July 20, 2005
I don't think much of government, in general, because government doesn't create or confer new "freedoms;" it can only restrict or take away what we already have. Another letter writer recently noted that the
Declaration of Independence points out that Americans'freedoms are "endowed by their Creator...." Not the government.
But, as citizens, we have grown content to let "government" throw money--OUR hard-earned tax dollars--at situations to try to solve problems. Government tries to approach all people the same way,rather than individually. Some government enterprises are simply outrageous in the concept; you can pick your own examples. A good example from the news this week is local results of the No Child Left Behind Act,passed by Congress a few years back at President Bush's urging. Nowhere is the hand of government weilded more heavily than in public schools.
In 18 public school districts in the Western Piedmont area around Charlotte, the top-performing school district, in terms of achieving the act's goals, is Caldwell County with 83%. Iredell County-Statesville
and Cleveland County tied for second place at 77%,while Lincoln County, Hickory and Kannapolis were tied for third place at 71%. In terms of government "logic," the school system receiving the most money per child should also have the best results.
Would anyone, anywhere, argue that Caldwell County school kids had more money spent on them per capita than kids in Charlotte? I don't know the totals, but I would bet the farm that Charlotte throws around a lot
more money in its schools than Caldwell County, or Lincoln, or Cleveland, for that matter. Shoot, these rural counties get sunshine two days late!
How, then, can you account for Caldwell's better results? Government doesn't bother to investigate, to follow up, to analyze. Its problem is solved when it passes the law throwing the money at the problem!
Washington is far more concerned about who leaked the name of a covert CIA operative to the press.
Could it be that students, parents and school personnel in Caldwell are all simply trying harder,together, to reach the goals? Could it be that the rural character of these counties--absent from the higher campus crime rates of urban districts--simply makes it easier to perform academically? Or are the teachers in these higher performing districts just easy graders?
Government doesn't know, because government doesn't ASK! It's the same philosophy that stands behind the Lyndon B. Johnson "War on Poverty" social programs of the 1960s, most of which are still in place after 40
years. Hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars have been spent by our elected representatives in Washington on these programs the last four decades. Do we still have poverty in America?
The family--that very building block of society that's under attack by liberals today--is a far better tool for solving problems than anything government can do. Individual problems tend to get individual solutions
in a family. And tax money isn't required, because solutions feed off the notion of keeping most of what we earn and spending it to solve our own problems. Common sense is all that's required.
If we don't wake up and demand some accountability of our government at all levels, we can count on the country we love going down the toilet. Government needs to focus just on the six ideas put forth in the
Preamble to the U.S. Constitution--not on how it can manage every aspect of every individual's life.
My dad was right: "Common sense ain't named right; it ain't that blankety-blank common." You certainly can't find it in government.
.jpg)
Posts
