Let The Free Market Have A Go

US Education:  What's it worth?

There are some things governments do well. Conversely, there are things governments don't do well at all.  Two examples leap to mind:  health care and education.  Big government lovers will take exception to that, as they believe government should provide a cradle to grave security blanket for its subjects - er, citizens.  I disagree.  The recent unhinged response from the left-wing, big government types regarding the confirmation of several cabinet positions illustrates this disconnect perfectly.  Consider just education for a moment.

Yesterday Betsy DeVos, the 59-year-old businesswoman who survived a concerted effort to stop her nomination, was confirmed as Secretary of Education.  Vice President Mike Pence cast a historic deciding vote, breaking the tie along party lines and secured her confirmation.  The fight is all about Democrats' fear of losing their hold on power, especially in education, and that's something they can't abide.  Educated voters are a threat to liberalism for the most part.  But let's take this argument further, away from partisan politics and into the question of what the government is even doing in the education business.  Let's find out.  The United States Department of Education (the Department refers to itself as ED, a pun so glaring that it needs no further highlighting) was established in 1980.  Its mission statement, quoting directly from its website is:

ED's mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. 

ED was created in 1980 by combining offices from several federal agencies. ED's 4,400 employees and $68 billion budget are dedicated to: Establishing policies on federal financial aid for education, and distributing as well as monitoring those funds; Collecting data on America's schools and disseminating research; Focusing national attention on key educational issues; Prohibiting discrimination and ensuring equal access to education.

Interesting.  That's how our government views education.   All of those items are strictly bureaucratic and political in nature.  Nowhere do you find a sentence that clearly states that this department of the government, with its $68 billion budget, seeks to empower American children with the highest possible level of academic achievement.  Nope, it's all about a system to equalize some nebulous perceived inequality.

Since ED took over American education just 37 years ago, the United States has scored lower and lower against other nations in academic achievement.  Currently the US is ranked only 14th out of forty countries scored in cognitive skill and educational attainment.  That means the US isn't in the top ten.  It's closer to the top of the Bell curve.  That means it's not excellent.  It's not even good.  It's mediocre.  But, hey, we're ranked 2nd in ignorance.

Perception isn't reality

But that's what we get when we put 4,400 unelected bureaucrats in charge of our children's education.  Mediocrity. That, and political indoctrination, as is clearly evidenced by the forced imposition of the Common Core curriculum.  Our children are not taught basic civics so they may operate in a constitutional republic as informed citizens.  Nope, they're subject to such drivel as Danny Has Two Daddies.  We get snowflakes instead of critical thinkers.  And we get Asian nations as the top three countries whose children are actually well educated.  So the question arises.  Why have a department of education that has failed the nation so dismally for nearly four decades?  Close it up, shut it down, and put $68,000,000,000 back in the bank.  Thankfully, there is a bill being introduced that will do exactly that. 

Why not let the free market have a go?  It certainly can do better than 14th out of 40.  $68 billion for just mediocre?  Unacceptable.  Imagine if parents had a whole list of private schools from which to choose.  Imagine if private firms could compete with each other to offer better education for a lower price.  Imagine if parents and children alike didn't have to be subjected the disgusting agenda the left pushes down their throats every day.  And imagine - as a direct result of that quest for excellence at an ever diminishing cost - the educational and intellectual level of American graduates would be literally world class.  In fact, The US would once again establish the measure by which scholastic achievement is measured.  But primary education in that scenario wouldn't free, you say.  I say there's 68 billion dollars waiting to be applied to every single student in the United States.  There's existing infrastructure, and existing talent.  There exists a formula that can be found that will work, as it always does in a free and capitalistic society.

Maybe privatization is truly the answer.  I hope so.  Or at least give education back to the states.  But definitely not to the federal government.   Go back up and read the DOE's mission statement.  You'll know why the US is 14th.  Mediocre.

They Really Must Hate That Man!

It's Super Bowl Sunday, and instead of an all American football championship game, we get a super helping of liberalism, propaganda, and in your face anti-Trumpism.  Thanks, NFL.  Tom Brady, arguably the greatest quarterback to ever play the game, should be the odds on favorite to win this game over Atalanta Falcon's Matt Ryan.  But - wait a minute - Ol' Tom is friends with The Donald.  Oops.  And so is New England Patriots coach Belichick.  And team owner Robert Kraft.  On, no!  So the chattering sports talking heads are in a tizzy.  Their favorite team is oh, so Trump sided. We can't have that!  Cheer for Atlanta?  Never happen.  They are going to have to laud Brady and the Pats - if they win, of course - in loving terms as they award the trophy.  And Brady gets another ring.  And no doubt Trump will tweet something like, "Are we tired of winning, yet?  No way!"  The humiliation to the far far left sports networks and their dupes in media will be deep and wide.  

So what does Goodell and the NFL do?  Load up on socialist, progressive, Marxist and far left propaganda before, during and after the game.  Lady Gaga's halftime performance is guaranteed to be a "statement" of some kind.  Budweiser and Lumber 84 will show ads that are decidedly left wing.  Pure socialist.  Even the Pope will have a pre-taped "message" for us to ponder between bites of BBQ and sips of beer.  I can't wait for the post game talking heads to analyze - in strictly political terms, of course - the deeper meaning in the win, whether it's Atlanta or New England.

Both of these teams have worked hard to get to Houston tonight, and it's a shame - and a stinging rebuke to our media culture - that a simple championship football game has to be so clouded and cluttered with political hate.  America loves an underdog, and that's why most folks want the Falcons to win, according to polls.  The Patriots have had several Superbowl wins; the Falcons haven't any.  But if Atlanta does win tonight, the sports media and MSM will try to spin that as being a popular rejection of Trump and his policies.  But of course it won't be.  America elected Donald Trump, and America is rooting for Atlanta.   Simple as that.

Let the media and the NFL publicly embarrass themselves further, as they must really hate that man.  Damn shame.  Because America doesn't.

Let's just enjoy the game.

The Return of Testosterone

There has been a noticeable trend lately that men are not as, well, masculine, as they have been in the past.  Several books have come out about this dismal state of affairs over the recent years.  Examples of the discussion of dying manhood are The End of Men, Angry White Men: American Masculinity At the End of An Era, and The End of Men: A Novel.  Worldwide, recent studies have indicated that sperm count has been notably lower.  The cause of lower male fertility has not - as of yet - been determined.

What the world needs more of

Might I offer a possible cause of this untenable situation?  Consider the affects on male behavior as dictated by the radical, shrill, misandrist feminists.  They hate men.  What man hasn't known a shrew at one time in his life?  A high maintenance girlfriend?  A psychopathic wife?  Or a vicious and relationship destroying mother in law?  How do encounters with personalities such as these make a man feel?  Masculine?  Or emasculated to the point of cuckold?  Undeniably the latter. 

For decades, we men - especially if we happen to be Caucasian - have been told by these feminists that we are the sole cause of all that's horrible and wrong with the world.  Baby boomers have let that accusation impact their own lives, and in many cases that false guilt has trickled down to our sons.  Further, the constant harpy drumbeat that men are bad has infected subsequent generations of men as well.  It's been relentless, and has been so for decades.  Now, however, the vicious finger pointing is falling upon men and boys who have fewer and fewer manly influences on their lives.

But look what happened with a the occurrence of a just single event.  The unlikely election of a real man to the presidency of the United States has been - and will continue to be - a game changer.  Compare a manly man with his drop dead gorgeous wife to the outgoing homosexual wimp with his transsexual man for a wife.  The sigh of relief was clearly audible throughout the land.  But the feminists, who hate anything with testicles, have shown their true colors in the recent profanity-laced protest of this heralded event.

We have but to look at the state of the nation under the limp-wristed hand of the Kenyan.  In eight years, he all but destroyed and vilified the American way.  But the limp wrist and leading from behind is what one would expect form a man who is not quite a man.  His policies were deified by the chattering class, but was abhorrent to most real Americans.  And the backlash came last November.  In spades.

So we have the feminists and their cuckold boy toys all in utter shock at the realization that there's a man at the helm again.  A man who says what he means, and means what he says.  Horrors!  The snowflake generations and their enablers are about to get their first lesson in adulthood:  Suck it up, buttercup.  You lost.  Grin and bear it.

What the world needs less of

So let those unattractive, over weight, vicious and negative misandrists march with their pussy hats, and their vagina themed costumes.  Let them rant and rave and spew their vulgar nonsense.  They have nothing positive to say; it's all just a tirade against men.  They hate the same men who find them physically and spiritually unattractive - hell, repulsive - and who don't want anything to do with them.  Hence their attitudes, no doubt.  That's not the way to a man's heart, I can assure you.  There's nothing attractive in androgyny, either.

So to the boys in the world, it's a new day.  A day for men and men doing manly things.  Ignore these ugly vicious harpies, me boy-o, they've brought us to pussified and cuckold status, all the while destroying chivalry.  And for God's sake, and for the sake of your sons, stand up and grow a pair.

You'll find your sperm count will go up.  Way up.