfortunately it would be at least a two hour drive from Washington County so I told him she would have to do better.
All of these guys have made fun of President Obama and his experience as a community organizer. He certainly hasn’t been a perfect President, but at least he knew how to run a campaign. The people he had working for him locally in the last election were impressive and they made sure they knew the state well. They targeted high school government teachers and developed some creative class room activities to help students understand the caucus system. They kept it “non-partisan” but it certainly didn’t hurt that they were cute, handsome, articulate, very engaging, and they just happened to have campaign giveaways to hand out, if anybody wanted them. If Pawlenty has the best ground game in the state, I hate to imagine how bad some of the other campaigns are organized.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/08/13/iowa.straw.poll/index.html
“In case I hadn’t sent this information to you, here is the specific information for our straw poll bus. I apologize for the time I’m sending this, but I sat down with my computer a few hours ago, and almost immediately fell asleep!!” excerpt from an email sent by the Pawlenty organizer at 1:30 am Saturday morning.
The Republican’s held their straw poll today in Ames to raise money. I was tempted to go, especially after the Pawlenty people called and offered me a free bus ride and a ticket (worth $30) to get into the event. But we start school Monday and I had some other things planned for the day, plus it would have ticked off the wife.
The line from the CNN article about the Pawlenty organization having “the best ground game in the state” made me chuckle. When I went to see him in Washington, there were less than 25 people present to hear him. Even Dennis Kucinich had more people than that show up to his events four years ago. At the event they asked if I wanted to go to the straw poll, to which I said “I hadn’t made up my mind yet.” This morning I got an email from one of his workers who make up “the best ground game in the state.” Frankly it was too late, but the offer of a Pawlenty t-shirt made me think twice.
Santorum was no better, with only 18 people present. That included the camera women and a newspaper reporter. I talked to his volunteer after the event who said he had driven over from Des Moines. I asked if they had anyone local and he wasn’t sure. He said one of the volunteers was originally from Keota but he was working out of Des Moines. Someone from Bachmann’s campaign called to ask if I would support her in the straw poll. I asked if she was going to be in Washington County any time soon because I would like to see her first He said, “I think she is going to be in Cedar Falls tomorrow. That should be close. Unfortunately it would be at least a two hour drive from Washington County so I told him she would have to do better.
All of these guys have made fun of President Obama and his experience as a community organizer. He certainly hasn’t been a perfect President, but at least he knew how to run a campaign. The people he had working for him locally in the last election were impressive and they made sure they knew the state well. They targeted high school government teachers and developed some creative class room activities to help students understand the caucus system. They kept it “non-partisan” but it certainly didn’t hurt that they were cute, handsome, articulate, very engaging, and they just happened to have campaign giveaways to hand out, if anybody wanted them. If Pawlenty has the best ground game in the state, I hate to imagine how bad some of the other campaigns are organized.
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Rick Santorum
Rick Santorum is running for President. If you don’t know this, it isn’t because he hasn’t campaigned hard enough, raised enough money, or put enough commercials on television. “It is because the liberal media doesn’t want you to know about him because I (he) has the best chance of beating Obama.” “The liberal media is ignoring him because they don’t want him to succeed.” Never mind that at an 8:00 am town hall in Washington, Iowa, whose newspaper could hardly be described as liberal, (it is hard to even describe it as a newspaper) there were only 18 people present to greet the former Senator Santorum.
Santorum entered the room at the Washington Library at 8:10. He went around the room shaking the hands of all eighteen people, asking our names, and offering the occasional “God bless you for being here.” He introduced himself and talked for the next 30 – 35 minutes before opening up for questions.
In his remarks he talked about why he decided to run for President. We got the sob story right away as he told us about his grandpa, a World War I vet who immigrated to the United States from northern Italy in 1927. He didn’t quite make it clear that his grandfather fought in the Italian army so I doubt some of the 18 folks in the audience figured out that he was not a U.S. veteran. The grandfather “came for freedom and scratched out a living, scratching out the ore in the mines of Pennsylvania.” As Santorum put it, his, “grandfather came for freedom, not government mandates.”
A lesson in American history ensued as he explained to us that at its core, “America is a moral enterprise.” He did some expository preaching on the Declaration of Independence explaining that “the pursuit of happiness” is not “licentiousness,” something he pinned on the far left and far right of both parties. In this section he sounded more and more like a preacher delivering a sermon with great conviction.
Next on the list was healthcare and the dangers of “Obamacare.” He told us that in 1776 life expectancy was 46 and that at the time of Jesus the life expectancy was 46. Instead of telling us he wants to lower life expectancy, he said that in the U.S. life expectancy doubled as “we released individual freedoms coupled with moral teachings.” In his view the healthcare bill takes away freedom and morality, leading to his conclusion that “if we don’t defeat Obama we will be the generation that gave freedom away.”
The first question was “Can Obamacare be gotten rid of?” As he answered it became clear he wasn’t going to take a lot of questions because he took 10 minutes to answer each one and he was scheduled to leave at 9:00. Santorum gave a lesson on the three branches of government and the need to control the legislative bodies, but he told us his “first promise is to get rid of Obamacare.” He then went on to talk about the need for a balanced budget amendment, plus the story of how he almost got us one but that John McCain and George W. pulled the carpet out from underneath him.
As he rambled on about cutting I raised my hand and asked if it would be necessary to cut defense spending in order to balance the budget. He asked what the main purpose of government is and quoted the preamble for me and said he would prefer not to cut defense spending. That it was really the only function the federal government should be worried about, that State’s should take care of everything else.
The next question was about his support for Israel. He told us he was the strongest supporter of Israel one could be, then moved to a criticism of current US policy in the Middle East. Here he argued that Obama has been supportive of the critics of the US (Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood) while throwing our friends, (Mubarek) under the bus.
The last question was from a middle-aged women concerned about the distortions of the liberal media. After he finished, he shook everybody’s hand again. When he got to me, he thanked me for my concern and asked what I do. I told him I was a history teacher which he seemed to like. I said that in the midst of his talking about freedom and individualism I wondered about the concept of the “public good.” He referred me to a book he had written but talked until his aid pulled him away.
He seems like a nice guy, but frankly when you read more about some of his positions he is on the scary side, at least if you have a libertarian bent. Outside of Iowa and some real conservative states, he doesn’t have a chance of winning and it doesn’t have to do with the liberal media.
Santorum entered the room at the Washington Library at 8:10. He went around the room shaking the hands of all eighteen people, asking our names, and offering the occasional “God bless you for being here.” He introduced himself and talked for the next 30 – 35 minutes before opening up for questions.
In his remarks he talked about why he decided to run for President. We got the sob story right away as he told us about his grandpa, a World War I vet who immigrated to the United States from northern Italy in 1927. He didn’t quite make it clear that his grandfather fought in the Italian army so I doubt some of the 18 folks in the audience figured out that he was not a U.S. veteran. The grandfather “came for freedom and scratched out a living, scratching out the ore in the mines of Pennsylvania.” As Santorum put it, his, “grandfather came for freedom, not government mandates.”
A lesson in American history ensued as he explained to us that at its core, “America is a moral enterprise.” He did some expository preaching on the Declaration of Independence explaining that “the pursuit of happiness” is not “licentiousness,” something he pinned on the far left and far right of both parties. In this section he sounded more and more like a preacher delivering a sermon with great conviction.
Next on the list was healthcare and the dangers of “Obamacare.” He told us that in 1776 life expectancy was 46 and that at the time of Jesus the life expectancy was 46. Instead of telling us he wants to lower life expectancy, he said that in the U.S. life expectancy doubled as “we released individual freedoms coupled with moral teachings.” In his view the healthcare bill takes away freedom and morality, leading to his conclusion that “if we don’t defeat Obama we will be the generation that gave freedom away.”
The first question was “Can Obamacare be gotten rid of?” As he answered it became clear he wasn’t going to take a lot of questions because he took 10 minutes to answer each one and he was scheduled to leave at 9:00. Santorum gave a lesson on the three branches of government and the need to control the legislative bodies, but he told us his “first promise is to get rid of Obamacare.” He then went on to talk about the need for a balanced budget amendment, plus the story of how he almost got us one but that John McCain and George W. pulled the carpet out from underneath him.
As he rambled on about cutting I raised my hand and asked if it would be necessary to cut defense spending in order to balance the budget. He asked what the main purpose of government is and quoted the preamble for me and said he would prefer not to cut defense spending. That it was really the only function the federal government should be worried about, that State’s should take care of everything else.
The next question was about his support for Israel. He told us he was the strongest supporter of Israel one could be, then moved to a criticism of current US policy in the Middle East. Here he argued that Obama has been supportive of the critics of the US (Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood) while throwing our friends, (Mubarek) under the bus.
The last question was from a middle-aged women concerned about the distortions of the liberal media. After he finished, he shook everybody’s hand again. When he got to me, he thanked me for my concern and asked what I do. I told him I was a history teacher which he seemed to like. I said that in the midst of his talking about freedom and individualism I wondered about the concept of the “public good.” He referred me to a book he had written but talked until his aid pulled him away.
He seems like a nice guy, but frankly when you read more about some of his positions he is on the scary side, at least if you have a libertarian bent. Outside of Iowa and some real conservative states, he doesn’t have a chance of winning and it doesn’t have to do with the liberal media.
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