What is the Answer to the Question: “Now What?” (to Do About Government?)

An acquaintance of mine here in Yorktown, VA emailed me this morning. He simply writes: “Robert, I just re-read your letter……you have it right……now what?”  GG

GG is a highly successful businessman in real estate who has been working hard to revamp our local Republican Committee for the last several years.  Back in early April of this year, I sent the below email to our local Board of Supervisors and cc’d the “who’s who of conservatives” here in York County, VA. It was a reply to GG having emailed us about a tragic story of property rights being violated by a local government in GA to the point that the property owner took his own life (see below).

So GG left me thinking, “Now what?”   If you are reading this, do you have any ideas?  If you do, please post them here to share with me and any other readers.

Thanks,
Robert E. Lehman                                                                                              #WakeUpAmerica!

Subject: RE: What county does this sound like? You will be shocked to read this !!
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2012 08:46:39 -0400

From the below linked article http://lfb.org/today/death-by-regulation/ :

“The political class is not really running things. As I’ve written many times, the political class is only the veneer of the state; it is not the state itself. The state is the permanent bureaucratic structures, those untouched by elections. These institutions make up the real ruling apparatus of government.”

I have no doubt that every individual who works for York County government as either an elected official or as a paid employee is just as much in support of the Constitution and individual liberty as most ordinary people.  They want to live their lives the way they want as free citizens of these here United States.

But what often goes unnoticed by most people is that despite these individuals who work for the county government being in favor of limited government, as direct workers for the government, they can’t help, no matter how hard they try to not grow the government bureaucracy , to do the exact opposite.

The government at any form at any level is a cancer to freedom.  It naturally grows even without conscious awareness on the part of those otherwise good people who work for it who think themselves to be in fact a proponent of limited government.  The mere act of participating in a political party and/or serving as an employee for government leads to MORE government and LESS freedom.  Why is this?  After all, isn’t York County composed of a majority of so-call limited government conservatives?

Why is York County government more of a citizen burden than it has ever been before and inserting itself more and more into the private lives and encroaching on violating the freedoms of its citizens? Because that is what government is supposed to do by its very nature – even when we think we are electing conservatives to keep it limited.
Here is the county BOS mission from its website:

As stewards of the public trust and resources, the Board of Supervisors will maintain and improve the quality of life for all County citizens.

The Board will:

• emphasize efficiency, effectiveness, and openness of County government
• protect the physical, historical, and environmental heritage of the County
• ensure that growth and development are positive forces on the quality of life
  
• value and respect the individual

(emphasis added)

I have to laugh, as how are they to even truly know how they can improve the quality of life for anybody other than themselves as individuals?  Even with their good intentions, they trample the individual, despite the last bullet.  The last bullet is complete hogwash when coming from any government.  Government by its natural definition is anathema to the individual’s rights.

When good liberty minded, limited-government people get involved in running the government, the government still grows, because those good natured people mean well and through their good deeds as servers to the “cause of government” that is the mission above, get sucked into the black hole leviathan that is liberty killing government bureaucracy.

Yes, you read it right.  The otherwise good and caring people who run York County government are conscientious and hard working and successful.  They do not fail.  So naturally, they become good at running government. After all, working to support government is how most of them make their living and support their families. They need to do a good job to keep earning their paychecks.  But make no mistake, no matter what they try to do to prevent it, the government will grow.  Nothing they do to try not to grow it will work.  They are powerless to stop it.

Only the citizens who support the government through their hard earned tax dollars and by their voting for elected members of the governing board can stop the growth of government.  The only tool the citizens have between their freedom and the heavy hand of government is its elected board members.  For the BOS members to be successful at keeping government growth at bay, they MUST dig deeper and look past the administrator or attorney and other appointed leaders of the government staff to see the waste and to truly see the initiatives that lead to less citizen freedom and that add to citizen burdens.  BOS members cannot rely solely on senior administrative staff for the real picture.  After all, they administrative leaders of county government are working to save their jobs.  Does it make sense that any of them will commit harakiri with respect to their careers?  No, of course they wouldn’t!

Government, no matter how well intentioned its conservative leaders are is a cancer to freedom.   If you have read Atlas Shrugged or Animal Farm, you can appreciate the  very natural tendency that government has to take otherwise good people who work for it and almost hypnotize them into having to do whatever it takes to grow it.  It is a very real system that has the structure of a self-reinforcing feedback loop that inevitably leads to MORE government and LESS freedom.

When permitted to run unabated, you get the tragedy of Death by Regulation and the sad story Andrew Wordes of Roswell, GA.  Ladies and gentlemen of York County, VA:  do no think that we are immune to the ills of uncontrolled big government.  It is happening to us now and many people are blind to it.  Use this sad story as a lesson.  What will be your role in York County’s history?

Respectfully Yours,

Robert E. Lehman
Yorktown, VA

From: GG
Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2012 22:37:22 -0400
Subject: What county does this sound like? You will be shocked to read this !!
To: list

I am sending you this because you are on my short list as a local patriot….

If you have 4 minutes, you will want to cry about this story…

If you do, please let me know which County this reminds you of and where you think this type of tyranny could exist? …………………we have to decide if WE are going to allow it to get to this level here !!!

A tragic story resulting from bureaucratic bullying.
http://lfb.org/today/death-by-regulation/

GG

The Stresses of Recurring Letdowns From Being an Individualist Amongst the Mainstream Masses

After reading what I just wrote below, this is sort of a disjointed non-cohesive writing.  I appreciate your indulgence should you choose to proceed. Thanks in advance – Robert 🙂

Super Tuesday has come and gone.  This is one of the busier days of the primary season leading up to the November 2012 general and presidential election.  This is the second consecutive presidential election campaign cycle that I have supported Ron Paul.

In between these two election cycles, I spent some of my free time attempting to be efficiently politically active in relating to my opposition to various congressional activities that are eroding freedom in the U.S.A.

Most people reading these words would agree that beyond the 2010 Republican house cleaning, not much seems to have changed in the “Big Brother and Big Government” landscape.  I am so very much looking forward to the Supreme Court of the U.S.A  giving Obamacare its day in court.  That noted, I know I am also setting myself up for a let down, because I find it almost a no-brainer that the Patient Protection – Affordable Health Care act is a Constitutional abomination.  If I see it as clearly being a no-no from a constitutional perspective, then I believe the liberal appointees to the Court will rule it as permissible.  Hence the let down.

A problem with the judiciary process as it stands today seems to be the issue of bad case law being allowed to remain in effect.  Previous judicial opinions set precedent upon which future decisions are handed down from other courts.  I could never quite wrap my mind around the issue of what if decisions that are delivered are wrong – even if the final decision is upheld on appeal?   That then leaves future courts to lean on these erroneous decisions, until at some point further into the future, all court cases have their decisions based on faulty application of the law.  What I am describing is a domino effect built on case law that gets further and further away from proper application of constitutional interpretation.   This seems to have been happening for the last 70 years.

Let me be clear that I know I am not a lawyer and will gladly cede superiority in this regard to the constitutional scholars.  But I am confident that the interpretation of the law will continue to be misconstrued and applied the more errant decisions are allowed to stand and serve as bulwark for future decisions.  That is why the Supreme Court nominating process is so important to conservatives.  We need a qualified judiciary to protect our constitutional rights from being trampled through erroneous legislative and regulatory outcomes.

Coming back from the sidetrack musing, it appears that my candidate Ron Paul is not doing well in the popular vote process that will lead to the GOP nomination for the 2012 presidential nomination.  That noted, the key is to seat delegates, and the mainstream media is not even reporting much on the dedicated base that Ron Paul has working at the grass roots level to secure delegates at the various local, district, and national GOP  conventions.  With providential intervention, perhaps we can get some influence in the process.  I was left feeling defeated after the 2008 campaign.

So while we wait to see how this campaign process plays out, I will get a “fix” on repairing the damage from Obamacare by tracking the Supreme Court hearing and sending out Tweets, emails, and posting my thoughts here on this blog.

Lately though, all of my energy and action put towards this effort of trying to remain free has exacted somewhat of a toll on me.  I know I can’t be alone in this regard.  There are hundreds of thousands of people who are supporting Ron Paul and the cause for saving Liberty.  If you find yourself feeling alone and frustrated and stressed out at the recurring letdowns that your efforts to push back big government are not yielding the results that you would like to see, then it might be time to try something different.

I decided to take a few weeks off from it.  I wanted to clear my head and spirit.  So I read a fiction book and tried to distance myself as much as I could from the politics and news.  Coming back from that, I am thinking I want to try a different tact and just share my thoughts with others. In support of that, I am also trying to introduce more people to an two organizations that can help by carrying the load, allowing me to be reminded that I am not alone.  These organizations are The Campaign For Liberty and Downsize DC.

I am glad that I am blessed to have the mind and personality to not fall in lockstep with the masses and that I can think and act on my own accord. But sometimes that can stress the heck out of you and derail you from wanting to continue.  A good way to recover from the stresses of this worldview is to connect with like minded individuals who share your viewpoints.  We are not alone.  The passions that fan the flames of freedom lie within all of us and we are all inextinguishable.  Stay strong and stay passionate.

Sovereign Citizens, the Watchful Eye of the FBI, and the Founding Fathers

Recent news accounts like this of the FBI’s announcement that it has concerns with people who claim themselves to be Sovereign Citizens evokes thoughts of our country’s founding.  The patriots who were associated with country’s founding fathers had to consider the threat of apprehension by the authorities when they were contemplating whether or not to break free from the rule of King George and Great Britain.  It is no small thing to break free from an established government.  That is why the American Revolution was so historic in the annals of human history.

Sovereign Citizens have taken a different interpretation of current prevailing viewpoints of what it means to be an American and living in the United States. In essence, they seem to want to separate themselves from the current laws of the land and live by a different set of rules from the mainstream citizens.  They appear to describe the current laws as illegitimate when pitted against the rights American are described as having as written in the Constitution.  In the video that runs on their website, the woman makes a reference to the USA as a corporation to which the Sovereign Citizens do not want to participate.  I have come across other references about this Corporation over the years and have been interested in learning more about it but then abandoning the issue altogether due to time constraints and thoughts about what does it really matter any way?  Maybe the Sovereign Citizens just had more time and interest in seeing what it is all about.  I am not sure.

Today in the year 2012, the vast majority of citizens are law abiding taxpayers of which many have serious concerns and objections about how our elected / appointed representatives are managing our national, state, and local governments.  It would be members of this segment of American society who organized the Tea Party and /or might be active in the Libertarian political party.  Many people who follow the current rules of the  electoral and political system have expended a good many years of their lives and personal resources to try and get more Constitutionally compliant leaders into government at all levels.

Anybody who has followed American political events over the past 70 years knows that the Republicans and Democrats backed by highly financed special interest groups have claimed wins in most if not all major political campaigns for public office.  It would be very frustrating for any normal person to begin to think that there has to be a better way to push back the problem of the wrong people being elected to run the government because they have what appears to be an inappropriate ability to wield greater influence than a majority of most individual citizens in the election.

Maybe that is what led to this group that calls themselves Sovereign Citizens.  When I think of them and why they do what they do, there is a part of me that can sort of relate and understand and maybe even agree with the rationale as to why they would want to “not play by the rules” of the prevailing form of government.

Let me be clear, I do not condone violence and aggression against other people including the lawful authorities.  That noted, for purposes of trying to understand their behavior and actions so as to learn and maybe improve the situation that is causing the FBI to escalate their surveillance of this group, perhaps Sovereign Citizens simply have more courage to push back and defend themselves from the government in a fashion that based on their political beliefs, can lead to what looks like violence and aggression against the State.

Obviously there is a stigma that mainstream society attaches to people who are members of such fringe groups.  But I get a sense that the fringe is growing.  Maybe the Sovereign Citizens are just an early version, a way-out in-front organized group ahead of the game.  Sooner or later it seems inevitable that more and more supposedly Free People who have become frustrated with their government run amok would form in this coalesced fashion if unable to realize the changes they see as being needed to save their way of life because of a corrupted and unconstitutional electoral and political system and government.

What I wrote above does not seem to differ much with what Thomas Jefferson and the Founders had to wrestle with when they decided to break free from Great Britain.  On the outset of the Revolutionary War, they wrote and affirmed with sacred honor the Declaration of Independence.  The words below from that historic document tied to our country’s founding seem to mimic in some part at least, to what might be compelling the Sovereign Citizens to opt out of the current rule of law.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Framed in this light, are the Sovereign Citizens really that bad or just that misunderstood by the current authorities?

Daily Press Editorial: RIP, GOP Republican Party….

…needs to come to its senses; right now it’s circling the drain

http://www.dailypress.com/news/opinion/dp-edt-ripgop-editorial-20120221,0,7473479.story

How refreshing to see a major media source that shares my very Libertarian like opinion.  Before too long, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them giving Ron Paul more attention.

Defending Property Rights is in the News and is on My Mind

I was happy to see two media accounts this morning about the issue of property rights.  One an article about a home owner in Yorktown, VA battling his local government for his right to use his rural residential zoned home that has permitted use for agriculture so that he can operate an oyster business (aquaculture).  This battle has been underway for sometime now.  The update this morning is that a well known local civil rights activist is now putting his weight behind the property owner.

The other is national syndicated columnist George Will and his thoughts relating to rent control laws in NYC.

I hope both stories spark an interest on the part of property rights activists and supporters that can lead to all levels of government recognizing that a person’s right to use their property as they so choose is a fundamental component of being free.

Here are links to the stories.  Please, if you are so moved, please take a moment and think about writing a letter to the editor for your local newspaper or to your local government representative at the local, state, and/or federal level and tell them that in no uncertain terms, you favor laws that safeguard the rights of property owners from government theft and control.  A very fast and convenient method of writing your congress representatives and senators is to go to http://www.downsizedc.org and use their tools for doing so.  They also offer many tips on what you can put in your letters.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/york-county/dp-nws-york-garrett-rights-complaint-0216-20120215,0,6300317.story

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/rent-control-laws-foolish-and-unconstitutional/2012/02/14/gIQAcZvbGR_story.html

Capitalism Magazine – “Francisco’s Money Speech” from Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged

We all tend to have unfinished or uninitiated activities or tasks or things that we would like to get around to doing some day.  If we had the luxury of all the time in the world, we could continually keep from doing today what we would hope could be put off until tomorrow.  Unfortunately, we know all too well that none of us is promised tomorrow.  During the year 2010, one particular as yet to be completed task on my list was beginning to gnaw at me.  I had yet to read Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.

Someone carrying not yet completed desired to-do tasks around in their mind was popularized as a person having a”Bucket List”.  This came about several years ago after actors Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson teamed up on the big screen to make a movie about two aging men and the stories behind them acting out some of the activities on their list of things to do.

As a liberty minded individualist who first learned about Atlas Shrugged years ago from my good friend Gerry back when I was just starting high school,  I grew into adulthood simply thinking that I did not have the time to read it.  How silly of me.

Once I finally got a copy and started reading it just 2 years ago, what I once thought was going to be a labored read turned into a labor of love with the book. The labor was simply the time needed to read it.  Once started, I found I could not put the book down.  It was both a philosophical work and an adventure story all rolled into one.  Like most other things we procrastinate from doing, I found and made time to read it once I realized I enjoyed it.  How silly of me to put it off in favor of what I thought was my busy schedule.

My reading sessions turned into an escape of sorts.  I completed it in about 2-3 weeks, taking about an hour or so daily.  Looking back at the time, Atlas Shrugged served as a balm of sorts for what ailed me insofar as my complete sullied attitude and morale relating to the bad economy, our federal debt, President Obama’s and Harry Reid’s and Nancy Pelosi’s individual health care mandate in the Affordable Healthcare Act, the wars and our country’s overall malaise.  Reading this book helped me see that these problems that are in part based on collectivism and statism are not new.  Ayn Rand wrote of them in the 1950’s.  It helped me refocus my mind as to how I might better cope with what seems the the degradation of our free society.  In many respects, it had me rethink about dedicating some time to writing this blog.

One of my favorite parts of the book was Francisco’s money speech.  Not coincidentally, other readers must also have enjoyed it, as it was very easy to find numerous references to it with a simple google search.  I have provided the link to it below so that it might serve as a primer of sorts for you.  After reading it, maybe reading Atlas Shrugged will be something that you will add to your bucket list.     This topic of sound money is very appropriate for our times.  Many mainstream economists are proclaiming that the recession is ending and that our economy is headed in the right direction. Those of us who look at the economy through the lens of the Austrian school of thought think otherwise.  The threat of a third round of quantitative easing looms and with it, our beloved freedoms take even more of a beating.  Candidate Ron Paul holds the issue of sound monetary policy as a main component of his platform for restoring America.

Please take a moment and read Ayn Rand’s views on money, as told by one of her amazing characters, Francisco D’Anconia.  And as usual, thanks for reading my thoughts here at Wake Up America!

Capitalism Magazine – “Francisco’s Money Speech”

Liberty Call Out: Please Join Me in Making Monthly Downsize DC Foundation Donations

The other day I received my IRS approved tax contribution statement for 2011 from the Downsize DC Foundation.  Money I send to them as a donation to help them in their wonderfully successful initiatives to defend my Liberty is tax deductible.

Take a look at some of their latest success.  http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/you-won-in-the-supreme-court

I am so pleased and enthused with how well Jim Babka and James Wilson and their team at Downsize DC are spending my donations on behalf of liberty that I am prepared to urge others to join me as a donor to their Downsize DC Foundation.  In fact, I will increase my already existing monthly  $20 pledge by $1 for every new person who signs up to make at least a $20 monthly recurring donation to the Downsize DC Foundation.  Here is the link to set it all up.  https://secure.downsizedcfoundation.org/contribute/

My offer to increase my donation by $1 for every new donor will last until 11:59 pm ET on Thursday night February 9, 2012.  Please post a comment to this post right here on my Wake Up America blog to let me and others know that you arranged an online recurring monthly pledge.  I will confirm it with the folks at the Downsize DC Foundation and then gladly match your joining the effort by increasing my monthly pledge by $1.  With any luck, my efforts with your help will result in 20 new people pledging to make monthly tax deductible donations.

Please note: On the slight chance that this modest goal is exceeded, I might need to cap the increase  as to how much more I can match.  My family is far from wealthy but we desire to contribute our money to the cause of liberty and would hope that others will join us.

Once again, here is the link to set it all up.   https://secure.downsizedcfoundation.org/contribute/

Thanks in advance and I remain yours in Liberty.

Robert E. Lehman

Obama is Fixing Economy? Homeowner Mortgages Continue to Default Leading to Foreclosure Proceedings

Today’s online and print versions of the Daily Press newspaper show a still astonishingly high number of public notices for property mortgage foreclosures.  http://classifieds.dailypress.com/classifieds?category=public_notice

I am a bit confounded as thought I recalled the President indicating during his State of the Union Address last month that his economic recovery plan was working.  There is similarly positive indices posted at the various National Associate of Home Builders websites.  http://eyeonhousing.wordpress.com/ and http://www.nahb.org/default.aspx . Apparently, news of the recovery in progress has not yet reached my community’s housing market.

Today’s 30-year fixed rate are still hovering just over the all-time lowest rates at 4.00%.  http://www.bankrate.com/mortgage.aspx

So why are so many people here still going facing foreclosure when there is a chance to save the property by doing a refinance to a much more affordable rate?  There could be a number of reasons.  Maybe they are unemployed.  Maybe the appraised value of the property has plummeted and they are very much upside down.  Regardless, if one small metropolitan service area such as the lower Peninsula of the Hampton Roads area of Virginia (Cities of Newport News, Hampton, Poquoson, Williamsburg, and counties of York and Gloucester) has 128 published foreclosure notices then clearly the economy is not yet on the road to recovery.

Call me confused and dumbfounded.  Or better yet a skeptic. I am that same guy who also thinks the stock markets are oversold and headed for a steep decline.  But that’s another post for another day.

The Public Education Crisis in America – What Are We Going to Do to Fix It?

Public school reform seems to be on people’s minds this week.  There is no denying we have problems with the quality of our educational system these days.  I am reminded regularly by such things as The Tonight Show’s “Jay Walking” segments.  If you haven’t seen them, they are uncomfortably laughable interviews where Jay asks random passersby what amounts to basic high school level knowledge and/or trivia questions. It is a revealing look into just how far the average American has fallen in terms of knowledge and awareness of current events, what they find important, etc.  It is actually quite a sad telling of the state of education in the United States of America.

This past Friday evening, February 3, 2012, my good friend Gerry shared with me and others this youtube video regarding the state of education in a Washington school.  I have mentioned Gerry in other posts here at Wake Up.  Gerry has been my mother’s “boyfriend” since I was about ten years old.  Whether he wanted to or not, he played a key role in me holding the views I do today regarding the government and liberty.

So he sends this video without any other commentary.  Just the link.

My reply:

Maybe we should budget more federal tax dollars toward public education.  That will help these students learn.
We need more teachers, more computers in the class rooms, and more more more.  Hopefully the U.S. Dept. of Education will introduce more federal laws to help the miserable states’ and localities get their educational systems in order.

Then his reply:

Robert,

You surprise me…you seem to be thinking like a Dim-ocrat.  For Progressives whenever a gubmint program isn’t working it’s not because it’s a stupid program it’s because they haven’t spent enough $’s.  So their solution is to spend even more on the program.

In this particular case…the feral gubmint should budget less (or none) tax dollars [not more] towards public education and reduce (or eliminate) feral education laws [not introduce more].  As John Stossel’s recent special on education easily demonstrated private education costs less for the taxpayer, results in better paid teachers and ends up with significantly better educated students and test scores.

Gerry    

PS.  On the other hand…your email may be totally sarcastic.  If so, I apologize.  As I often told you “I have a hard time recognizing sarcasm”.  <Emoticon3.gif>

To which I responded:

Ger,I thought for sure that you knew me much better than that!  My reply was indeed 100% SARCASM.  The federal government putting more public resources towards the issue is the exact problem not the solution.  Poor progressives fail to recognize the negative self reinforcing feedback loop with their non-stop willingness to put education under greater and greater central control.  What the USA needs is an incentive for taxpayers to opt their kids out of public schools.  Or at the very least, a dissolution of U.S. Dept of Education in order to free the states to use their resources as their citizens see fit.  The feds penalizing states for not adhering to the ridiculous educational mandates of Big Brother is wrong and is a 10th amendment issue if ever there was one.  Sadly there are no more checks and balances to separate the powers between the branches, just one big miserable worthless government run amok and digging us into a deeper hole..I served you up the “gopher ball” and you did just as I was hoping.  You hit it out of the ballpark with the exact response I was hoping to see.  On more positive note, it looks like Ron Paul and his ideals are catching on to more and more people this coming election cycle.

Yours in Liberty,

Rob

Leading to this reply from Gerry’s 92 year old father who is one of may 10 others on the distribution.  His Dad Ray is a very loving, decent and kind man who happens to be a self professed socialist / liberal.  We engage in these types of exchanges all the time:

ALL THIS GRIPING AND ALL THE WHILE THE ECONOMY IS STEADILY IMPROVING. SAIL ON BELOVED BELOVED SHIP. SAIL ON TO GREATER AND GREATER HEIGHTS. 

RAY

Apparently, this is an issue on other peoples’ minds as well.  Here is my reply back to the group as of this morning.

Our exchange of opinions on this issue these past few days is not exclusive to us.  The Daily Press newspaper down here in Hampton Roads, VA had this as its  published Editorial this past Saturday.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/opinion/dp-edt-schoolchoice-editorial-20120204,0,5492520.story

dailypress.com

An argument for school choice

9:26 PM EST, February 4, 2012

In the world of business, when one company has a monopoly on the market, there is less incentive to be effective or efficient. Healthy competition, on the other hand, fosters growth and success.

The same can be applied to educational systems.

Providing alternatives that create competition for traditional public schools is but one of the compelling reasons Virginia should consider school choice, a movement that would help parents select the best option for their children’s education, particularly those who are frustrated by declining or stagnant performance at their local schools.

The traditional model, in which government provides everyone with a “free education” generously underwritten by the taxpayers, might be sufficient if school performance were consistently high, most dollars were devoted to direct instruction, and the best teachers were rewarded and the weakest let go.

But that isn’t the case today.

And throwing more money at the problem — which we’ve continued to do even though it hasn’t worked — is impractical due to falling state tax revenues and reductions in federal support.

Many states are by necessity undertaking reforms aimed at correcting the deeply entrenched obstacles to improvement by adopting merit pay and contractual review policies and by reducing non-instructional budgets. Gov. McDonnell has pushed for such improvements in the current legislative session.

Improving efficiency and shoring up quality and accountability at existing schools has to be at the forefront of Virginia’s educational reforms. But school choice could be an important component, as well.

School choice includes a range of options, both public and private. Public school choices include charter schools, magnet schools and open enrollment plans that allow students to choose among multiple schools within a district or region. Private school options include faith-based and other private schools supported by tuition and donations, virtual schools and home schools.

At a town meeting last week hosted by Hampton University, panel members weighed in on why black Americans especially need to support school choice in their communities. While rich families have always had the opportunity to choose private schools, poor families — who are often stuck in the worst-performing schools — don’t have those options.

As the panelists noted, the best way to get at the problem is to break loose from the notion that school funding is for schools; rather, it is for students. In fact, school funding formulas are based on student population, which can lead to an administration’s protective hold on their students instead of encouraging them to go where there needs could be better met.

School vouchers — payments to parents from public tax funds to be used for a child’s education expenses — allow educational decisions to be made on an individual basis instead of one-size-fits-none. Voucher programs can also be tied to stipulations against discrimination and even include needs-based funding ranges. Arguments that voucher payments to private schools violate the First Amendment and similar state constitutional provisions have been successfully countered with reasoning such as (1) the private schools are not all faith-based and (2) payments are made to parents, not to schools.

And despite the fears that less funding will be available for public schools if vouchers are used, systems that have explored vouchers, such as in Milwaukee, are finding them to be a potentially more efficient way of educational delivery. Since vouchers are typically less than the actual per-student allotment and overhead costs are reduced, schools can actually save money by implementing them.

Going forward, Virginia should continue to monitor and explore the options for school choice, including evaluating the success of existing voucher programs both in terms of costs and performance.

An important caveat: The issues and arguments do not and should not “belong” to any single special-interest group, religion, race, geographic region or political party.  The school choice movement can benefit everyone.

School choice, when combined with significant reform of our public schools, is one way to accomplish a major shift in our dysfunctional educational system. It’s time for a serious look.

Copyright © 2012, Newport News, Va., Daily Press

Pass it On! “American people need to wake up” – Glad to know I am not alone.

This op-ed was published in my local newspaper today by one of my fellow citizens here in Yorktown, VA.  I am so glad to know I am not alone in thinking that the American people need to wake up.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/opinion/dp-nws-oped-porter-0204-20120204,0,5084082.story

dailypress.com

American people need to wake up

By Gary Porter

February 4, 2012

Jonathan Turley’s Opinion piece (Jan. 29, “Why it’s no longer the Land of the Free”) focused on several nefarious features of 2001’s Patriot Act and the most recent National Defense Authorization Act. Assassination of U.S. citizens, warrantless wiretapping, indefinite detention of U.S. citizens, extraordinary rendition, etc., are certainly great examples of our loss of freedom as Americans. Does anyone seriously believe these will be only temporary features to deal with a temporary threat posed by Al Qaeda, and that once that threat has been neutralized, these Acts will be revoked? No, these suspensions of our liberty are here to stay, permanent fixtures of a land once free. Supporters of the Acts point to the apparent success they have had in defeating further attacks. OK, but at what cost to the Constitution?

Was it only lack of space that caused Turley to ignore the even greater, more sinister threat to our freedom posed by the various agencies in the executive branch of our federal government? Agencies such as the EPA, FDA, DOL, HHS, HUD, DOE, etc., put into operation by legislation passed by Congress that had no basis in the Constitution, operate as complete legislative, executive and judicial branches of government all rolled into one, managed by non-elected career bureaucrats with zero accountability to the American people. Aided and abetted by a Congress that unconstitutionally delegates to them broad, ill-defined powers, these agencies almost daily enact new laws (to get around their obvious legislative activity, they call them “rules”). They then go on to enforce those rules through one branch of their agency and adjudicate violations of or protests of those rules in yet another branch of the agency; thereby violating the cardinal principle the Framers tried to design into our government: separation of powers. In Federalist 47, James Madison warned: “the accumulation of all powers legislative, executive and judiciary in the same hands … may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”

This relatively new idea of an “Administrative State” found root about 100 years ago in the term of progressive President Woodrow Wilson (who famously called the Constitution “political witchcraft”). The Progressives, convinced of their great enlightenment, strove to separate the administration of government from politics and the “confines” of the Constitution. This has led to our present condition where 75,000 pages of the Federal Register’s “rules” are added to the 200,000 pages of the US Code. In 400 B.C., the Greek orator Isocrates stated: “Where there is a multitude of specific laws, it is a sign that the state is badly governed.” Tasedus of Rome wrote in the 1st century A.D.: “Formerly we suffered from crimes. Now we suffer from laws.” How prescient these men were.

Yet the American people sit idly by — like “sheep,” as Judge Andrew Napolitano likes to say — more concerned about who is going to win the Super Bowl than they are about the “chipping away” of the tree of liberty going on around them. Like the frog boiled in the slowly heated pot, the American people will one day wake up to find it is too late — everything they “own,” the ground they walk on and the air they breathe will be regulated. And then it will take another American Revolution, maybe even a bloody one, to set the ship of state back on the Founder’s course.

PhD Ronald J. Pestritto has a great article, found on Heritage.org, entitled “The Birth of the Administrative State: Where It Came From and What It Means for Limited Government.” Everyone should read it.

As “Umerikan” Earl Pitts would say: “WAKE UP AMERICA!”

Gary Porter, a frequent letter writer, is a Yorktown resident.

Copyright © 2012, Newport News, Va., Daily Press