State Senator Ryan Aument recently sent an E-Newsletter highlighting “what I am doing as your State Senator in Harrisburg.” Featured prominently in his electronic missive were the “Educational Improvements Enacted by the General Assembly.” State Representative Jim Cox sent a similar dispatch, painting a massive spending increase as “investing in education.”
In case you missed it, in July the General Assembly approved the 2022-23 state budget, a $45.2 billion spending plan that increases education spending by more than $1 billion, the largest jump in state history. One provision of a bill includes more grants and “other resources” to pay government teachers and attract talent to the state.
In other words, your Republican-controlled General Assembly is a leading culprit behind one of the most socialistic practices known to man: forcing citizens to pay for the education of their neighbor’s children.
Republicans talk a big game when it comes to decrying socialism, but in practice they are just as guilty as the Democrats. In many ways, their involvement is worthy of more condemnation—at least the liberals are honest about their ignoble quest for a socialist society.
The tenth plank of the Communist Manifesto is “free education for all children in public schools,” and if Republican leaders play footsie with the Marxism that is government education, they are not worth their salt. Or our votes.
The gargantuan state budget, funded by taxpayers, lurches our state further down an already potholed road of statism and tyranny. And House Bill 1642, approved by both Aument and Mastriano in the Senate Education Committee and voted on by many Republicans, propagates the idea that government should oversee and regulate education.
Closet Socialists
There are a lot of things to admire about leaders like Doug Mastriano and Dave Zimmerman, but if they and other supposed “conservatives” will approve legislation and budgets that propagate one of the most ungodly and socialistic practices in our state, all warnings of the Left’s push for socialism seem disingenuous.
The fact that we cannot recognize the audacity of the government telling you what hoops to jump through to homeschool your children is a severe indictment against our state, including every Republican leader.
It would be nice if there was a Republican willing to fight socialism instead of just railing against its manifestations in the Democrat party.
Unfortunately, it does not seem like things are looking up for the GOP. It was hard to root against Mike Miller in his bid to unseat the slippery Aument, but even Miller has demonstrated little interest in ending the socialistic practice of government education.
Will Tom Jones be any different? April Weaver? I’m not holding my breath.
Will a Governor Mastriano do anything to dismantle government education in Pennsylvania? Or will he simply push for “school choice” and for funding to “follow the child”?
Mr. Mastriano, your constituents who believe in true liberty do not want the funding to “follow” their child—they do not want any government (i.e., taxpayer) funding for education at all.
It turns out some of us actually mean it when we say that socialism is bad.
But politicians as they are, perhaps we ask too much in calling on them to do anything honorable unless threatened at the ballot box. And so, the real reason we have government education is because we the people have allowed it. Not only have we sent our kids off to be educated at government indoctrination centers, but we also vote for Republicans who want to continue the godless institution, their conservative talking points notwithstanding.
Just Say No
The Amish got it right when they opted out of government education. If only the rest of the professing Christians in our state had followed suit.
As an alternative to the Amish’s principled stand, we fell hook, line, and sinker for the unbiblical notion that the state should raise up the next generation. But instead of imbibing the ideology of Horace Mann or George W. Bush, we would do well to consider the wisdom of those seeking to walk in the Law-Word of God.
Here’s a nugget: “To control the future requires the control of education and of the child. Hence, for Christians to tolerate statist education, or to allow their children to be trained thereby, means to renounce power in society, to renounce their children, and to deny Christ’s Lordship over all of life” (R.J. Rushdoony).
Yes…but it is “free” and it provides a very convenient “daycare” option.
Of course, as everyone who understands basic economics knows, government education is not free. The government funding comes via theft, either by forced taxation or federal monies created by debasing the currency.
And as far as the convenient “daycare” the government sites provide, enter the diabolical aftereffects of tearing mothers from that elevated role of keeping house and masquerading the climb up the corporate ladder as the liberation of the fairer sex. More like a descent into hell.
Yes, for a people lulled into socialism by their neutered Republican leaders, it is hard to imagine society without government regulated education. But babies need to grow up eventually, and so long as we think we need Big Brother to educate the next generation we will ever remain a weak and craven people.
A free and godly society, unfettered by the loathsome chains of government dependence, will create far more educational options (and better ones) than a socialistic system rubberstamped by your “conservative” leaders.
There are some misguided souls who claim that without government forced taxation for education, poor people will not be able to afford to educate their children. Well, there is only one problem with that: many private schools already offer charitable options for needy students, even with the added expense of funding public education. The abolishment of government education would lead to more resources for such charitable endeavors, not less.
And, notwithstanding some great people in the system, government education as a whole is wasteful, statist, and frankly, terrible.
While closet socialists flying the banner of conservatism keep fighting to “take back” the government schools, the loving thing to do would be to burn the whole institution to the ground (figuratively, of course) and unleash the resources of private society to help parents educate their children.
Instead of voting to propagate statist education, so-called liberty-loving conservatives should fight to remove the disastrous education clause from the Pennsylvania Constitution and renounce the tyrannical assertion that government officials have the right to tell parents how to educate their children.
Chris Hume is the host of The Lancaster Patriot Podcast and the author of several books, including Seven Statist Sins. He can be reached at info@thelancasterpatriot.com.
