If I could be "King for a Day" in the same vein as the person who wrote the provocative letter last week, here's what I would like to see happen:
During the Jefferson administration, internal taxation was 0 percent. Government funded itself entirely by tariffs paid by importers and exporters. There were no government "services" or "programs." In other words, we were 100 percent free. It was called limited government.We would still be a free people if the founding fathers had enacted but one additional measure. They declared that the U.S. Constitution was to be the Supreme Law of the Land, but they neglected to attach a penalty for violating that Supreme law.
Let's make the Constitution a real law, with the death penalty for legislators who enact laws contrary to the Constitution. Since direct, unapportioned taxes and socialized education are wholly unconstitutional, that would place education back in the private sector where it properly belongs. Then, the private sector and the free market could deal with the problem, or not deal with it at all, as they saw fit. Private charity took care of the poor before the advent of the welfare state, and no one ever starved to death.
Senator Ted Kennedy stated that Massachusetts, as a colony, had a literacy rate of 92 percent during the colonial era when there were no government schools. In spite of the billions poured down this educational black hole, has the literacy rate improved in America? Nope. Sixty-six percent of America is considered to be literate. One-third, or 90 million Americans, are functionally illiterate (can't read bus schedules, balance check books etc.). This speaks volumes of how "vital" and "necessary" socialized education really is.
If I were king for a day, I would abolish, not reform, socialized education. Stop the money suck.
Vaughn Robison
Sandy