http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/feder.html Jewish World Review June 27, 2001 / 6 Tamuz 5761 Don Feder

Libs choose to make up your mind http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- LIBERALS believe in choice on sex -- abortion, pornography and euphemistically designated "life-styles." Everywhere else, they are committed to denying options, foreclosing possibilities and deterring dissent.

Last week, the latest federal education bill went to conference committee, after President George Bush's plan for school choice was jettisoned.

The president's proposal was modest -- 10 school districts in three states were to be allowed to funnel federal dollars directly to low-income students in hopelessly failing schools to be used for private education.

Senators rejected this by a vote of 58 to 41. "It sounds so good, but it has a number of serious flaws," intoned Sen. Hillary Rodham -- I sent my kid to prep school, that's how she got into Stanford, tough about yours -- Clinton.

School choice is popular for good reason. The latest National Assessment of Educational Progress found that almost a third of fourth-graders can't read. Among black and Hispanic students, that number rises to 63 percent and 58 percent, respectively.

Congress refuses even to experiment with vouchers. Inner-city parents who want alternatives are told to sit in the corner and wait for things to get better, while their children are educated for minimum-wage jobs.

Promoting another Bush initiative, Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill was in New York City on June 18, addressing a group of investment executives on the need for Social Security reform. The White House plans to put forth a proposal to allow young workers to invest some of their Social Security taxes in private investment accounts.

This has the keepers of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's flame sputtering. AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka is urging union pension managers to boycott investment firms that support reform.

To prove their faith in Social Security, you'd think union honchos would give their pension money to Washington to invest in the mythical trust fund. Then again, dogmatic isn't synonymous with stupid.

According to the Social Security trustees' 2001 report, the system will go into the red in 2016. By 2039, the deficit could reach $300 billion. To restore equilibrium, Washington will be forced to cut benefits by a third or raise taxes 50 percent.

Even if the system remains solvent, baby boomers can expect a return of less than 2 percent on their forced investment, Gen Xers less than 1 percent. Liberals intend to see to it that they are stuck with this sucker's deal forever.

For the left, government programs have an aura of sanctity. What once was public can never be private, no matter how badly government mucks it up.

Relief from liberal compulsion may be on the way for the Boy Scouts. By a single vote, the Senate approved an amendment to the education bill denying federal money to school districts that deny the Boy Scouts use of their facilities. Earlier, the House passed a similar measure.

After the Supreme Court's narrow decision permitting the Scouts a choice in determining their leadership requirements (that they exercised by excluding homosexuals), liberals vowed to get even.

Various United Way chapters cut off funding, and more than 400 school districts evicted America's premier character-building organization from their premises.

Though the amendment, sponsored by Sen. Jesse Helms, barely passed, 49 senators in effect said it was all right to savage the Scouts for breaking with the herd. In the words of "1984" -- "Right thinking will be rewarded, wrong thinking punished."

The courts have become enforcers of liberal compulsion, hence the importance of Bush's judicial choices. If individuals opt for a politically incorrect position, the ACLU or People for the American Way will send a black-robed goon squad over to break their legs.

In 1999, the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously held the Boy Scouts are Motel 6 (a "place of public accommodation"). Last year, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Appeals Court ruled Cleveland's voucher program is a church ("an establishment of religion"). Vermont's high court forced domestic partnerships on a cringing state.

Liberals love choice -- as long as it's their choice. Since they consider ordinary folks too stupid, bigoted and unsophisticated on financial matters to make an intelligent decision, liberals will make it for them.

-- (leftists@popp.in), June 27, 2001

Answers

" Inner-city parents who want alternatives are told to sit in the corner and wait for things to get better, while their children are educated for minimum-wage jobs."

I'm not sure why liberals are being bashed for insisting that federal dollars be used to support government-funded school systems.

Anyone can set up a church-based school, and in our area, that's one of the worst educational alternatives we've ever seen -- and we tried it, so we know.

Does Bush's proposed voucher system include mandatory standards of fiscal and educational accountability, and what organization will make sure these standards are met?

Inner city parents have the option of moving out. If they lack the financial resources to move out, several funding options are available based on income to educate these people enough to find a better paying job.

Inner city parents have the option of reading to their children and volunteering in their children's schools. If they lack books, they may borrow books from a library for free. Should they get a portion of the library's tax money to buy books? If they buy books and decide they would rather use the library, should they be required to return the voucher money first?

Inner city parents have the option of homeschooling. There are homeschooling organizations in nearly every city in states where homeschooling is allowed. I know this is possible because I did it.

Now I'm a rural parent in a school district so poor that the teachers provide most of their teaching materials and a handful of parents provide several hours of needed labor per week. Quality education is not provided solely by the school. It is provided by parents at home and by role models in the community.

If we took voucher money out of our local school district, the school would close. I'm not sure the kids would get a better education in exchange for parental control if they use the local parochial schools. A parent who wants that much control should pay for it out of the family funds or get into the local public school and make a positive difference.

Support your local school system = liberal.

Pay your own way out if you don't like it = conservative.

-- helen (this_a_real_address@yahoo.com), June 27, 2001.

Helen, I appreciate your volunteering and providing the best you can for your children. But...

"Inner city parents have the option of homeschooling." Don't you actually believe that inner city parents are capable of doing this? You don't know the inner city parents that I know. When 63% (yes the percentage IS that high) of black 4th graders can't read, do you think their parents can read? On the church-based school, at least there's an alternative. These 4th graders have none.

Onto the article, I particularly enjoyed this comment, "dogmatic isn't synonymous with stupid" I was reminded of an admin person where I worked who was totally rude to anyone who came near. A friend of mine told the supervisor who responded that HE never noticed it. My friend answered, "I didn't say she was stupid!"

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), June 27, 2001.

Maria, there are free literacy programs for adults. When we lived in the inner city, a large percentage of our neighbors were unemployed. They had time to attend literacy classes and to take their children with them. I appreciate that someone who was never taught to read as a child would have difficulty reading to his own child, but as an adult a parent can take responsibility for his own literacy.

We have literacy programs here, and the parents most likely to take advantage of the free classes are from Mexico. They work full time and over time and they still make the time to go to class.

-- helen (this_a_real_one@yahoo.com), June 27, 2001.

Well, no freaking wonder I never get mail.

-- helen can't get her address straight, and does anyone know where she parked her password? (this_a_real_address@yahoo.com), June 27, 2001.