I'm Still Proud to be an American

 

One of the big stories over this holiday weekend was about the erosion of pride in America by its citizens.  According to Gallup, only 38% of our citizens are “extremely proud” to be an American.  That is the lowest number for that measure since Gallup began this survey back in 2001.  At first, this number left me a bit depressed, but then I asked myself – has our history changed?  Have we just recently learned about the Civil War, Jim Crow or the assassination of Martin Luther King or Bobby Kennedy?  Have we really lost freedom?  Has the sedition act of 1918 been reenacted, denying Americans the right to criticize our country?  The answer to both of these questions, thankfully, was no.

Our history hasn’t changed at all.  It is just being taught differently.  Gone is the balance where our children learn about the amazing evolution our country has gone through as a result of the wisdom of our Founding Fathers as well as the challenges and missteps that we have experienced along the way.  Today, media concentrates on the negative and constantly proves Abraham Lincoln’s famous adage – If you look for the bad in people (or countries) expecting to find it, you surely will.

Every country has its warts – China, France, England, Russia, etc.  Our country does also.  I could argue we have fewer warts than these countries, some of which continue to have HUGE problems even today.  Compared to these countries, America has a much shorter and actually a more laudable history.  I won’t even get into how we fought a bloody Civil War to end slavery here or how we saved Europe (twice).  I also won’t talk about how we put a man on the moon and established to world’s greatest economy which accounts for over 24% of the world’s GDP while representing only 4% of its population.  Instead, I will take you back to the amazing founding of our country.

Our country did not begin in 1619 as some suggest, but in 1776 with a Declaration of Independence from England sent to the King of England at the time, George III.   Thomas Jefferson, possibly our smartest President, included in that document the key principles on which our country was founded.  The first principle was that, that “all men are created equal”.  Even though he knew that was not true at that time, he was committing our country to reach that standard over time.  The second principle that Jefferson espoused was that “we are endowed by our creator (not the king or any government) with certain unalienable rights, (and) that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.  These principles empowered our citizens and delivered the greatest country this world has ever known.

For the next 10 years our country was guided by this document and the Articles of Confederation.  Then, in 1787 a miracle of wisdom and compromise occurred in Philadelphia called the Constitutional Convention.  At that time, 55 of America’s most discerning men attended the convention to pound out a framework that would shepherd the people who would run our government, and POUND they did.  There were many contentious issues in that day.  Big states and small states fought over what our Congress should look like.  This led to the establishment of our bicameral Congress with a House of Representatives, driven by population, and the Senate with equal representation.  There were commerce issues between manufacturing states and agrarian states, and of course states rights, in light of this new federal government, was a very thorny issue at that time.  Many of the 55 delegates even refused to sign the finished document until a Bill of Rights was added in 1791.  

This sense of compromise is something that we have lost recently and must reacquire for the good of our country.  Let’s take the issue of abortion as an example.  When our current Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade recently, which even Ruth Bader Ginsburg would have supported, rather than search for a solution, Democrats in particular began spreading misinformation, hate and even violence.  What we need now in this case is a spirit of compromise that existed at the very beginning of our country.

I, for example, am unapologetically pro-life, but I at least can admit that I understand the concerns of the other side.  Thus, I support exceptions for rape and incest and the life of the mother.  I even understand the “regret” some women might have when experiencing an unwanted pregnancy.  This is why I still support Bill Clinton’s well know position on abortion, which is that it should be “Legal, Safe and Rare”. I would accept, for example, early stage abortions (maybe 15 to 20 weeks) after the woman involved was informed of all of her options, including adoption, and has been presented an ultrasound image.  

Don’t tell me that the radical pro-abortion supporters can’t understand the concerns that millions of Americans might have about ending the life of a baby in the birth canal after nine months of gestation.  We, as a country, need to stop listening to these extremists and come together to develop compromise solutions that work for the entire country and not for the fringe elements of either side of our political spectrum.

The good news is that the fanatics are losing.  People are flocking to states like Florida to escape the “woke” mobs and even companies like Netflix have begun to tell their “woke” workers to get a different job if they continue to be offended by virtually everything.  The other good news can be found a little deeper in the Gallup poll that I referenced in my opening paragraph.  While only 38% of Americans are “extremely proud” of our country, another 27% are “very proud” and 22% say they are “moderately proud” of America.  Only 4% of our citizens are “not at all” proud of America, and this is with the media and politicians doing their best to run down our country day in and day out.  America is still the greatest country on earth, which is why millions of people are pouring over our southern border to get here.  If you have money to spare – Bet on America.

Where is America on the Abortion Issue?

 

The next few years will be very interesting as the recent overturning of Roe v Wade is digested by the states.  The reality is that neither political party’s extreme positions are popular with the American people.  The left’s current fanatical position of abortion on demand includes aborting a child up to the moment of birth.  Former governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, even talked about abortion AFTER birth.  Believe me, America is not there.  A recent Rasmussen poll showed that only 13% of Americans support abortion up to the point of birth, which is the true position of Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat Party.  THAT is why, despite all of Nancy’s blustering, the Dems would not codify their position on abortion even if they kept the House in 2022.  It is too radical and extremely unpopular.

On the other side of the equation, a Marist poll done in 2021 showed that only 12% of American’s believed that abortion should not be legal under any circumstances.  That number only goes up to 28% when you include abortions performed as a result of rape or incest or to save the life of the mother.  These numbers are even too low to pass laws totally eliminating the possibility of an abortion in the most conservative of states.  

Bill Clinton probably had the best political position on abortion.  He suggested that abortion should be, “legal, safe and rare”.  That, I believe is where America is.  States like New York, Colorado and Oregon might be able to maintain their current abortion on demand laws, and California might join them.  We’ll see.  Actually, the Mississippi law just upheld by the Supreme Court which allows abortion up to 15 weeks of conception would be a good compromise.  We will see, but if you want to understand what that compromise might be and why, just click on the attached link to watch a video that I put together almost ten years ago on that subject.  It’s amazing how things really don’t change.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Varfz_lE9JE

The Truth About Lying

Lying and politics seem to go hand-in-hand, and everyone seems to just accept that fact.  According to Forbes magazine in 2019, members of Congress (Politicians) were the least trusted profession in America by a wide margin.  According to Forbes, 58% of the country believe that these politicians have either low or very low levels of honesty.  That number trounced the second least trusted profession, car sales people, by 14 percentage points as they were mistrusted by 44% of the country.  Politicians are clearly in a league of their own when it comes to lying.

And of course, there are many ways to lie.  Politicians can lie right to our faces like when Richard Nixon vowed that he had no knowledge of the Watergate coverup.  Then we had Bill Clinton promise that he, “never had sex with that woman” and Barack Obama assured us that, “if you like your (insurance) plan, you can keep it” which earned him 4 Pinocchios from the Washington Post.  These are just a few examples of in-your-face lies, which is child’s play when it comes to the true masters of this art.  Politicians have figured out how to deceive us even when they are stating facts.  Let me give you a few recent examples.

Today, there is a great debate about why our gas prices are so high.  Many believe it is because the current administration is strangling our oil industry in their misguided (in my opinion) transition out of fossil fuels.  I was sitting on my couch watching the news when I heard the President say that we are producing more oil today than in President Trump’s first year in office.  That sounded like an odd comparison to me.  First of all, that was over four years ago, and in any President’s first term that person’s results are mostly driven by the policies of his or her predecessor.  So, I looked into it.

And in fact, that statement is correct.  In January of 2017, we as a country were producing 8.9 million barrels of oil a day, and today we are producing about 11.5 million barrels a day.  The impression he was trying to give was that he was maximizing our efforts to produce oil now to bring down prices of gasoline here in the US and around the world.  However, in January of 2021, at the end of Trump’s Presidency, our oil industry was producing over 13.1 million barrels per day.  So, we are, in fact, producing LESS oil today than at the END of Trump’s Presidency at a time when we should be producing more.  Clever deception!

When it comes to job creation, we are constantly being told that this administration has created more jobs in its first year than any other Presidential administration in American history.  While it is true that the 14.1 million jobs created in 2021 was far more than any other year in American history.  What they don’t remind you of is that in the year before (2020) we knowingly vaporized over 20.1 million jobs as we closed down restaurants, gyms and thousands of nonessential small businesses in an attempt to curb the impact of the pandemic.  The real truth is that any President who took office in 2021 would “create” (really replace) millions of jobs as we reopened our economy.  In fact, you could argue that the 14.1 million jobs created could have been even higher with different policies, but they are not going to tell you that, of course.  Slick deception.  

Finally, we must talk about the pride that this administration is taking in their deficit reduction results.  Is it true that our national deficit went down in 2021 vs 2020?  This would suggest that this administration is being fiscally conservative.  But we have to look deeper at all the facts before we make an intelligent judgement.  In Trump’s first three years, our deficit averaged about $800 billion a year and his worst year was $984 billion.  In 2020 our country’s deficit was $3,132 billion as Trump tried to fight the pandemic and keep our citizens out of bread lines as we shut down our economy.  Billions were spent on project Warp Speed, replacing and creating Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), the Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) and an extension and enhancement of unemployment benefits.  In Joe Biden’s first year in office our deficit was $2,772 billion, only a $360 billion reduction compared to the actual year of the pandemic, and he wanted to spend TRILLIONS more on his Build Back Better (Broke) plan.  This is hardly fiscal conservatism, although that’s what he is trying to get us to believe.  Whoever is writing Joe Biden’s speeches is a real master of the art of deceiving with the facts.

I won’t even get into the data gymnastics that Secretary Mayorkas is employing to suggest that our southern border is closed while over two million illegal aliens will cross into The United States each year in his first two years. Those two years will each represent all-time records, smashing the past record by almost 25%. Here is a couple of real facts.  Our politicians will lie right to our faces, so be on the lookout for that.  Also, they will tell you the truth and suggest improper conclusions to those facts.  This is more difficult to identify, but unfortunately that is the challenge they constantly give us.

 

Heart Control vs Gun Control

             Yesterday, America was shocked and heartbroken at the news that we had experienced yet another school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.  It appears that 21 lives were snuffed out for no apparent reason and hundreds, if not thousands, will be changed forever, and not for the better.  In the immediate wake of this tragedy, it was time for the country to be shocked and to grieve over this senseless violent act and loss of life.  I think we would all argue that it was an appropriate time for the President of The United States to address the nation in an effort to soothe the aching hearts of the country and to unite us around our shared anguish and desire to help the victims; and then came Joe Biden!

            For the first couple of minutes I thought he was going to finally deliver on his inaugural speech promise of uniting the country during this difficult moment.  He was appropriately sad and spoke of the senseless loss of life and the challenges that these families would face to overcome this personal disaster.  He then quickly shifted to a message of anger, and interestingly, not an anger at the disturbed young man who killed these children and two teachers, but an anger at his political opponents.  Before the bodies had been counted and identified, before all the facts were in, he spent most of the speech dividing the country once again along ideological lines.

It is my opinion that this anger and hatred is being constantly infused into our country’s bloodstream and is, in fact, the cause of all of the escalating violence, including school shootings, in America.  From Maxine Waters’ screaming declaration that her political opponents weren’t, “welcome here (in America) anymore” to Chuck Schumer’s threat to Supreme Court Justices to Joe Biden’s condemnation of the horse-riding border guards, our political discourse has become inappropriate, hate filled and even inaccurate.  Our politicians are teaching us that it is not OK for people to have different opinions on our country’s policies.  They are training us that we must hate and condemn and demonize anyone who differs from our thinking.  And this hatred and anger is permeating our society, including our children, with tragic results.  We need heart control way more than we need gun control.

So, now that we’ve broached the concept of gun control, let’s talk a little about the origins of the 2^nd Amendment to the Constitution.  I’m not a big gun owner, but I have studied the origins and original intent of our Constitution and Bill of Rights.  The second amendment was not enumerated to protect the rights of people to hunt in 1787.  The 2nd Amendment was included in the Bill of Rights to protect “We the People” from an oppressive government which could then cancel all of our rights through brute force.

I’m not saying that there aren’t things we as a country can do to protect our schools and minimize crime and violence in our cities.  We do have some very restrictive gun laws around the country today.  Might we need more?  I don’t know, but I’m willing to listen.  How much of the $190 Billion dollars given to our schools for Covid relief has not been spent?  Could some of that be used to improve security in our schools.  I think so, and I’m willing to listen to some ideas.  The 2^nd Amendment, however, is not going away no matter how much Beto O’Rourke wants to go door to door and confiscate America’s (at least Texas’) guns.  Can we do more?  Sure, but that will require both sides of this debate to LISTEN respectfully to each other and be willing to meet in the middle.

And our children seem to be under a particularly strong assault.  They are desensitized to violence and death through video games, movies and today’s music.  Schools that teach oppressor vs victim philosophies are not uniting them but turning both groups against each other.  Finally, if you study the beginnings of the explosion of school shooting deaths in America, there is a direct correlation between those shootings and America’s effort to take God out of our schools in the 1960’s. Bringing God and optional prayer and Bible study back into our public schools would certainly offer a counter balance to the violence and hate offered up by our modern-day games, movies and music. 

Let us not forget, however, the premise of this article.  We, as a country, need a change of hearts more than a change in our gun laws.  How do we do that?  First, we must change our own hearts.  We need to listen to those who disagree with us instead of condemning them immediately before we even understand their positions.  And even beyond listening, we must seek to understand.  When we do this, we will find compromise that will satisfy both sides of any disagreement.  We must avoid the temptation to condemn, hate and dehumanize.  That change alone will enrich each of our lives and unite our country around common ground and common decency.

We must also reject the purveyors of anger, hostility and disregard for others.  If it is a politician, that’s easy.  Vote them out of office.  If it is the media, which it often is, stop reading, cancel your subscription or change the channel.  They will eventually get the message and change their direction or go out of business.  We must let our political leaders and information venues know that “We the People” are in charge and we won’t take the division, disdain and fearmongering any longer. I’m praying for our country. Amen.

 

Another Thing Joe Isn't - An Economist

 

Back in November of 2020 I didn’t vote for Joe Biden because of what he was.  I voted against him because of what I thought he wasn’t.  Joe Biden is currently 79 years old and will be within a couple of weeks of being 82 in November of 2024 if he decides to run again.  In 2020 I didn’t think he was a dynamic, energetic, astute man capable of taking on one of the toughest jobs on earth.  In fact, he spent most of his campaign hiding in his basement, not answering questions even from the friendly media that was more than willing to fawn over him.  

Joe is also NOT a uniter.  He has now finally taken his “unity” mask off and revealed to the country exactly who he is.  He is a divider at every opportunity.  In his inaugural speech, unity was a main theme.  Some could argue that it was THE main theme.  That gave me a glimmer of hope that this old political dog could actually learn a couple of new tricks.  First, maybe he was actually telling the truth and, second, maybe he was planning to work with the minority party, which is what this election demanded.  With a 50-50 Senate and a razor thin majority in the House the only “mandate” that could have been suggested is a mandate for cooperation.  But Joe finally and thoroughly snuffed out that hope when, according to his staff, he declared he, “no longer plans to work with Republicans.”  These are not the words of unity but of a repressive, authoritarian and possibly paranoid administration.

And finally, we can now all be certain that our President is not an economist.  I was watching the news late last week when President Biden came on and announced that his plan to solve our inflation problem was to raise taxes on greedy corporations and the ultra-rich billionaires in our country.  I turned to my wife and said, “What the heck does that have to do with solving inflation?”  OK, for those who know me well, I didn’t say “heck”.  

If Milton Friedman had still been alive, I’m sure he would have refuted that thinking, but thankfully, this statement was so ridiculous that even the left-wing owner of the Washington Post, Jeff Bezos, had to reject it.  Bezos said, and I quote, “maybe they (the Whitehouse, the Dems, whatever) need to form a new non sequitur board instead.”  BTW – non sequitur refers to a statement that does not logically follow from or is not clearly related to anything previous said.  In other words, an illogical statement.  Bezos continued by saying, “Raising corporate taxes is fine to discuss.  Taming inflation is critical to discuss.  Mushing them together is just misdirection.” 

In this case, I have to agree with Bezos.  Taxing the rich is a pathetic appeal to low-income people in America in an effort to buy their votes.  It suggests that somehow our government will take that money from the ultra-rich and give it to them.  That, of course, will never happen.  But even if it did, it would not have any impact on inflation. That move does not decrease the money supply and if anything, it reduces the productivity of the country by encouraging people not to go back to work.  Increasing the taxes on corporations could also lead to an increase in unemployment as those companies adjust to protect their profitability.  

Joe can say the craziest things, so we as citizens of this country have to think hard about what he is saying and the implications that his policies will have on our lives.  And there is at least one more thing the Joe isn’t.  He just told us that he is not “a mind reader” in answer to what he could have done about the baby formula shortage we are currently experiencing in the country today.  The Abbott production facility at the center of this scarcity was closed in January.  Joe received at least one letter from Congresswoman Elise Stefanik in February warning about the shortage that was about to happen.  Maybe Joe needs to be a lip-reader, or turn up his hearing aid or just read his damn mail.  If he had, we might not even have had to suffer through this chaotic shortage caused by government incompetence.

What America needs is a President who IS a number of things.  He should be a uniting influence in The United States of America.  He or she needs to recognize the kindness, generosity and strength of the vast majority of American people instead of constantly magnifying the tiny thimble full of deplorables that exist here and throughout the world.  That person needs to listen to and work with the minority party which represents half of the country as the 2020 elections suggest.  He needs to be a great communicator to clearly speak to the American people and reassure them that the country is heading in the right direction.  Our President also needs to be wise, and support policies that will move us forward. Embrace an “all of the above” energy policy to bring down the price of gas today and invest in renewables for the future.  Secure our southern border, so that we can even begin thinking about what to do with the people who are already here in our country illegally.  Our President should project a positive vision for the country and the policies that will deliver it instead of an angry old man who is trying to blame everyone else for our problems.  President Biden quoted Harry Truman early is his Presidency when he said, “the buck stops here”.  It’s time he started to deliver on that promise.  

Roe, Roe, Roe Your Vote

 

The current administration finds itself in a dilemma.  They have no real accomplishments to run on.  They are underwater in the polls on almost every issue that Americans care about such as the economy, border security, inflation and crime.  Thus, they are grasping at straws for any issue that might help them in November, and along came Roe v Wade.  And now the far left is on a campaign of fearmongering, hatred, violence and even misinformation to excite their base.  Too bad the newly proposed Ministry of Truth isn’t up and running with its proposed leader Nina “Mary Poppins” Jankowicz.

So maybe the first thing we should clear up is – what did Justice Blackmun say in his majority opinion on Roe v Wade.  First, Blackmun defendeded the rights of states to limit abortions.  He, in fact, wrote, “a State may properly assert important interests in safeguarding health, in maintaining medical standards, and in protecting potential life.”  He also did NOT support abortion on demand with no limits, as is the Democrat Party position.  His actual words were, “the right (to an abortion), nonetheless, is not absolute and is subject to some limitations; and that at some point the state interests as to protection of health, medical standards, and prenatal life, become dominant.”

Next, we should clear up what Justice Alito said in his draft.  Many people, maybe most, believe that an overturn of Roe v Wade will make abortion illegal across the country.  Alito, however, made it very clear that the decision on abortion will simply be transferred to the states, where most constitutional scholars, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, believe it should rest.  Currently, abortion is not illegal in ANY state in the union.  Half of the states limit abortions to what has been defined as “viability”.  18 more states limit it to 20 weeks, which is very close to the viability definition (today), but the remaining seven have no limit.  So, the Alito draft does not make abortion illegal.  Far from it.  Maybe Mary Poppins should be singing about that little piece of misinformation.

The leak of Justice Alito’s draft opinion, which has been argued to be criminal, has unleashed other illegal activity by the alt-left.  Certainly, we can all understand that vandalism and destruction of property is criminal, but there are also laws that protect the Supreme Court Justices and churches from harassment and intimidation, and those laws are being violated as I write this article.  I believe this administration will lose ground with all but their most rabid base if they do not vociferously condemn these actions.  A single tweet by Jen Psaki will not cut it.  

Now, what does the Alito draft opinion actually say.  First, it suggests that Roe v Wade was bad law from the beginning and in that respect compares it to Plessy v Ferguson, which codified the “separate but equal” concept.  Plessy was passed by a 7-1 vote back in 1896 and stood as a precedent until it was overturned almost 60 years later in 1954 through the Brown v The Board of Education unanimous opinion.

Alito also suggests that Roe was passed in 1973 by ignoring precedents set in the states.  He suggested that to create a Constitutional right controlled at the federal level, that right had to be “rooted in our Nation's history and tradition”.  In 1973, no state in the Union had recognized that right, and Blackmun simply failed to point that out in his opinion.  Since that time, however, every state has created that right with its own limitations in mind, and that is where that decision should lie.  Alito made it clear that abortion rights were not being eliminated, but simply given to the states.  

He also made it clear that this decision did NOT apply to any other rights currently claimed in this country. The fearmongering and misinformation about other rights that could be eliminated, like interracial marriage, birth control and same-sex marriage is patently absurd.  Alito’s actual words were, "Nothing in this opinion should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion".  Ask Justice Thomas, who has been part of an interracial marriage since 1987, if he would vote to overturn the national right for interracial marriage.

One more challenge that should be made to bring some sanity to this discussion is the assertion by the pro-abortion community that it is “my body, my choice”.  The reality is that the baby in the mother’s womb is a completely different and unique DNA that has never existed before and will never exist again.  It is not the mother’s body, and she and the rest of society have a responsibility to protect it.  The yet to be born are the truly voiceless.

It is my opinion that all of this misinformation about the fate of abortion rights in America will not work for the Dems because the vast majority of the American people do not align with their position of abortion on demand up to the time of birth.  Almost 70% of the country believe in limiting abortion to the first trimester (12 - 13 weeks).  Remember the Mississippi law would prohibit abortion after 15 weeks with exceptions for the life of the mother.  Only 7% of the country believe in completely unrestricted tax payer funded abortions, which is the Democrat Party position.  When the truth gets out, which is the responsibility of Republicans, Democrats will find that their last hope for an issue they can rally their base around has alluded them.

Choice

 

When people in The United States talk about “choice” there seems to be only one issue that comes to mind, and that is abortion.  Those who define themselves as “Pro-Choice” will tenaciously defend a woman’s right to “choose” whether to give birth to a baby that they have partnered to conceive.  My readers know that I believe that life begins at conception, but I also understand that this issue is not a simple one.  Rape, incest and protection of the life of the mother are just a few of the complicating factors that can make this “choice” difficult.  I still believe that the best political position came from Bill Clinton, when he said, “abortion should be legal, safe and RARE”.  

But I do believe strongly in the concept of “choice” in America.  In fact, our country was founded on the concept of “liberty for all”, which implies that people should have a choice to do just about everything in this country.  However, when it comes to the choice to get a Covid-19 vaccine shot or not, these same people who doggedly defend the right to choose to have an abortion mysteriously forget the very principle they have been fighting for.  And the same goes for mask wearing.

The argument that they will make is that if you don’t get a shot or wear a mask, “you are killing people”.  But let’s all recognize how ridiculous that rationalization is.  First, this disease has over a 99% survival rate, and we have long since learned that people who get the vaccine can still be infected and can transmit this disease.  People who choose not to get vaccinated or wear a mask are making a choice about the risks they are willing to take in order to live a normal life. This is a stance that even Dr. Anthony Fauci has recently suggested that we will ALL need to accept since Covid-19 may be with us forever.  People who choose not to get a shot or wear a mask may also be making a comment that they are not willing to submit to fear, especially an irrational one that has been sold to us all by our politicians and the media.

Just a side note, it is amazing that the people who support the absolute right to an abortion will use the “you’re killing people” argument against people who would decline to get the shot or wear a mask.  Can the hypocrisy get any thicker?  Abortion has a 0% survival rate for the life being aborted.  Whether you believe that a fetus is a lump of cells or a child in-the-making, as I do, you must admit that if an abortion is not performed, a child would be born in almost every case.

Another “choice” that many of these same people want to deny is the choice of a parent as to where to send their children to school.  We all pay for a public-school education through our taxes and virtually every penny of that funding goes to the public-school system.  If you would “choose” to send your children to a private school, the public-school system will keep your tax money and then you get the privilege of paying for a second education for you children through the tuition you will pay.  

What this system says is that people with resources have the “choice” to pay for two educations, but the rest of country has no choice.  Today, only about 9% of US families send their children to private schools and 91% have only one choice – public schools.  If education was a business in America, it would be considered a monopoly, which is one thing our government is supposed to protect against.  And that is because monopolies deliver high costs, poor service and virtually no innovation in a capitalistic society.

Do you know what percent of Congress people send their children to private schools?  45%.  That is five times the rate of the average American.  And, of course, virtually every US President with children of school age “chose” to send their children to private schools.  Bill Clinton and Barack Obama “chose’ to send their children to the snooty and expensive Sidwell Friends School which would cost the rests of us over $40,000 a year to “choose” to send our first grader there.  Of course, Bill said that Chelsea made that “choice”.  What a cop out.  John Kennedy actually created a school at the White House for Caroline and 10 of her closest friends, not a “choice” that the rest of us will have or could afford.

But as public schools stray from teaching the fundamentals of reading, writing and arithmetic and embracing controversial concepts like Critical Race Theory and Gender fluidity, parents need a real “choice”.  CRT is not history and it is not even fact.  It is, as its name implies, a theory that might have a place in colleges after minds have developed.  It is not, however, appropriate for impressionable five, six and seven-year-olds who can’t understand the long-term implications of their decisions.  For example, could I convince a five-year-old boy that he was actually a girl if I had access to him for six hours a day and almost 200 days a year.   Certainly, but is that my job?

In America, shouldn’t our average or even poorer citizens have the same choice in the education of their children as our political leaders?  Of course, but most our citizens can’t afford to pay for two educations, one through their taxes and one through tuition.  Fundamentally, our tax money should follow the child, not a building, as in a voucher system.  The sooner we can make that happen the sooner our educational system will begin to improve as public schools are forced to compete and get better, or die.  

Now, as my friend Matt would point out, there are issues that need to be worked out as we make this transition.  Private schools, for example, will need to ensure that children can even get to these schools as public schools do today.  They will have to offer resources that will accommodate all special needs children and not just strip the most capable students from public schools.  This would leave that system with only the biggest challenges to educate.  

All of these issues can be worked out, but we must demand a commitment to real choice for all American families, not just the elite.  When we get there, our schools will be better, our families will be stronger and our children will be smarter.