"No matter what anyone says, the Department of Education will not just write checks to local school boards. They will meddle in everything. I do not want that."-Representative Pat Schroeder (D-CO)
Once the federal government gets it's foot in the door, you can be 100% sure that eventually, that threshold will be swung wide open. Government is never happy with just a little bit of liberty, with just a little bit of state's rights. No, Washington never shrinks it's power, it only grows it.
Sadly, most people walking around today are not aware that the Department of Education has only been around since 1980. If you mention getting rid of this massive and quite useless bureaucracy, many will accuse you of not caring about education. I even had one gentleman claim that getting rid of the DOE would prevent Alabama from having any black football players. Amazing!
Most though, just do not want to discuss the issue. They have other things on their mind. I understand that. But tyranny does not always come by way of revolution. No the worst kind, the kind we have in this country today, creeps along while nobody is paying attention. It is what Hayak called a soft tyranny.
The establishment of the Department of Education in 1980, was, along with HealthCare reform, one of the federal government's most massive power grabs. Teachers and public school administrators love those federal dollars, but they fail to understand that money isn't free. Parents love regulation like No Child Left Behind, but they fail to see the future, which is nationalization of education.
Even though No Child Left Behind had good intentions, I opposed it. Even if President Obama's administration has equally good intentions with their proposal to test teachers, I oppose it. Education has always been and should remain the job of the states. Taking that away, or nationalizing it, while still forcing the states to fund it, is a huge mistake, and a huge infringement on the sovereignty of state governments. It is just one more way to increase the power of Washington.
Somebody, some politician, has to say these things. Somebody has to educate the public on why the federal Department of Education should be done away with. At some point, the federal government has to stop growing. We have to stop looking to Washington to solve our problems. These people can't even administer Social Security or Medicare, yet many want to allow them to run education? Seriously folks, it is way past time to get rid of the Department of Education.
