Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Eliminating The Federal Department of Education

The National Debt is now $14 Trillion and growing fast. The compromise to extend the Bush Tax cuts will add another Trillion dollars to the National Debt in 2011 in new spending. In the next few months, the Congress will be called on to increase the debt limit to prevent the United States from defaulting on our debt and closing down the government. Our country is heading toward bankruptcy just as 10,000 Baby Boomers a month in 2011 will turn 65 years old, qualifying them for Social Security and Medicare benefits. Alarm bells are ringing loud and clear!!!

When ever any spending cuts are discussed to any federal department or program, the constituency involved that lives off the dole will complain that life will simply end if cuts are made. School children will starve. Grannie will die. Life as we know it will come to an end. This is all a bunch of baloney. First, there should be a 5% across the board cut to all Federal spending to spread the pain around equally. But then we have to go for bigger cuts, as well, by actually eliminating various program and departments altogether.

The most obvious place to start is the Department of Education that was created in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter as a pay off to his teacher union supporters. Prior to that date, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare dealt with Education and that is where this function belongs today minus much of the additional bureaucracy that has grown since the Department of Education was created.

Currently, there are about 4,200 bureaucrats at the Department of Education administering $63.7 Billion annually that is doled out to states, school districts and universities in the form of Pell Grants etc. The Department of Education also manages national standards, testing etc. to "improve" student performance. What a joke!! The more money we spend on public education, the worse the results. American student performance is far below all other countries in the industrialized world even though we spend more money on education that any other country in the world.

Obviously, if the Department of Education was a business, it would have been closed down years ago because it has consistently failed to increase student achievement. Cards talk and numbers don't lie. Kids in the US do very poorly on all standardized tests compared with kids around the world. It is both sad and pathetic; but that is another blog posting.

Right now, we must lay off about 3,000 bureaucrats at the Department of Education and transfer the other 1,200 bureaucrats to the Department of Health and Human Services (the new name) for Health, Education and Welfare. The remaining 1,200 employees should be more than sufficient to dole out the reduced budget that is coming. Laying off these 3,000 bureaucrats and eliminating the Department of Education altogether, because it is redundant, will save Billions. We have to do this as a down payment to help prevent the bankruptcy of our nation.

Of course, President Obama and the Socialists in Congress will never agree to eliminate the Department of Education because they are owned lock, stock and barrel by the Teachers Union. This is just one more reason we must sweep them out of office by electing Conservatives that support free market capitalism, limited government, lower taxes and less regulation, a balanced budget, term limits, real EDUCATION, energy and health care reform, a strong national defense, including securing our border and fighting Terrorism, the right to bear arms, the sanctity of life and family values that are the foundation of our nation. This is the platform supported by the majority of the American people and the only way to restore economic growth and job creation in our country.

Most important, we must elect Conservatives in 2012 and 2014 that will adhere to the Constitution, as written by our Founding Fathers, not as contrived by the left wing media, Socialists in the last 98 years, our current and former Presidents, Congresses, or the Courts. The federal government must cut spending. The Department of Education is a good place to start. We must take back our country in 2012 and 2o14 to prevent the bankruptcy of our nation. We can do it. We must do it preserve our freedom, our nation and way of life for the sake of our children and grandchildren.

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