Conservatives are up-in-arms over the Democratic healthcare scheme. From town hall meetings, to talk radio, to the internet, the voice of the people is being heard. However, I am not at all convinced that the voice of the people will ultimately make a difference in the long run. My pessimism has less to do with the sinister motives of those seeking to take over the healthcare system. On the contrary, my pessimism stems from the hypocrisy of those shouting down their representatives and claiming to be “fed up”. While I’m sure these folks mean well, I wonder about the sincerity of their opposition in light of the fact that the overwhelming majority of them (between eighty and eighty-five percent) have already accepted everything they claim to abhor about the healthcare plan. Some have already exposed this irony as it relates to Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security (full disclosure: I’ve opted out of Social Security and am proud to say that I am not anticipating one thin dime from the American government in my old age). However, I’m not talking about these long existing socialist programs, I’m talking about the #1 socialist welfare program in America, the public school system! There are striking similarities between government-run education and the government-run healthcare bill currently under consideration in Congress. And it is precisely these similarities that will eventually cause the American people to lay down and take whatever the government gives them, and eventually be willing to fight and die for them. Remember, there was public outrage over government education (and Social Security) as well when it was first proposed (see the quotes here). However, nearly one hundred and fifty years later the overwhelming majority of Americans gladly put their children on the yellow prison bus every day (yes, they are the same type of busses used to transport prisoners). JUST SAY NO TO SOCIALISM One of the mantras we hear repeatedly these days is, “we don’t want socialism.” While that sounds good (and conservative, and constitutional, and patriotic, etc.), it rings hollow when you consider the overwhelming majority of the people leading the charge have their children in what amounts to socialized education. What’s the difference? If you’re really against government-run, socialized programs, yank your kid off the yellow prison bus and just say no. READ THE TENTH AMENDMENT Another catchphrase I’ve heard a lot lately is, “this is a violation of the Tenth Amendment.” Again, this is wonderful rhetoric. I love the Constitution of the United States; especially the Tenth Amendment which protects the rights of States and individuals from overreaches by the Federal Government. The amendment reads: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Ironically, one of the “powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States” is education! That’s right, the Federal Government has absolutely no Constitutional right to involve itself in education. The Department of Education is as unconstitutional as government-run healthcare. However, few of the people shouting at these town hall meetings (or reporting on it on conservative talk radio and the internet) would stand up and call for the immediate abolishment of the D.O.E. (or any of the other federal departments that exist in clear violation of the tenth amendment). I HAVE A RIGHT TO PICK MY OWN DOCTOR Perhaps the most ironic aspect of the current uproar is the fact that people who put their children on the yellow prison bus and send them to the school designated by the State (at an age chosen by the State, on a date determined by the State, for a term mandated by the State) have the audacity to point their fingers and say, “I don’t want the government picking my doctor!” This is absolute folly. If we were serious about the moral and constitutional authority of this claim there would not be a single congressman or senator in Washington who opposed school choice as none of them would be able to win an election. However, Americans are glad to elect officials who continue to rob them of their freedom in this most basic, fundamental aspect of their lives; the education of their children. DON’T TRUST THE PEOPLE WHO RUN THE POST OFFICE How many times have we heard someone retort, “do you want the people who run the Post Office to run your healthcare?” The answer of course is a resounding no! Whether you call it “the public option,” or something else, conservatives do not want the government to run their healthcare (see here). However, how is it that we trust those same people to run our child’s education? How is this any different? And this is not just a liberal democrat thing; George Bush was the one who gave us “No Child Left Behind.” This was a monument to socialistic, government-run, unconstitutional mis-education. This was a massive overreach by the Federal Government that met little or no opposition (see one rare example here). Where were the town hall protests? Where were the flag-waving, gun-toting protestors? Where was the political right? Instead, all we heard was, “accountability is a good thing.” Never mind the Constitution. NOT WITH MY TAX DOLLARS Then there are the people who “don’t want their money to pay for abortions or sex change operations.” This one has president Obama on the defensive. Conservative Christians are especially animated over this aspect of the bill. Suddenly, the silent Christian majority is offended at the prospect of the federal government taking their money and using it for immoral purposes. This coming from people who send their children to government schools with Gay/Straight Alliance clubs, semi-pornographic sex-ed classes, and Gramscian, neo-Marxist, neo-Darwinian curriculum. How can we complain about our tax dollars going to fund abortions and sex change operations if we gladly offer up our children to taxpayer-funded dens of iniquity one hundred and eighty days a year? This is the height of hypocrisy. THE PAST IS PROLOGUE We will have taxpayer funded healthcare. The Democrats have offered the full monty, now the Republicans will “dial it back” a bit and claim victory (i.e., we can come up with something just for for those people who don’t have healthcare, make sure illegal immigrants don’t have access, and save Billions, if not Trillions of dollars). The result will be a slightly less socialistic system (for now) that the American people will accept gladly after seeing the beast in it’s full fury. And eventually, the furor will die down and the town hall meetings a generation from now will treat socialistic government healthcare the same way we treat socialistic programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and government education today. If you want to know what type of government-run healthcare system Americans will be willing to settle for in the next generation, just walk outside tomorrow morning and watch the yellow prison busses take the next generation of Americans to the taxpayer-funded, government-run, indoctrination center to which they are assigned and ask yourself this question: Are they learning anything today that will give them an aversion to a government takeover of healthcare? Then ask yourself another question: If their parents do teach them to oppose socialism, read and follow the Constitution, cherish freedom of choice, shun government intervention and hold government accountable for ethical use of their tax dollars, how long will it be before they’re standing at the corner waiting on the yellow prison bus and think to themselves, “Hey, if mom and dad really believe these things... why am I standing here?” VB Original Article Here
Re: The Yellow Prison Bus and the Future of American Healthc Great analogy. Now everybody sing: The wheels on the bus go round and round...
Re: The Yellow Prison Bus and the Future of American Healthc Then there are people who would love nothing but to yank their kids but they still have to pay school taxes on top of private school tuition, but in order to do that, might have to work more hours, reduce the time spent with their kids as a result of the government's overpowering hand and manipulation of the currency to the point that we can't make enough money on a single income to actually have a healthy house-hold, forcing both parents to work just to make ends meet and reducing them to the decision that they have no choice but to send their kids to public school because the government makes it prohibitively expensive to seek private "anything" these days. So while I can see the authors stance against the hypocrisy, I challenge the authors' logic in inferring that people send their children to public school because they want to. More often than not, it's because they have to... and home schooling? again.. I believe in many states, you have to prove that the schooling provided at home is adequate. So there's the gov't controlling you again. They give you just enough play to allow you to do these things but make it REALLY hard to accomplish the goal alone. I'm lucky enough to make good enough money and not be in too much debt to afford private school for my kids. But I'm lucky. One shouldn't have to be lucky in order to achieve this. It should be accessible.. easily accessible.
Re: The Yellow Prison Bus and the Future of American Healthc Agreed Rev, but I think the main gist of his argument is that we rail against 'socialism' while we already live in it in so many ways. Frog in pot.
Re: The Yellow Prison Bus and the Future of American Healthc Reminds me of something that happened to me a few years back. I had a Monte Carlo Z34.. great car, loved it. Over the years, it got some dings and scratches and I did my best to prevent them. Well, one day, someone backed out of a spot next to me and literally crushed the driver side rear quarter panel. I brought it in to get repaired. When it was ready, I went to pick it up and noticed the panel guard was crooked so I asked them to take it back and fix it. When it was done, I went to pick it up but I noticed MORE scratches on it, around the area where they fixed the panel guard. So I had the body shop guy come out and I proceeded to show him the additional scratches on my car. He looks at me and walks around the car and starts to point out all the scratches on my cars body( that I was living with and had I enough money, would have had fixed). So when he was about 10 scratches in, I stopped him and said "Hey asshole, I know I have scratches on my car.. but what the **** makes you think I want any more?" ....and given time and money I would have them repaired with either a new paint job (new reps with regards to the context of politics) or a new car (new government).
Re: The Yellow Prison Bus and the Future of American Healthc Great analogy. It's that 'can't see the forest for the trees' thing and I think it's good to have all those scratches that we've learned to live pointed out to keep us focused. The problem is, we don't want them pointed out because we have our entire perspective of life built around ignoring them. I really liked the movie The Matrix. I don't think we're actually living in bathtubs, hooked up to an electrical grid to power the machines but the figurative picture is still valid. So long as we believe we are free, we will sit on our hands and gripe about perceived encroachments to that freedom. I remember hearing a tape of National Russian music from the time during the cold war. The entire world knew that the USSR was completely cut off from he rest of the world and I don't think any of us would have called a life behind the iron curtain free. The chorus went something like this: "We are the free-est people in the World, God bless the motherland". Sent chills up my spine because we sing the same tune while taking off our shoes and watches, opening our bags and showing our papers at the airport.
Re: The Yellow Prison Bus and the Future of American Healthc Freaks me out to see Christian families load up their kids and send them off to these zoos they call public schools. I thank God that I went to a hellhole of a public school in the 70s and 80s... Drug dealing on the bus and bathrooms Racial fights Liberal indoctrination (including a teacher that took us to a Zen temple to learn TM) Shootings No toilet stall doors or toilet paper Made me steadfast determined to NOT allow my kids to face that cr*p. But Mom and Dad send them off then scratch their heads when their kids start acting like little animals. IMO, they know damn well what they're doing, but it's easier to lie to others and themselves instead of making the sacrifice. "Oh, we can't afford to homeschool" BS! Sell your damn bass boat, and move into a doublewide. Sorry 'bout the soapbox, but I can no longer bear the hypocrisy.
In light of the recent election, it reminded me of this article. And we wonder why the electorate has become the "hand me something" nation. Might have something to do with the people who spend the most time education them.
I send my children to public indoctrination.. um I mean school and will continue to do so until they graduate. Now, with that being said, as a parent I review everything that they do in school on a daily basis and adjust their curriculum as needed to educate them properly as conservative christens should be. My oldest (12 yo girl) is very well adjusted and fully knows the liberal agenda that is being forced down her throat, yet is happy that she can be in public school to see not only what, but why it is important to live and believe as we do. It all falls down to the parents to insure that their children are properly educated, and that can happen in public school as well as home schooling.
And when the Teachers, or Administrations cross the Acceptable Line of Parental Control, we as informed Parents, need to CRUSH that ASAP, by whatever means nessary, to regain our Parental Control of our Children's Education. No teacher, or Principal ever wanted to have a Second Encounter with "Me" when it came to the Education of my children, and my control of that Education. The FIRST TIME usually took care of the issue, at hand, in person, and a phone call was always enough, thereafter, except for one instance. There was a resignation as a result of that issue. ..... YMMV.....
