Living In the Past

Conservatives and Libertarians are often mocked for “living in the past”. We are told that the world has changed and we must change with it, whether that means changing out moral values or even changing the meaning of the U.S. Constitution, it’s “progressive” now to be in favor of forgetting the past, or at least ignoring it.

That makes it all the sadder to see that the Florida Supreme Court in a 5-2 ruling declared the state’s voucher program unconstitutional. Now, unlike other states, Florida has a right to education written into its state constitution and thus has done itself in. The legislature really hurt them in that case and unfortunately the Florida Supreme Court interpreted the law as it was.

Voices like the Star-Tribune in Minneapolis, though, see it as a victory for the Left. To quote them:

This ruling underscores the bedrock American notion that universal public schooling has an equalizing, unifying effect and that it is worth preserving. Though public systems clearly need to improve, they should not be abandoned or diluted.

Hardly “progressive”, don’t you think? The myth that public schools will make us all one homogenous culture still holds. Where at one time it might have helped, nowadays multiculturalism, another darling of the Left, is frequently use to promote differences in schools rather than sameness. We are not one people, one nation, but hundreds of cultures each worthy of respect (except conservatives, libertarians and Christians in general). This is what the schools teach and this is why many parents want to vote with their dollars and send their kids elsewhere.

The idea that public schools must be protected at all costs is in itself out of date and dangerous. Regardless of failure, the schools shouldn’t be forced to compete; we are told, or scrapped for a better system. Preservation of failure is probably about as opposite of “progressive” as I could guess.

In the case of Florida, the citizens will have to work with the legislature on amending their constitution to give them a choice, but the rest of us already have one. Offer alternatives to public school, be it home-schooling or private or scrap the system altogether. Forty years of failure in public education should be all the reason you need. Public schools are social laboratories for the Left and little more these days that we pay for. Put them out of their misery or at least give people the option to make that choice. Choice seems to be such a big buzzword with the Left. Why don’t they apply it to education for a change.